Head coaches and top athletes from all seven programs gathered on Saturday at Canyon High School for the Foothill League’s first ever boys’ basketball media day.
With the season just a week away, all seven teams, including the reigning champion Saugus Centurions, felt Foothill League will be the most even it’s been in years.
“I don’t know that there’s a better public school basketball league around,” said Golden Valley coach Chris Printz. “I’d like someone to name one if they can think of it. We know every night in this league you’ve got to bring it.”
The season begins on Monday with Foothill League play starting on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
With a league championship and playoff spots more wide open than ever, here are some highlights from each program’s time under the spotlight:
Saugus confident in returners’ chemistry
The Centurions enter the season as defending Foothill League champs for the first time in 43 years.
Saugus is gearing up for a repeat season with plenty of strong pieces in play.
Alfredo Manzano and captains Bryce Mejia and Andrew Phan all attended media day and talked about the odds of going back-to-back.
“I feel like our team is really well put together,” Phan said. “We have good philosophies, good values, and I think we have a great chance to repeat.”
Defense will always be the staple for a team led by Manzano, who has consistently kept his Centurions in Division 2AA year after year. Despite the new playoff format, where the CIF places teams in divisions at the end of the regular season, the coach still sees his team landing in that same high division.
“I don’t see why not. Our schedule’s tough this year just like every year,” Manzano said when asked if his team could still end up in 2AA. “This year they’re gonna place it a little differently. Wherever they put us, they put us. I’m not gonna fluff my schedule at all. I’ve never done that since I’ve been here. It’s play who we can play.”
Phan and Mejia will be big parts of the Centurion backcourt, while senior Max Guardado will be a force in the paint.
Saugus is typically senior-heavy but will feature several juniors and even some sophomores this year. For Manzano, it’s “go if you can go.”
The Centurions will be solid all-around with sharpshooters and interior threats on top of their smothering defense.
All three Centurion representatives acknowledged there will be no easy nights in the Foothill League but with a solid returning class in place, Saugus feels confident in a repeat.
“The core of our team has stayed the same,” Mejia said. “If we can all just put it together and stay committed, we can go back-to-back.”
Valencia riding high into ’24-25
While Valencia hoops is entering the Greg Fontenette era, fans shouldn’t expect much of a change in terms of wins, talent and hard work.
Fontenette was practically the head coach for the second half of the year last season but now takes over a program and varsity team full of promise.
“You’re not really going to see much of a difference,” Fontenette said. “Coach (Bill) Bedgood, would tell you I was pretty much head coaching the team going into that second half of that season. So it’s still defense first. We like to play fast, get in transition. We’re not too much of a half-court team, but I make sure that they have the capabilities to play half-court if we are put into those positions.”
Senior Dabe Princewell and sophomore Isaac Franklin also represented the Vikings under the lights and one big thing all three Valencia representatives agreed on was the program’s separation in years past. All three agreed the group is much more cohesive now and thus, more of a team.
That tight-knight group will be a unique mix of 10 seniors and seven sophomores.
For defense, Fontenette feels Princewell is one of the best on-ball defenders in the league.
“First of all, he volunteers for it,” Fontenette said. “I don’t even put him on (opposing top players). Our defense is gonna be fast, aggressive and all over the court.”
To reach this goal, the new coach has increased the team’s conditioning and strength training.
“The conditioning and everything has increased tremendously,” Fontenette said. “The weight room has been a huge requirement going into this season. So you’re definitely going to see a lot more skilled players, a lot better-conditioned players. It’s very promising. Valencia right now just has a huge talent pool.”
West Ranch turning the page under Bartley
The Wildcats will look a little different in the 2024-25 season after another collegiate-bound class graduated.
Bryan Bartley has coached basketball for about 30 years and will lead the new group into the season. His background in coaching and working in basketball spans from Auburn, the Atlanta Hawks, multiple East Coast high schools and locally at Heritage Christian.
