Basketball star Jeremy Tyler's decision to turn pro after his junior year at San Diego High was the most talked about story in the state during the 2008-09 school year. Other stories among our top 15 include Sacramento Grant's historic win over Long Beach Poly in the CIF Open Division state football bowl game and one of the most stunning upsets any team in any sport in state history has ever pulled off.

By Mark Tennis & Ronnie Flores
Contributing: Paul Muyskens

1. Jeremy Tyler Leaves High School For Pros

This one is a no-brainer at the top of our list and might be the biggest story of the school year nationally, too. In a move orchestrated by summer basketball pioneer Sonny Vaccaro, San Diego High's Jeremy Tyler, a 6-foot-11 junior who previously committed to Louisville, decided to skip his senior season of high school to play professionally in Europe for two years before entering the 2011 NBA Draft.

One year earlier, Vaccaro aided EA SPORTS National Player of the Year Brandon Jennings in skipping college to play professional ball overseas, but Tyler's decision was different and drew stronger reactions since he actually has not yet finished high school.

Recently, Las Vegas High baseball sensation Bryce Harper decided to skip his final two years of high school so there is no telling where this trend is headed. While many in the local basketball community opposed Tyler's move, it was pretty obvious he was not going to finish his prep career at San Diego High, regardless. What happened with the Cavers and the players that were supposed to be playing alongside Tyler is another story.

2. Grant Wins First CIF Open Division Bowl Game

One of the biggest stories of the 2007-2008 school year came when the CIF Federated Council approved the expansion of the CIF State Championship Bowl Games from three to five games for the 2008 season. It wasn't much of a surprise, but two events that transpired from that decision were eye-openers, that's for sure.

The first came when Sac-Joaquin Section Div. II champion Grant of Sacramento was selected to play in the Open Division bowl game, which was created to pit the best team in Northern California versus the best from SoCal regardless of enrollment. Grant's selection proved the CIF Bowl Games were not just created for an annual match up of De La Salle of Concord versus the best Southern California has to offer.

Second, Grant showed the prep football world that quality football in Northern California does exist outside the Spartans' legendary program, as they upset a Long Beach Poly team that was looking to become the first program to win a CIF state championship in the early era (1915-1927) and the modern CIF bowl game era.

With its 25-20 victory, Grant was the first victorious NorCal team in the expanded bowl game setup. And to say that Grant's win boosted the prestige of the entire Sacramento community would be an understatement. It is arguably the biggest win any team in the city's history has ever had.

3.  Budget Crunch Impacts Everyone

There isn't a school district of any size in the state that is not currently struggling over which programs to cut and which teachers will receive layoff notices. Some districts have been hit harder than others and there are some familiar with school funding who believe that it will be even worse next year.

The East Side Union High School District in San Jose seemed to be one of the most hard hit by budget cuts. In the spring, there was a very real chance that high school sports in their entirety might have been sliced. Thankfully, that didn't happen, but there have been numerous reports of schools that will be cutting lower-level teams, limiting travel and laying off young coaches without seniority.

4.  Inland Empire Dominance

The Inland Empire, which consists of CIF Southern Section schools in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, has long sought statewide respect as an athletic juggernaut. This especially holds true in the sport of football as it relates to its Orange County counterparts.

The reality is that the I.E. has long produced talented athletes (such as Riverside Poly's Cheryl and Reggie Miller along with Bobby Bonds), but we can't recall a year when schools in the region dominated in key sports and its individuals shined on big stages quite like they did in 2008-2009.

It started when Corona Centennial's football team defeated NorCal powerhouse Concord De La Salle in the Div. I bowl game and claimed state team of the year honors. Centennial also became the first team in the region to lead the state in college signers since Rialto Eisenhower in 1993.

This past winter, Riverside King's Kawhi Leonard became the second-ever Mr. Basketball winner from the region as he led the Wolves to the prestigious CIFSS Div. I-AA title with a victory over national No. 1 Santa Ana Mater Dei. Rancho Verde's Michael Snaer was the unofficial runner-up to Leonard and not to be outdone, San Bernardino Cajon's Layshia Clarendon took home Ms. Basketball honors.

