Local Digest: CCAL hoops race remains tight; section announces Model Coach winners
As we enter the final three games of the Central California Athletic League boys basketball season, five of the six teams remain alive for a league title.
Turlock (12-11, 5-2) and Gregori (16-9, 5-2) are tied for first while Enochs (11-14, 4-3) is one-game back and Downey (13-9, 3-4) and Modesto (11-2, 3-4) are two.
Turlock is at Enochs on Friday at 7:15 p.m., while Gregori hosts Downey.
The CCAL will automatically qualify three teams for the playoffs. Playoff brackets will be released next Friday.
Mountain House 74, Beyer 72: The Patriots (17-8, 9-2) fell at home to the Mustangs (17-6, 11-0) in a Western Athletic Conference game on Wednesday and will most likely finish second in the league.
Sac-Joaquin Section announces Model Coach honorees: Escalon baseball coach Greg Largent and Ripon track and field coach Jill McPherson each were named 2018-19 Sac Joaquin Section Model Coach Award winners on Monday, the section announced.
The award honors coaches who are positive role models within their schools and community.
Largent, who is the third Escalon coach to win the award, is the director and co-founder of the Toni Largent Memorial Golf Tournament, which provides scholarships for Cougar students. Largent has been the baseball coach since 2005, winning three section titles.
“Greg is committed to teaching his athletes about trustworthiness, respect, responsibility and good citizenship,” said Escalon Unified Superintendent Ron Costa in the press release. “He not only teaches these expectations to his athletes, he reinforces them by setting an excellent example. He is a true Model Coach.”
McPherson has been the Indians’ head track and field coach for the last 10 years.
“I have met few other coaches who were able to demand excellence, while encouraging the best performance out of athletes who have never played the sport before,” Ripon athletic director Rod Wright said in the release. “While she may not have won any league titles, her strengths have always been making the student athlete a more complete person emphasizing the characteristics expected by our school and our section.”
Largent, McPherson, and the other four winners will receive a plaque and a lifetime Sac-Joaquin Section pass at an awards breakfast on Tuesday, April 30, 2019 in Lodi.
Crystal Creamery honors local champions with commemorative milk cartons: Crystal Creamery will honor all Sac-Joaquin Section’s boys and girls Academic Champions for fall sports with commemorative milk cartons this week. Football and volleyball section champions will also have the cartons as well.
Denair’s football team and Hilmar High’s football and volleyball teams were recognized for their section titles as well as Beyer’s volleyball team, which was named Academic Section Champions for its 3.80 GPA.
MC’s Carlton selected to 2020 Polynesian Bowl: Modesto Christian junior defensive lineman Xavier Carlton has been chosen to participate in the 2020 Polynesian Bowl, an All-Star Game held in Hawaii every January.
“I have never been to Hawaii, so I am excited to learn more about the Polynesian culture and its traditions,” Carlton told 247sports’ Brandon Huffman on Tuesday.
Carlton also received an offer from the University of Michigan on Tuesday.
He made the Bee’s All-District Small-Schools Team in 2018 and finished with 81 tackles, 14 tackles for a loss, and six sacks.