Bartley spoke about one of the most vital factors a program must have: positive culture.
“When you come, you have to set a culture. Culture is important and drives everything,” Bartley said. “Then after the culture, you talk about the development of our guys. They have to learn to play for something bigger than themselves. And that’s what it’s all about … We didn’t talk at all about last year, I just told them, ‘It’s gonna be different.’ The windshield is huge and the rear-view mirror is small.”
Representing West Ranch on Saturday were Ryder Sundquist and Prince Okonkwo.
Sundquist is a returning perimeter threat who has seen a revitalization of the program through discipline.
“Last year we had the talent, but we lacked the discipline. That’s why we lost big games that we needed to win,” Sundquist said. “This year it’s more on discipline because we’re lacking on that talent, but we’ve all come together and played together well.”
The West Ranch program has had its share of stars but this season Bartley believes there will be no clear one or two top scoring options.
“I think we’re gonna score by committee this year,” Bartley said. “My whole thing is we’re gonna learn how to play the right way. We always talk about positionless basketball and playing basketball the right way. Move the ball, learn how to play together.”
Both Wildcats felt their practices have been college-level practices, with more intensity and discipline than ever before. The high-level practices may have cost the program some players but Bartley is pleased to retain the players who are committed.
“We lost a few kids because it was kinda tough in the beginning,” Bartley said. “A lot of kids dropped off but I love where we are because the kids who need to be here are here. They earned and deserve it.”
The players acknowledged that most outsiders believe there will be a dramatic drop-off for the West Ranch program.
“Our goal is to prove people wrong this year because people thought our talent kind of dropped off, even the Damien tournament this year we’re in a lower division,” Sundquist said. “So, it’s just show that we can compete and do as well as we did last year.”
Okonkwo, a 6-foot, 9-inch forward, will take his game outside the paint more this season and serve as a wing for the team. The forward believes his team can retake the Foothill League title.
“We‘re just trying to prove everyone wrong and show that we’re probably still the best team in this area,” Okonkwo said.
Canyon locked in heading into ’24-25
Canyon returns a senior-heavy group loaded with returners. While a league title could be in the team’s grasp, coach Ali Monfared is focused on the group controlling what they can.
“We’re really looking kind of just to build on our continuity that we ended last season with,” Monfared said. “Our main goals for this season are just to continue to focus on our controllables. We want to rebound the ball, limit our turnovers, make our free throws, and really just kind of focus on what we need to do to continue to maximize our opportunities.”
Monfared was joined on stage by seniors Sean Hernandez, Chigozie Osuji, Solomon Sims and Eric Kubel.
Sims was the heart of the gritty Cowboys defense last season while Osuji led the team in steals. Hernandez was a valuable forward for the group while Canyon’s leading scorer, Kubel, also returns.
The Cowboy offense runs through their senior star forward but don’t expect Kubel to be taking every shot.
“Eric knows that most times in leagues, he’s gonna be face guarded and they’re gonna be all over him,” Monfared said. “I’m gonna give Eric a lot of credit. He really buys into screening. And by him screening, he gets his teammates open when they’re guarding him. It also gets him open.”
Canyon had a successful summer and ate some humble pie in the fall after playing a relentless schedule. Monfared believes it will only progress the team and ready them for league play.
The Cowboys have made the playoffs in three straight seasons but will aim for a longer postseason run in 2025. The team is also shooting to keep opponents under 50 points a game all season.
Golden Valley loaded with talented juniors
Printz and the Grizzlies have a lot to be excited about: Talent, size, intellectuality and grit.
“This is my second student stint coaching at Golden Valley, and this is probably the most talented team that we’ve had,” Printz said. “We’re still young. We still have to get over a lot of challenges, especially physicality … This is a very mature group, even though we only have three seniors and it’s a very intellectual group.”
Printz’s biggest uncertainty with the group is where the ball will go in a must-score situation.