Springtime meant more I.E. dominance as Norco's Matt Hobgood slugged a state-leading 21 home runs and was the No. 5 pick in the first round of the MLB draft. The pitching rivalry between Norco's Teagan Gerhart and Corona Santiago's Kamerin May had softball fans talking all season long and the duo met in the CIFSS Div. I finals with Gerhart and Norco pulling out the rubber match. Not to be outdone, Riverside La Sierra, behind a first place double by Reggie Wyatt (400-300H), closed out the school year by winning a share of the CIF boys team track title.

5. Renardo Sidney Going Back Home?

When we first heard the news that L.A. Fairfax All-American center Renardo Sidney would be returning to his native Mississippi for college, we were the first ones to speculate that it might mean a lot more than the local colleges deciding to pass up on one of the best centers in L.A. City Section history. We speculated Sidney's departure from California was a telltale sign of the NCAA investigation of USC's football and basketball programs and a bombshell was dropped a week later when former SoCal prep sportswriter Louis Johnson alleged that USC basketball coach Tim Floyd forked over $1,000 to O.J. Mayo confidant Rodney Guillory.

Johnson's latest allegation came nearly one year to the date after he went on ESPN's Outside the Lines to discuss, in detail, improprieties Guillory and himself were involved with in regards to Mayo's amateur status during his senior year of high school in West Virginia and his one season at USC.

In the aftermath of the Mayo-Guillory-Johnson saga, USC not only lost Sidney, but Floyd recently resigned and the basketball program lost nearly every other vital player and recruit, including Oak Hill Academy's Lamont "MoMo" Jones and La Mirada's Derrick Williams. The NCAA investigation is far from complete and there is a very good chance 2010 Mr. Basketball candidates Gary Franklin (Mater Dei) and Dwayne Polee Jr. (Westchester) won't be calling the Galen Center home, either. After all of that, there is still no guarantee Sidney will be eligible to play at Mississippi State.

6. No. 1 In The Nation In Two Sports

Just having one team at your school end the season as a mythical national champion is one thing but down in San Jose the Archbishop Mitty Monarchs had two teams end the season ranked No. 1 in the nation in the end of the season ESPN RISE FAB 50 rankings.

The Monarchs' volleyball team, coached by Bret Almazan-Cezar and led by junior Rachel Williams (who has since committed to Stanford) was the first to earn a top national ranking as it swept Redlands East Valley in the CIF Division II state championship game to cap a 42-1 season and earn their seventh state title.

Then in the spring, with Keilani Ricketts in the circle and head coach Sarah Thomas calling the shots, the Monarchs' softball team went undefeated and captured their fifth consecutive Central Coast Section championship. Arguably the biggest game during the season was the championship game of the Livermore Stampede tournament as Mitty faced the then-No. 1 team in the state, Sheldon of Sacramento, as Ricketts hit a three-run homer and struck out 20 in a 5-2 win.

7.  Evolution of CIF Football Bowl Games

This year saw the first time that the bowl game format expanded from three to five. And although the small school game was an unfortunate rout, with St. Margaret's of San Juan Capistrano doing the deed to Hamilton of Hamilton City, the other four contests were entertaining and closely-contested for the most part. In addition to the Tartans, also winning CIF state titles were Grant of Sacramento (Open Division), Centennial of Corona (Division I), Cathedral Catholic of San Diego (Division II) and St. Bonaventure of Ventura (Division III).

Later in the school year, the various executive committees at the section level debated a proposal that would have added a regional round of games into the state bowl game series. This would have created a North game and a South game with the two winners then being matched in the state game. That proposal, however, was voted down. Opposition from the Southern Section, San Diego Section and the North Coast Section was too much to overcome.

8.  CIF State Track Team Titles

This year's team track championships at the CIF state meet in Clovis were especially historic for both the girls and the boys.

