Beyond The Game

In this episode, we welcome California high school sports luminaries Eric Sondheimer of the Los Angeles Times and Serra High School football coach Patrick Walsh. The highly decorated Sondheimer has been covering high school sports for over 40 years and has been with the LA Times since 1997. Walsh is the most successful coach in Serra history, having led the Padres to eight WCAL titles and five Central Coast Section championships in 19 seasons. Walsh recently created the Golden State High School Football Coaches Community, an advocacy group whose goal is to present a data-driven plea directly to the office of Governor Gavin Newsom with the hopes of influencing a return to action plan for high school sports in California.

Today Nate and Harold welcome 247 Sports National Recruiting Editor Brandon Huffman, one of the pre-eminent recruiting analysts in the nation. They discuss the close of the early signing period and some of the top football recruits in Northern California, who have committed to some of the top college football programs in the country.

The California Department of Public Health has issued guidelines on participation for youth and adult sports as California tries to deal with the worsening coronavirus pandemic. In this episode, we take a look on how this might impact the high school sports season in California and whether there will be one at all for some sports.

In Northern California, we are still awaiting for word on the status of the high school football season, but that hasn't stopped Prep2Prep Foundation students Mateo Arenas and Dylan Freeman from getting started on their media coverage for Prep2Prep. The two juniors from Heritage High School in Brentwood join us on the podcast to discuss their recent experience covering the National Preps Collegiate Showcase in Vacaville and future plans for their careers in sports media.

High school football season in Northern California is on hold until December, but that hasn't stopped the recruitment process from taking place this fall. Today we are joined by Northern California recruits Jackson Holt (Oakdale High School), Sam Ross (Miramonte High School) and Jerry Mixon (Sacred Heart Cathedral), each of whom excelled at a recent National Preps Collegiate Showcase in Fresno.

With COVID-19 forcing the postponement of the California high school football season to early January 2021, high school football players who are looking to play at the next level need ways to gain exposure. Enter National Preps, which is holding combine/showcases for top prospects. Today we are joined by Brandon Huffman, one of the pre-eminent recruiting analysts in the nation; Trent Herzog, head football coach at St. Vincent de Paul High School and Western Region College Football scout for National Preps; and Gary Howard, National Preps Western Region/Texas Recruiting Director.

Today Harold, Nate and Danny are joined by special guest Lou Richie and we speak with the Preppy Award winners for Female and Male Breakthrough Athletes of the Year. After flying under the radar her junior season, Lexi Zandonella led the Carondelet soccer team to the NorCal Division 1 Regional championship by scoring 9 of her 14 goals n the final month of the season. She is starting her collegiate career this fall at Sonoma State University. After serving primarily as a role player his sophomore season, Bishop O'Dowd basketball star Marsalis Roberson broke out his junior year earning Prep2Prep North Coast Section Player of the Year honors after leading the Dragons to the NCS Open Division title. He is a heavily recruited athlete expected to commit to a Division I school during his senior season.

Today we speak with the Preppy Award winners for Female and Male Team Coach of the Year. Brian Sato took over midseason and led the St. Joseph Notre Dame girls basketball team to its first-ever CIF North Coast Section Open Division championship and a runner-up finish in the CIF Northern Regional Open Division playoffs. Jon Schwan led the Montgomery boys soccer team to its best season ever, finishing a 26-0-1 record and a North Coast Section Division 1 championship - the first in school history in any sport - and a CIF NorCal Division 1 title.

On Halloween night in 2019, Omari Taylor's brother Omar Jr. was shot and killed while DJing a party in Orinda. The next day, Omari, who plays football at Clayton Valley Charter (Concord) had a game against California powerhouse De La Salle. He made the decision to play and rushed for 76 yards that night. Though Clayton Valley didn't win that night, the Eagles didn't lose another game all season, winning both the North Coast Section Division 2 and California Interscholastic Federation 2-AA state championship. Today we speak with the Preppy winner for Most Inspirational Athlete Omari Taylor and his coach Tim Murphy.

Today we speak with the Preppy Award winners for Female and Male Athlete of the Year. Tehya Bird (Cloverdale High School) is a three-sport star who excelled in softball, basketball and volleyball. She will play softball at the University of Oregon. Nate Rutchena (Monte Vista High School) is a two-sport star who excelled in football and basketball and will continue his football career at Cal.