“I’ve been fortunate in the last couple of years that we’ve always had a main scorer,” Printz said. “Throughout the spring, summer, fall, we really haven’t had any main scorer consistently, but we have had five guys who are average in double digits, so that’s really good. The interesting question will be, when we need that bucket, where does that bucket come from?”
Joining Printz on stage was one of his few seniors, Kenyen Andrews, and forward/son Wyatt Printz. Andrews was a force in the paint last season but will now transition to point guard. Although he’ll typically be near the top of the key, the senior assured the media he’d still be grabbing several boards a game.
“Absolutely, all four of my years here I’ve been one of the smallest guys but I’ve been determined to get every rebound necessary,” Andrews said.
Wyatt is another local big who is translating to a wing. The junior can score at all three levels and feels confident in his team putting the ball in the hoop.
“It really just means if one guy has an off night we have four others that can score the ball,” Wyatt said. “It makes us hard to beat because any one of us can beat you.”
Golden Valley will also return Jamison Torres, Zach Christoffersen and sharpshooter Alex Villejo.
Coach Printz knows there will be no easy nights in the Foothill League as every game is a rivalry game. The Grizzlies will aim to make their first playoff spot in three years.
Hart hoops trending back up
Hart has multiple strong starts over the past few years that were cut short by injuries.
The Hawks were represented by longtime head coach Tom Kelly, senior guard Ron Phillips and 7-footer Craig Irons, who all believe the team can reach its goal of 20-plus wins on the year and a postseason seed barring lighter slumps and injuries.
“We can definitely do that this year,” Irons said. “We don’t wanna slump off midseason like we did last year. A lot of the younger guys on our team have been stepping up and been amazing players. We have every piece we really need. We have good ball handlers, good defensive players, great shooters and great inside players.”
Phillips is one of Kelly’s most improved players whose minutes increased throughout the ’23-24 season.
The senior will be Kelly’s offense with minor tweaks. Look for Andrew Lange, Jacob Paisano and Easton Wissmath to make impacts in the offense with numerous scoring options.
“If we have a big kid like Craig, we’re gonna try and play inside out,” Kelly said. “We still wanna shoot the ball and we still wanna push the ball.”
Kelly is excited for the Foothill League’s latest era as he’s seen the competition grow through multiple phases. The league looks like it’ll be a tight battle but with three new opposing head coaches, time will tell how tight games and the standings are.
“I think what makes it fun in league this year is three new coaches, three new styles,” Kelly said. “And I’m not trying to say this in a negative way, but West Ranch is playing with local kids this year so the parity is going to be all neighborhood kids going at it head to head. That’s the fun and beauty of our league, when you have local kids going at it. These kids have known each other since elementary school, playing park and rec, travel ball, the same AAU teams. So I think the league parity is gonna be a lot more fun this year.”
Castaic new standards pave positive changes for program
Castaic will be another program going through culture change now under first-year head coach Louis Fernando.
Fernando has a “115 standard” where anything under 115% given is considered a failure.
“In order to achieve what we set out to achieve, we can’t do that by coming to the gym and giving 70 or 80% of our best … Culture change is a really challenging thing and teaching basketball is super subjective. We want to bring a group together to all have that same mindset, and it’s been a challenge. I demand greatness from my players every single day and that’s something they haven’t been used to … We’re not trying to change the culture overnight, we just want to get 1% better every day.”
Joining their coach was Alvin Clark and Tehan Silva. Both players have noticed immense changes in their individual and team play and are excited for the season ahead.
“It’s shown in games, what coach Lou has done in practice, we can see improvement,” Clark said. “There’ll be games where we struggle but I feel we’ve come a long way and we have a good season ahead of us.”
Off the court, Fernando has his players in study hall, staying on top of their grades and constantly reminding them their role is student before athlete.
Castaic enters the season as a reigning CIF champion but is still looking for its first league win. With the parity of the league, the Coyotes feel good about their shot of winning a few games in Foothill while potentially returning to the postseason.
