Liberty Charter High School fielded six teams for the 2025-26 winter sports season: two soccer teams, two basketball teams and two wrestling teams (one in each gender division).
The Liberty Charter boys basketball team finished runner-up in the San Diego Section Division V-AA championship playoffs while the school’s girls basketball and soccer teams both advanced as far as the division semifinals.
Boys basketball
Liberty Charter won the Frontier-Patriot League championship with a 9-1 record to earn the No. 2 seed in the section’s Division V-AA playoff bracket behind No. 1 Calvin Christian.
The Lions received a first-round bye to start the playoffs, then topped seventh-seeded Monarch, 68-48, in the quarterfinals and third-seeded Warner, 58-42, in the semifinals, to meet top-seeded Calvin Christian in the championship game Feb. 26 at MiraCosta College.
Liberty Charter finished runner-up in the division by a 57-47 decision to finish 19-8 in the win-loss column.
Despite the finals loss, it was a history-making season with much to celebrate.
“We ended up making the CIF championship game, unfortunately lost the championship game, but we had a very historical season,” Lions head coach Kevin Straub said. “In our 17-year history of our boys basketball program, we had the most wins in school history (19), won league for the third time in school history, we were the highest seed in CIF in boys basketball history (second seed), and besides our boys cross country team, we were the only other boys team in our school’s history to make it to a CIF championship game.”
Liberty Charter finished in sole possession of the league title by finishing ahead of both High Tech-North County and San Diego Academy, both with 7-3 records. Other league members included Bayfront Charter (4-6 in league), Southern California Yeshiva (3-7 in league) and Gompers Prep (0-10 in league).
Senior Duke Dengerink led the Lions in season scoring with 13.4 points per game, followed by sophomore Iden Naami (10.1 ppg), junior Henry Appelquist (9.3 ppg), senior Max Gutierrez (8.9 ppg), junior Jayvin Cousins (6.5 ppg), freshman Reilly Buff (5.0 ppg) and senior Jonathan Scott (4.2 ppg0.
Rebounding leaders included Dengerink (5.1 per game) and Cousins (3.3 per game).
Appelquist led the team with 3.9 assists per game.
Some season highlights:
“Our Senior Night was amazing,” Straub said. “We had an 18-point victory against SDA, which was second in our league, to secure our league championship. A day earlier we had a gritty comeback win against Bayfront on their Senior Night with a very tough crowd. We were down double digits in the second half, but we stayed connected and composed in a hostile environment and fought our way back to win the game.”
The Lions were richly rewarded for their efforts.
Dengerink (senior captain) and Naami (sophomore point guard) were both awarded first team all-league honors while Scott (senior forward) won the team’s CIF Sportsmanship Award at the division final.
This could be just the beginning to loftier prizes.
“Next season, our purpose is to continue to grow our athletes/program on the foundations of hard work, integrity and respect,” Straub said. “Our goal is to get back to the CIF championship and win it this time.”
Girls basketball
Liberty Charter appeared unbeatable to start the season, carrying a commanding 15-0 record into its Feb. 3 game at Preuss UCSD, which resulted in the Lady Lions’ first loss to the season by a score of 35-30.
Liberty Charter got back on track with a four-game winning streak to nail down the No. 1 seed in the Division V-AA playoffs and reach the division semifinals against fourth-seeded Calipatria.
The Lady Lions’ end to the 2025-26 season, however, was stunning: 54-12 loss to the Lady Hornets. Calipatria (9-14) went on to defeat No. 2 San Diego Academy, 38-32, in the championship game.
Liberty Charter tipped off the playoffs with a bye, waiting to take on the winner between No. 8 Chula Vista Learning Community Charter and No. 9 West Shores. CVLCC won by forfeit to provide the Lady Lions with their quarterfinal opponent.
Liberty Charter eliminated CVLCC, 35-13, to advance to the semifinals.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 5 Bonsall eliminated No. 12 San Diego Jewish Academy, 41-15, to take on idle Calipatria in the quarterfinals. Calipatria defeated Bonsall, 65-10, to secure its berth in the semifinals.
Neither Liberty Charter nor Calipatria had met each other on the season, so there were some definite unknowns in the semifinal matchup.
The teams combined for 10 points in the first quarter with Calipatria holding a narrow 6-4 lead. The next two quarters did not favor the Lady Lions. Calipatria went on a 22-3 run in the second quarter to assume a commanding 28-7 halftime lead. The Lady Hornets out-scored Liberty Charter 21-3 in the third quarter to lead 49-10 entering the final quarter.
Calipatria out-scored Liberty Charter 5-2 in the final quarter as the scoring subsided for a final 54-12 victory.
The Lady Lions finished the season with a remarkable 19-2 overall record, winning the Frontier-Sierra League championship with a 7-1 league record ahead of High Tech High Chula Vista (6-2 in league), Preuss UCSD (5-3 in league), Gompers Prep (2-6 in league) and CVLCC (0-8 in league).
“Last season, our team started out in the midst of a 19-game losing streak,” head coach Sewell Dunton said. “Mid-season, we finally got into the win column and ended the season winning seven of our last 15 games.
“This year, we started out as a young team with great chemistry. We won our first 15 games and were on our way to number 16 when our best player, junior guard Angie Carreon, tore her ACL in the first half of a close game we would go on to lose.
