Newport shines in Winter Classic
The Newport Region 97 boys’ under-9 flex team defeated Ladera Premier Barcelona, 3-1 in the championship game of the UCI Winter Classic.
Zach Forbath scored two goals and Cameron Harper added another, as the Newport team defeated the previously unbeaten squad from Ladera Ranch to win the U9 championship.
Newport was led by strong performances in goal by Aiden Goltz and Kyle Binford.
Newport’s solid defense led by Evan Fischbacher, Hutton Wooters and Kory Griscom allowed only three goals for the entire tournament.
Alec Blower, Daniel Woods and Robbie Spooner played strong up front keeping the play on Ladera’s side of the field.
Newport 97, an AYSO Flex-team, dominated the club teams in the tournament, finishing undefeated and outscoring the competition 16-3 for the tournament.
The Newport team was led to victory by coaches Dave Wooters and Ian Goltz.
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All-Net team wins title
The Newport-Mesa fifth-grade All-Net boys’ basketball team captured the highly competitive Swoosh Basketball tournament title last weekend.
Newport-Mesa, currently the No. 2-ranked fifth-grade National Junior Basketball team in Orange County faced the Five-on-Five, a top AAU team, for the championship.
Down by 12 at halftime, Newport-Mesa battled all the way back to a two-point deficit with seven seconds left when Kevin Kobrine drained a three-pointer to give Newport-Mesa the win.
In the ACES MLK AAU tournament Newport-Mesa competed against some of the elite fifth-grade teams from Los Angeles and Orange County. The team ended up with an impressive second-place finish in the gold division.
The team members are Ben Coffman, Morgan Cortens, Jake Griffin, Preston Hartsell, Kevin Kobrine, JT Murphy, JT Schwartz, Jack Seybold and Cole Whitelaw.
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Swanson wins gold
Local Costa Mesa Middle School student Sammy Swanson took the gold in slopestyle last weekend at Bear Mountain in the United States of America Snowboard Assn. first contest of the season.
Swanson qualified, but could not compete at Nationals last year due to a broken collarbone injury during training the week prior. He came back strong this season.
Competition is for snowboarders and freestyle skiers with 26 age groups for men and women from 7-and-under to 70-and-older.
Winners qualify for the USASA National Championships at Copper Mountain, Colo., set for April 1 through 8.
There were two slopestyle contests on Jan. 30. Other events in the Southern California region this season include a boardercross and skiercross Feb. 6, and giant slalom and slalom races Feb. 27 at Snow Summit.
Bear Mountain is the host for two USASA halfpipe competitions March 6 and 13.
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NJB Division 7-8 grade
Wildcats 39, Cordovas 25
Ford Secrist scored a season-high 18 points, leading the Wildcats to victory over the Cordovas.
Blake Kormos went strong to the hoop with 10 points, as Harry Miller provided his best performance, hitting three of four of his three-pointers. The scoring effort was backed by Nick Borquez and Corbin Thompson, who dominated the boards with a number of crucial rebounds and put-backs.
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Bruins 34 Lakers 25
Grady Kimme led the Bruins in victory over the Lakers, scoring 10 points and grabbing four rebounds.
Parker Chase provided solid defense, allowing Nick Whitelaw to show with his own eight points. Patrick Halle led the Lakers with 15 points and six rebounds. John Redoutey did much of the dirty work, adding six rebounds to his pair of blocked shots and steals.
Harrison Hewitt tallied three assists, connecting with Matt Alessi, Liam Murphy and Gage Thomas.
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Newport-Mesa NJB
Boys’ eighth-grade All-Net
Newport-Mesa Tar Heels 59, Anaheim Hills Commanches 41
The Tar Heels improved to 7-2, winning their sixth straight game and staying atop the league in first place with a decisive win over the visiting Commanches.
Logan Miller led all scorers with 10 points and three assists, while Cole Norris added nine points and five rebounds and Kevin Fults added nine points and five rebounds.
The balanced team scoring was capped off by Riley Gaddis (eight points, two rebounds), Justin Hess (eight points, seven rebounds), Max Kline (eight points, two rebounds), Charlie Evans (four points, five rebounds, two steals), Caleb O’Neil (two points, four rebounds) and Max Stanley (four assists, two rebounds).
Augie Miller was unable to play due to injury.
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