Prep Rally: Is high school football changing for the better or worse?

May 27, 2025 | View in browser

Defensive end Richard Wesley of Sierra Canyon has reclassified to become class of 2026.

By Eric Sondheimer

Columnist

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. Whether you've been paying attention or not, high school football is changing. Let's discuss.

Dealing with changes

Rolling your eyes has been the theme if you follow college football and high school football. Changes keep happening because rules are in flux regarding name, image and likeness. Transfer numbers keep growing. Agents are picking up clients who are teenagers. Parents are examining options. Coaches are adjusting on the fly.

It's the best of times and the worst of times. Many believe things will settle when court cases are finalized. Others believe amateur football has been changed forever.

Here's a look at some of the issues, good and bad, that are affecting the high school football world.

Baseball

Devin Gonor of El Camino Real proved Saturday at Dodger Stadium that trusting the process still works. He played on the freshman team, then the junior varsity team for two years. He waited his turn, made his varsity debut last season as a junior and this season is 11-1 and pitched a three-hit shutout in a 2-0 win over Venice to give El Camino Real its 10th City Section Open Division title. Here's a look at how the Royals did it.

Carson won its first ever City Section title in baseball by taking the Division I crown with a 3-1 comeback win over rival Banning at Dodger Stadium. Here's the report.

The final week of the Southern Section season begins Tuesday with semifinals in Division 1 featuring Corona at St. John Bosco and Crespi at Santa Margarita. Here's a report on the quarterfinals that saw four close games.

It also was the week Seth Hernandez of Corona hit two three-run home runs and struck out 10 in an impressive playoff performance. He'll pitch Tuesday. Here's a report. And Venice's Canon King went five for five in a semifinal win over Sylmar. Here's the report.

Here's the complete Tuesday schedule.

Softball

It will be El Modena playing Norco for the Southern Section Division 1 softball championship this weekend in Irvine.

El Modena came through earlier in the week with a comeback semifinal win over Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. Here's the report.

On Saturday, Norco defeated Ayala and El Modena knocked off Temescal Canyon to reach the final in a season where hitters have had the advantage over pitchers. Here's the report.

The City Section has its semifinals Wednesday with Granada Hills hosting Venice and San Pedro hosting Carson. The championship game will be played Saturday at Cal State Northridge.

Keep up with California

Your support helps us deliver the news that matters most. Subscribe to the Los Angeles Times.

Subscribe Now

Track

Birmingham football standout Antrell Harris was one of the stars at the City Section track and field championships, winning the 100 and 200. He's headed this weekend to compete in the state championships at Buchanan High in Clovis. The weather report is for temperatures in the triple digits.

Here's a report from the City championships.

The Southern Section held its Masters Meet, and RJ Sermons of Rancho Cucamonga was the top qualifier in the 200 and has one more week of high school competition left before he heads off to play football at USC. Here's the report.

Golf

Joseph Wong of Granada Hills won the City Section golf championship. Here's the report.

Grant Leary of Crespi won the Southern Section individual golf championship with a 66 for a one-stroke victory. Here's a roundup of Southern Section team champions. Here's a look at Leary.

Volleyball

Mira Costa has qualified from Southern California to compete in the first state championship in boys volleyball Saturday at Fresno City College. The Mustangs will face Archbishop Mitty from San Jose.

Here's the compete schedule of state championship matchups and results from regional finals.

Notes . . .

Catcher Trent Grindlinger of Huntington Beach has changed his commitment from Mississippi State to Tennessee. . . .

Former Bishop Amat football coach Steve Hagerty will become athletic director at West Covina. . . .

Ethan Damato is leaving Laguna Beach to become girls water polo coach at JSerra. . . .

Connor Ohl, a junior at Newport Harbor, has committed to Stanford for water polo. . . .

Oliver Muller is the new boys soccer coach at Oaks Christian. . . .

YULA and Shalhevet, two schools that pulled out of the Southern Section baseball playoffs to participate in a Jewish tournament in Ohio, have been placed on probation and banned from next year's playoffs for violating Southern Section rules about outside participation during the season. Here's an opinion piece on how the decision by the two schools will hurt coaches and athletes. . . .

Former Chatsworth football coach Marvin Street has accepted a teaching position at El Camino Real and will become the junior varsity head coach. . . .

Loyola running back Sean Morris has committed to Northwestern. . . .

Kevin Reynolds, the basketball coach at Villa Park for 30 years, died Friday morning, the school announced. He was 59. He had been diagnosed with cancer. His teams won 634 games in his coaching career. . . .

John Quick, who was a longtime basketball coach in the South Bay, has died. . . .

Loyola's James Dell'Amico has committed to Pepperdine baseball. . . .

Former Tesoro football coach Matt Poston is the new athletic director at San Clemente. . . .

The CIF state championships in tennis will be held Saturday in Fresno. Irvine University has qualified. ...

Darius Spates is the new athletic director at Verbum Dei. He's a 2012 graduate.

From the archives: Pete Crow-Armstrong

Harvard-Westlake has produced some outstanding pitchers who went on to the major leagues, but Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs is the Wolverines' first breakthrough every day player. As a center fielder with electric speed, he has come into his own this season to become an All-Star candidate.

He used to be a teammate of Drew Bowser, who went to Stanford instead of signing out of high school and is now working his way up in the minors.

Crow-Armstrong entered last week hitting .290 with 12 home runs. He hit a two-run home run Friday against former Sherman Oaks Notre Dame pitcher Hunter Greene of the Reds.

His senior year got cut short in 2020 because of the pandemic. Here's an interview with Crow-Armtrong from that year and how he kept his focus on the future.

Here's a story from 2019 on how he had become a hitting machine.

Recommendations

From the Washington Post, a story on what a rowing coxswain does.

From the Los Angeles Times, a story on UC Irvine baseball coach Ben Orloff, a Simi Valley High graduate.

From the Los Angeles Times, a story on the new Compton High campus opening this fall with fantastic athletic facilities.

Tweets you might have missed

Until next time....

Have a question, comment or something you'd like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.

Did you get this newsletter forwarded to you? To sign up and get it in your inbox, click here.