On the boys side, we had the first-ever four-way tie for the title between Clovis East of Clovis, La Sierra of Riverside, Cathedral of Los Angeles and Frontier of Bakersfield. All four of those teams got 20 points with La Sierra, Cathedral and Frontier getting there thanks to the double titles from one athlete. Cathedral's double came in the sprints from Randall Carroll while La Sierra's Reggie Wyatt did the same in the hurdles and Matt Darr did in the shot and discus. Clovis East reached 20 points on the basis of Willy Irwin placing second in the discus and fourth in the shot and from Mike Peterson finishing second in the pole vault.

On the girls side, Long Beach Poly scored bushels of points in the relays, sprints and even a few field events and won its 10th team title. The Jackrabbits also earned the school's second CIF state title of the school year (the first was in girls basketball) and improved the school's all-time CIF state team title count to 28.

9.  All The Way With Jordan Hasay

If there was one athlete, either boys or girls, who seemed to encompass all that is great about high school sports it's Hasay. She's been a sensation in track and cross country since her freshman season and has maintained near-perfect grades at the same time. Despite many demands, she also seems to present herself with class and distinction when then camera is on and notebooks are open.

Hasay won her fourth straight CIF state track title in the 3200 meters in Clovis after qualifying for the U.S. Olympic trials final last summer in Eugene, Oregon, in the 1500. In the fall, she captured her fourth straight Footlocker West Regional title in cross country and won her second Footlocker national title. She won her first Footlocker national crown in 2005.

10. Celebrity High Football Team

Oaks Christian, a private school in Westlake Village, opened a little less than a decade ago with a vision of becoming an athletic powerhouse. You can say those goals have been met and then some.

The football team has won over 92 percent of its games (101-8-1) since first fielding a varsity team in 2001, including last season when the Lions upped their playoff winning streak to 25 games (No. 2 on the all-time state list) and won their sixth consecutive division title, a CIF Southern Section record.

The 2008 championship team featured many key underclassmen and it's just not the numbers, but the names, that made it a media circus at times and set up what could be an unprecedented media circus this fall. QB Nick Montana, headed to Washington, is the son of NFL Hall of Fame QB Joe Montana. Fighting for playing time at wide receiver this fall will be Trey Smith, the son of actor Will
Smith, and Montana's back-up under center will be Trevor Gretzky, the son of NHL legend Wayne Gretzky. Fueling the hoopla surrounding this team will be the addition of Joe Montana to the coaching staff and a big road game against Skyline (Sammamish, Wash.) on September 18.

11. Girls Soccer Upset For The Ages

With less than 15 minutes remaining in the North Coast Section 3A championship game, Foothill of Pleasanton had a two-goal lead and seemed to have a No. 1 ranking in the state and nation all wrapped up before suffering a stunning upset in incredible fashion. The Falcons had already defeated San Ramon Valley of Danville twice this season and on the year had allowed just five goals. If they had won that last game, many also would have considered them among the finest teams to ever play not only in California, but the nation. It all came crashing down in those last minutes.  

Junior Grace Leer cut the lead to 3-2 with a goal in the 67th minute and then scored the equalizer for SRV with a header off a long free kick with just seconds remaining in stoppage time. The Falcons still had a chance to avenge last year's section championship game loss to the Wolves in overtime, but sophomore Allie Begin scored the game winner just three minutes into sudden death overtime. San Ramon Valley had scored three times in a 20-minute span to pull off an absolutely stunning upset.

12. Judge Halts Section Playoff Game

The Colfax High football team was on the bus and headed to play Oakdale in the opening round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Div. IV playoffs before having to turn the bus around and head home because of a temporary restraining order issued by an Alameda County judge.

This began a legal battle of who should play in those playoffs, Placer of Auburn or Colfax. The case surrounded Hillmen running back Dalton Dyer, who was initially ruled ineligible by the section because the school's athletic director did not file the proper hardship transfer papers. The caused the school to take five forfeit losses that turned the playoff-qualifying season into one with no postseason play.

With the case then being heard by the Superior Court in Alameda, the judge reinstated Placer's forfeited victories. Dyer's case also attracted national attention because it involved students in the foster parent system. The Hillmen took full advantage of their new life, traveling to Oakdale one week later and pulling off an upset of the Mustangs. They went on to beat Dixon in the semifinals before losing to Whitney of Rocklin in the final.

