Of the 16 teams entered in this year’s 13th annual Frank Pekarek Sweetwater Host Lions Club Classic at Sweetwater High School in National City, seven are from East County.
Pool A includes Monte Vista and Mt. Miguel high schools representing Spring Valley. Pool B includes El Cajon Valley while Pool C included Valhalla and El Capitan. Foothills Christian and Steele Canyon rounds out Pool D.
The tournament tipped off on Monday. Each team plays three games in pool play, with additional rounds scheduled Thursday and Friday.
Just one East County team prevailed on the scoreboard in Monday’s opening round as Valhalla defeated El Capitan 88-58. Coronado out-scored Monte Vista, 71-44, while Hoover topped 79, El Cajon Valley, 79-25, and Mt. Miguel dropped a double-digit decision to Point Loma.
The Vaqueros led by scores of 15-11 and 16-13 late in the first quarter before the Norsemen rallied to lead 42-26 at halftime. It was the first loss of the season for El Capitan, which had bounded out to a perfect 10-0 start as one of the top Division IV teams in the state.
This year’s league alignment pits Monte Vista, Valhalla, Granite Hills, Helix Charter and Grossmont in the Grossmont Hills League and El Capitan, Steele Canyon, El Cajon Valley. Mt. Miguel, Santana and West Hills in the Grossmont Valley League.
Monte Vista won last season’s Division IV title by defeating Victory Christian Academy, 54-36, while Grossmont (Division III) and El Cajon Valley (Division V) both advanced as far as their respective division semifinals.
Men of Steele
The Cougars saw their early season record dip to 2-6 following Monday’s 89-43 tournament loss to Mater Dei Catholic (6-2), which was coming off a 72-62 championship game victory against Bishop’s on Dec. 3 to win the West Hills tournament.
“We’re getting better with each game,” said Steele Canyon head coach Aaron Douglas, who took over the program in October 2020. “We’re starting three freshmen and have two more coming off the bench. We want to learn and grow. We’re a young team with talent.”
Freshman Alex Williams is averaging 20.2 points per game while senior Alex Jenkins is averaging 19.4 points per game. Jenkins also leads the team with a 6.1 rebounds per game average.
Sophomore Caleb Thach paces the Cougars in both assists (2.4 average) and steals (3.4 average).
Girl power
Helix Charter upped its early season record to 5-2 following a 50-44 non-league win at Victory Christian Academy on Dec. 9.
Senior Alethze Marquez keyed the Lady Highlanders with 11 points and 12 rebounds while senior Angel Riggins dropped in seven points and collected 10 boards.
Helix, which advanced to the first round of the playoffs last season, is braced by five returners in 2022-23.
“We were mostly ninth and 10th graders last year, so we have some juniors on the team this year,” head coach Freddie Garrett said.
Marquez tops the team in scoring (12.6 ppg) and rebounds (8.8 rpg) while Riggins ranks second in scoring (9.3 average) and rebounds (7.3 average) while leading the team in steals (4.0 average).
“Expectations are to make a run in the playoffs,” Garrett said optimistically. “We want to do better than we did last year in the playoffs (a 41-27 home court loss to 10th-seeded Holtville). We want to get better every year.”
Impact newcomers include freshman Michaelle Whyte.
“She’s helped us a lot, stepping in for a player who transferred out,” Garrett said.
Helix tips off Grossmont Hills League play Jan. 10 at Grossmont. El Capitan is the early leader on the scoreboard with a 9-2 record through non-league play while Grossmont is 2-0.
