The Sunnyvale Sun

Sports

Bliss, Lim lead King's to solid 2006 season

By Mike Barnhart

Stopping the run this football season has been no easy chore for the defensive unit of The King's Academy--in practice sessions, that is.

After all, chasing down talented teammates Jacob Bliss and Steven Lim in practice each week often proved to be more difficult than stopping opponents on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons. The Knights learned their lessons well, winning their first eight games, including a pulsating 29-28 victory over Sacred Heart Prep that clinched a share of the Bay Football League championship.

But nothing, not even a season full of workouts against Bliss and Lim, who combined for 26 touchdowns and more than 2,200 rushing yards this fall, could prepare the Knights for what they ran into over the past two weekends.

Simply, they ran into Jahvid Best, a 5-foot-10, 185-pound senior with 4.4-second speed in the 40-yard dash. Best is considered among the best and fastest high school running backs in the nation.

First, in the league finale on Nov. 11, Best raced for 417 yards and eight touchdowns to lead Salesian of Richmond past TKA 63-34, forging a three-way tie between his Chieftains, the Knights and Sacred Heart.

Six nights later, in a North Coast Section Class A playoff game, he drew a crowd of TKA defenders wherever he went, even when he was not given the ball. Despite a sore right leg, though, he rushed for three touchdowns and returned a kick-off 94 yards for another, leading the visiting Chieftains to a 42-21 triumph.

"Only one team was able to beat you this season--a great team with the fastest runner in the state," coach Ron Kellner said to his TKA players during a post-game huddle.

Best endured several big hits and escaped many others, while packing the ball 20 times for 194 yards. He broke loose for scoring runs of 8, 28 and 48 yards, and served as a decoy while teammate Ryan Ching banged inside for 137 yards on 23 rushes.

"He's just phenomenal and he's a class act, too--very respectful," Kellner said of Best, who improved his amazing stats to 39 touchdowns and 2,806 rushing yards. "Every Pac-10 school and Notre Dame want him."

Although Salesian (9-2) was the team that advanced from the NCS playoff opener, TKA had the momentum--and almost the lead--midway through the second quarter.

Kyle McDonald's 1-yard bolt and Daniel Detrinidad's PAT kick gave the Knights a 14-14 tie with 10:10 left in the half. On the ensuing kick-off, Jordan Martin recovered an onside kick for the Knights at Salesian's 48-yard-line. Ten plays and five minutes later, the Knights had a second-and-goal at the one, but Salesian ended the threat with a huge hit, a forced fumble and a recovery at the 11.

Nine plays later, the Chieftains regained the lead on a 34-yard pass at 1:04. On the second play after the ensuing kick-off, TKA lost another fumble and Salesian recovered at the Knights' 28. Best immediately turned the opportunity into his third score of the night and a 27-14 lead with 44 seconds left in the half.

Another Salesian touchdown pass, a 12-yarder with 3:15 to go in the third quarter, and Best's two-point conversion run made it 35-14.

Bliss put the Knights back on the scoreboard moments later, sweeping outside to the left, turning upfield at the sideline and outrunning the Chieftains 66 yards for the Knights' final touchdown of the season. Senior Colin Foshay, subbing for Detrinidad, booted the extra point.

Bliss, who ran the ball 12 times for 164 yards, finished his junior season with team highs of 1,252 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns. Lim's senior campaign concluded with 952 running yards and 10 touchdowns, including a 61-yard scamper in the first quarter last Friday night.

Throughout the season, Bliss, Lim and senior quarterback Sam Sussman benefited from key blocks by their offensive linemen. Kellner cited the overall consistency throughout the season of senior left tackle Josh Moran, sophomore center Ben Vidovich and sophomore right tackle Ted Trinko. Although Kellner used different offensive guards during the season, senior Chris Justice and junior Ryan Ponce manned the posts effectively in the playoff game.

Defensively, the Knights were paced throughout the season by a pair of seniors, middle linebacker Josiah Auer and defensive end Jordan Martin, and two sophomores, outside linebacker Travis Johnson and defensive back Ben Sussman (57 tackles), Kellner said. They all made their share of plays against Salesian, as did seniors Zach Freitas, Joe Ojeda and Austin Ghiossi, junior Thad Winton and sophomore Nathan Linn.

Mustangs bow in hockey

After putting together a 9-2-2 record and finishing second behind Willow Glen in the West Valley Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League, Homestead returned to the Central Coast Section hockey playoffs for the first time since 1998. Unfortunately, Homestead's first-round match at Gilroy resulted in a 3-0 defeat.

Under the leadership of coach Melanie Banfield, the Mustangs closed out a fine season with an overall record of 9-5-4. Playing their final game for Homestead were seniors Nicole Caballero, Rodhiya Colson, Emily Critchfield, Tiffany Fang, Jennifer Garnett, Ali Holtzapple, Jamie Keith, Samantha Lee, Chelsea Maniscalco, Shirin Mollah, Katherine Sun, Melinda Templeman and Jessica Wang.

Knights shine at state

Two weeks after scoring second-place finishes at the CCS meet, the boys and girls cross country teams of The King's Academy posted top-10 efforts at the state finals held Nov. 25 at Fresno's Woodward Park.

Junior Matt Giuste, who was second among Division V boys at CCS, captured 14th out of 177 Division V competitors at the state meet. Giuste was the top runner for the Knights, who placed ninth out of 22 teams. He covered the 3.1-mile course in 16 minutes, 36 seconds.

TKA sophomore Priya Pappu followed her third-place effort in the CCS Division V race with a 20th-place showing at state. Pappu ran 19:58, pacing the Knights to 10th place out of 20 Division V girls squads.

In the boys' team scoring, Giuste had the sixth fastest time out of 139 runners, nearly a minute ahead of senior teammate Sean Robinson (17:34), who came in 42nd. Junior Joe Sereda (17:53) was the third-best finisher for the Knights, followed by senior Anthony Laurel (18:30), junior Ethan Kracht (19:17), sophomore Michael McEachern (19:37) and senior John De Villiers (20:44).

In the girls' team scoring, Pappu finished 18th out of 133 runners to lead the Knights. Seniors Kristen Butelo (20:20) placed 28th, 12 spots ahead of senior Monica Monari (20:50). Senior Emily Henderson (21:31) and sophomore Monica Junge (22:27) finished 65th and 85th, respectively, for the Knights. Seniors Catherine Haas and Melissa Sill also competed for TKA, but did not factor in the team scoring.

Bronco camps

Santa Clara University baseball will host a series of winter camps for players ages 6-18, including: pitching and catching camp, ages 12-18, Dec. 2-3, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.; holiday hitting camp, ages 12-18, Dec. 2-3, 1:30-4:30 p.m.; holiday instructional games camp, ages 6-12, Dec. 18-22, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.; and winter hitting camp, ages 12-18, Jan. 20-21, 1:30-4:30 p.m.

The cost for each camp is $200. For more information, contact camp coordinator Matt Daily at 408.554.4151 or sanatclarabaseball@gmail.com.