13. Softball Sluggers Take Center Stage

Only two seasons ago, the reported state record for career home runs in softball was 38, held by Oakland Bishop O'Dowd's Jennifer Lizama. Bloomington's Anissa Young finished the 2008 season with 38 career round trippers, but Lizama and Young are no longer even in the top five on the all-time state list. Further research for the seventh printed edition of our state record book revealed that Kaila Shull from Lodi Elliot Christian belted 45 home runs between 2003 and 2006, but her mark was tied during the 2008 season by San Pedro's Perelini Koria.

Today, Koria only ranks second on the L.A. City Section's all-time state list as home run queens from around the state continued the dizzying pace during the 2009 season. Shannon Colquitt from King-Drew Medical Magnet in South Central Los Angeles belted 27 homers this year alone to shatter the single-season mark of 19 set last season by Coliseum League rival Alia Williams. Colquitt finished her career with 42 homers, which amazingly is eight behind the total of Lancaster's Shawna Wright. Wright twice belted 14 homers in a season to finish her prep career with an even 50.

Crescenta Valley's Baillie Kirker homered in two of the last three playoff games of her career to move past Wright with 52 homers. During this past season, Kirker and Williams moved ahead of one another to claim the title of California's softball home run queen but in the end, it was Crenshaw's Williams who laid claim to the throne. A model of consistency, Williams hit 15 as a sophomore, 19 as a junior, and 16 this season to go along with the three she hit during her freshman campaign to occupy the top spot all by herself with 53 career home runs.

14. Miracle Win by Salesian Top CIF State Hoops Finals

Through the first five games of the 2009 CIF state hoop finals, NorCal was 0-5 against their Southern California counterparts. Bishop Montgomery of Torrance was a slight favorite over Salesian of Richmond in the boys Div. IV final (we predicted a 71-66 final score in favor of the Knights) and in the closing seconds it looked like the boys from SoCal would pull out the close victory, albeit with a little luck.

Montgomery was clinging to a 64-63 lead with approximately 10 seconds remaining when senior guard Justin Cobbs shot an off-balance jumper that hit the front of the rim. Amazingly, the basketball trickled right back to him and he was fouled. He stepped to the line with 7.9 seconds remaining and, in a one-and-one situation, his shot came up short.

Salesian rebounded and put the ball in the hands of standout junior Desmond Simmons 60 feet away from its own basket. Disaster struck, as Simmons dribbled the ball off his own leg in the frontcourt. With the seconds ticking down, the ball, however, amazingly ricocheted straight to Salesian's Jabari Brown.

Some of the Knights' players converged toward the scrum for the ball in front of Salesian's bench with Cobbs trailing the play. As that occurred, the Pride's Kendall Andrews slid underneath the basket, received a pass from Brown and calmly threw in a soft bank shot before Cobbs could pin it off the glass as the buzzer sounded to give Salesian a miraculous 65-64 win.

Although that game didn't have many ramifications related to team or individual honors, it was the most dramatic ending to a game at the CIF state finals in many years.

15. California Baseball Greatness Shines Again On Draft Day

It was another example of why California has no equal as a baseball state when this year's Major League Baseball draft was held earlier this month in New Jersey.

Not only was the No. 1 pick of the draft, San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg, a Californian, but when the first round was complete the state's total was eight. Strasburg, who went to West Hills High of Santee, was followed at the No. 5 spot overall by Norco's Matt Hobgood. He was first high school player from California chosen in the draft and was No. 2 nationally behind Georgia's Donavan Tate.

Other current California high schoolers that went in the first-round of the baseball draft were Tyler Matzek from Capistrano Valley of Mission Viejo and Jiovani Meir from Bonita of La Verne. Others currently in college from California high schools to be drafted in the first round were Mike Leake of Arizona State (Fallbrook), Garrett Green of USC (Canyon of Anaheim), Brett Jackson of Cal (Miramonte of Orinda) and Tim Wheeler of Sacramento State (El Camino of Sacramento).

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