Prep2Prep annually honors the top athletes, teams and coaches in Northern California with the Preppy Awards. And while this past season was obviously impacted by the pandemic - costing state championships in basketball as well as the vast majority of the spring season - there are still plenty of deserving candidates for the top awards and we discuss them in this episode.

Assuming all goes well in California over the next few months, the 2020-21 high school sports calendar will be much more compressed than usual. This puts a strain on multi-sport athletes, facility management and other areas related to the administration of high school sports. Today, Nate, Harold and Danny speak with prolific softball/volleyball coach Margaret Fitzgerald (Cloverdale) and new co-athletic director and longtime volleyball coach Margi Beima (Sacred Heart Cathedral) about the challenges they face during the upcoming school seasons.

Of the 10 sections in the California Interscholastic Federation, only the Northern Section decided against implementing the recommended CIF sports calendar for the 2020-21 school year. Today Nate, Harold and Danny speak with Northern Section football coaches Ryan Reynolds (Sutter) and Mark Cooley (Pleasant Valley-Chico) about the situations surrounding their schools and preparation for the upcoming season and how the Northern Section might address the divide between big and small schools during these unprecedented times.

Nate, Harold and Danny welcome California Interscholastic Federation Executive Director Ron Nocetti to the podcast to discuss the watershed announcement issued July 20 regarding the modified calendar for California high school sports for the 2020-21 school year. We discuss how the committee came to its ultimate decision, the ramifications for multi-sport athletes, temporary CIF bylaw changes, contingency plans if the situation around the pandemic does not improve and much more.

Today Nate and Danny welcome a panel of high school football coaches Robert Hubbard, Ed Washington, George Jackson and Joe Bates, who have founded a Facebook Group called "Black Football Coaches Unified", whose mission is to help black coaches create relationships and form a brotherhood with the hope of earning more opportunities in the coaching world. Over the course of just a few months, the group has grown from the original four founders to nearly 9,000 members.

Today Harold and Danny begin the discourse on race relations with high school boys basketball coaches Lou Richie (Bishop O'Dowd) and Tim Kennedy (Archbishop Mitty). We discuss several topics including registering high school students to vote and the challenges of communicating with players during these turbulent times.

Football in the spring? Baseball in the fall? There is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding the fate of high school sports in California and other sports, but that doesn't stop us from speculating on what might happen. We go through a series of potential scenarios ahead of the fateful July 20 date, at which time the CIF is expected to announce the schedules for high school sports.

A vast majority of high school girls basketball coaches are male, but three prominent women have taken over positions at high-profile basketball schools. Today we speak about opportunities for women in coaching with legendary coach Sue Phillips of Archbishop Mitty of San Jose along with former WNBA player Alexis Gray-Lawson, the new coach at St. Joseph Notre Dame and a pair of coaches who are taking over at their respective alma maters: Alle Moreno (St. Mary's-Stockton) and Maya Fok (St. Ignatius-San Francisco).

With several counties and districts issuing highly restrictive return to action policies for high school sports, we speak with Sacramento Bee high school sports reporter Joe Davidson, who detailed the recommendations of the Sacramento County of Education to effectively call off high school sports in 2020-21 - with a major caveat. We also pay a visit to San Mateo High School and Clayton Valley Charter High School as those football teams begin informal workouts.

Today we continue our discussion on the future of high school football with highly accomplished Bay Area high school football coaches Paul Cronin (Cardinal Newman), Justin Alumbaugh (De La Salle), Paul Rosa (Wilcox) and Ryan Partridge (Liberty)

Our esteemed panel of high school football coaches Patrick Walsh (Serra), Mazi Moayed (Marin Catholic) and Gehrig Hotaling (Rancho Cotate) continue the discussion about the future of high school football.

High school football fans are concerned both about questions over the short-term future of the game brought about by the coronavirus pandemic as well as long-term issues related to safety and head injuries. Today we speak with high school football coach Stephen Johnson (Branham), neurological expert Dr. Javier Cardenas (Dignity Health) and our esteemed panel of high school coaches Patrick Walsh (Serra), Mazi Moayed (Marin Catholic) and Gehrig Hotaling (Rancho Cotate) about both issues.