“At that point, we had to make some adjustments and needed to win our next three games to win the league, which we did. We won our first playoff game but lost our semifinal matchup to the eventual CIF champion. We finished the season ranked third in Division 5-AA. We had our first winning season in four years and set a school record with an overall mark of 19-2.”
It wasn’t a lost season. Liberty Charter had four players selected to the Frontier-Sierra All-League Team. Sisters Naomi Rodriguez (junior forward) and Laura Rodriguez (sophomore forward) were selected to the first team. Carreon was also selected first team and voted the Player of the Year. The team’s lone senior, Kaiya McKay, was a second-team all-league selection.
Dunton was selected as the Coach of the Year, but she said she considers that to be a team award.
The Lady Lions held their awards banquet on March14.
Freshman point guard Maddi Avant received the rookie of the year award while sophomore forward Makenna Jackson received the most improved award.
Naomi Rodriguez, who averaged 7.1 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game, earned recognition as the most inspirational award winner and team captain while Laura Rodriguez, who averaged 6.6 points per game; 6.6 rebounds per game, 4.1 steals per game and 1.5 blocks per game, was named the team’s defensive player of the year.
The MVP and team captain awards went to Carreon, who averaged 12.8 points per game, 7.6 rebounds per game and 5.5 steals per game. Her presence was obviously missed in the semifinal game.
McKay, a guard, averaged 3.5 points per game; 3.6 rebounds per game and 3.8 steals per game with the team’s Lion Pride award.
Girls soccer
The Liberty Charter girls soccer team advanced as far as the Division V-AA semifinals before ending its season with a 1-0 loss to second-seeded River Valley.
The third-seeded Lady Lions (10-9-4) received a bye in the opening round, then defeated sixth-seeded San Diego Jewish Academy, 2-1, in overtime in the ensuing quarterfinals.
Both teams scored in the second half to end regulation in a 1-1 tie in the game played at Joan McQueen Middle School.
The Lady Lions won in sudden-victory overtime to continue their season.
The OT victory advanced Liberty Charter to the semifinals against River Valley, which defeated seventh-seeded Mountain Empire, 3-1, in the quarterfinals.
After ending the Lady Lions’ season, River Valley advanced to meet top-seeded Calvin Christian in the division championship game Feb. 26 at Montgomery High School. Calvin Christian earned the CIF title with a 3-1 victory.
In the final, Calvin Christian (16-4-1) received two goals from sophomore Kate Jackson and one goal from freshman Aliya Ramsey. The Lady Crusaders led 1-0 at halftime. Calvin Christian took the title by out-scoring the Lady Leopards 2-1 in the second half.
Ramsey and sophomore Lauren Hartman each picked up an assist while junior Payton Kiessel made two saves to record the goalkeeper win.
River Valley finished 13-3-2 after the championship game loss.
Liberty Charter competed in the Frontier-Summit League during regular season play with a 5-4-1 record in third place among the six member teams.
O’Farrell Charter won the league title with a 9-0-1 record, followed by Chula Vista Learning Community Charter at 6-1-2. Gompers Prep Academy finished behind the Lady Lions in the league standings with a 1-5-1 record, followed by High Tech Mesa at 1-7-0 and High Tech High-Chula Vista at 0-5-1.
“The girls had a great season as such a young team,” head coach Jori Hays said. “In league, they placed third, and the only two teams ahead of them were two to three divisions higher.”
“We had more possession and were in their half on offense for about 90 percent of the game,” Hays said. “River Valley had two shots on goal and we had around 15. The team hasn’t made it this far in CIF in the past four years, which is exciting as we are only graduating four seniors and keeping the rest.”
O’Farrell Charter received the No. 2 seed in the Division IV playoffs, advancing to the quarterfinals, while CVLCC received the No. 15 seed in the Division III playoffs, ending its season with a first-round loss.
Liberty Charter ended the season with three players earning all-league honors.
Two freshmen made first team all-league: Abigail Funk and Summer Svendsen. One sophomore made second team all-league: Myra Sanders
“All-league titles are given out during a meeting where all coaches in the league discuss which players stood out throughout the whole season,” Hays said.
Senior captain Marion Maliepaard received the team’s Heart of a Lion award, which is given to one senior who shows compassion, heart, and leadership.
“It was overall a great season, and I am very hopeful for the seasons to come,” Jori said.
Boys soccer
Liberty Charter finished the 2025-26 season with a 7-12-2 overall record, 0-8-2 in Frontier-Patriot League play.
High Tech High Chula Vista finished 6-2-2 in league play while Ocean View Christian Academy posted a 5-1-4 league record. Health Sciences also had an upper-division finish at 5-2-1 in league while Mountain Empire finished 5-4-1 in league play.
O’Farrell Charter finished above Liberty Charter with a 1-5-2 league record.
Ocean View Christian (No. 3 seed) and Liberty Charter (No. 11 seed) qualified for the Division V-AA section playoffs from that group.
The Lions ended their season with a 9-3 loss to No. 6 Victory Christian Academy while Ocean View Christian received a bye to the quarterfinals where the Patriots (11-6-4) ended their season with an 8-0 loss to No. 2 CVLCC, the eventual division champion with a 20-2-4 overall record.
But numbers had a far different tale to tell as Liberty Charter junior Jayden Jasso scored 52 goals in 20 matches to lead all goal-scorers in the section and rank No.2 in both California and nationally in that category.
Senior Ernest Sanders ranked second in scoring on the team with 16 goals in 19 games.
Jasso scored all three goals for the Lions in the playoff loss to Victory Christian (12-8-2).
