Orange County Prep Review : Keri Erkenbrack Pulls Double Duty at Canyon

The hard part, Keri Erkenbrack says, is transportation.

But the rest can hardly be easy.

Erkenbrack, a 5-foot 11-inch sophomore, has started on the Canyon High School girls’ soccer and girls’ basketball teams this season.

One day in December, she played in two Cerritos Tournament soccer matches--one at 11 a.m. and one at 3 p.m.--before hurrying back to school to catch the basketball team bus. That night, she scored 14 points to lead the Comanches to the Bolsa Grande Tournament championship. Afterward, she was named tournament most valuable player.

The regular season ended Thursday, but Erkenbrack is far from finished: Both teams have made the playoffs. The soccer team won the Century League championship with a 6-2-1 league record, and the basketball team (6-4) also qualified, finishing third.

Erkenbrack says it hasn’t been all that hard, and that even after that marathon December day, she wasn’t tired until after the basketball game was over.

But because Erkenbrack, 16, does not yet have a driver’s license, she needs help from her parents and teammates to shuttle her from game to game when she is unable to catch the team bus, and occasionally from a game or practice to a practice or game.

Erkenbrack has played soccer since she was a preschooler and began playing basketball several years ago. This year, her first at Canyon, a three-year high school, she discovered the seasons are concurrent.

She was playing basketball, but then heard that the soccer team needed a goalkeeper. Although she had been a forward, goalie now sounded like a natural. This way, she could play soccer, but not be too tired for basketball.

Basketball Coach Harper Ephrom agreed, but only on the condition that she not miss any basketball practices or games.

Erkenbrack practices with the soccer team as often as schedules permit--sometimes only once a week.

“For soccer, really all I have to do is keep in shape,” Erkenbrack said. “Basketball kind of helps me at goalie because it’s so much using my hands. My soccer coach thinks basketball really helps.”

Call it the Fullerton Amendment: The first-ever Freeway League Tournament ended in disaster for league-champion Fullerton Friday night when the Indians, who won the title with a 9-1 record, were kept out of the playoffs when Sonora beat them in the third-place game.

The league sent its top three tournament finishers to the playoffs rather than the regular season top three.

Now, Troy Coach Ed Graham, the innovator who proposed both the tournament and the league’s three-point shot, has an idea that would assure the league champion a playoff spot.

Rather than give first-round byes to the two top teams, the tournament format would have all six teams playing the first night, with the three winners plus the highest-seeded loser advancing. The semifinal winners would then play for the championship, and the third-place game would be eliminated, with the highest-seeded semifinal loser automatically taking the final playoff spot.

Graham’s proposal will be discussed at the year-end coaches’ meeting tonight, during which the coaches will vote not only on whether to continue the tournament (and if so, the format), but also on the common site season-openers and the three-point shot, both of which the league used for the first time this season.

Fullerton Coach Randy Forgette hasn’t made up his mind whether he likes the tournament as it is. “The easiest thing to do is to second-guess things now, especially since we were the first-place team and got eliminated,” he said.

“I honestly don’t know about the tournament. If the coaches think it’s a good thing, I’ll go along with that. But I don’t want a knee-jerk reaction here; the other coaches just need to realize that that the same thing could happen to them next year.”

Add Freeway League: Buena Park Coach Ken Bell, whose Coyotes finished in a three-way tie for third in the league but won a playoff spot by being tournament runner-up, has an interesting perspective: “I told Randy Forgette right up front that I’d trade my CIF spot for his league title any time,” Bell said. “League titles are a lot harder to come by.”

Dunk Contest? No Contest: Mater Dei held its traditional dunk contest after beating Servite Saturday night, and LeRon Ellis, the Monarchs’ 6-foot 11-inch star center, came out the unofficial winner. One Ellis move involved teammate Erik Quigley, who sat in a chair in the lane as Ellis dribbled toward him, bounced the ball in front, and then leaped over the chair--and Quigley--finishing off with a reverse dunk.

But what happens if Ellis breaks a leg in this pre-playoff exhibition?

“We lose,” Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight said.

Teammate Kevin Rembert gave Ellis some competition, and there were attempts to get LeRoy Ellis to join the show. However, Ellis, the former Laker--and LeRon’s father--could not be persuaded.

High Scorers Finish Season: Nine of Orange County’s top 10 boys’ basketball scorers figured to be in the playoffs before Friday night, but when Los Amigos upset league champion Bolsa Grande, taking third place and the final playoff spot, it ended the season for Rancho Alamitos, which has Orange County’s top scorer, Randy Morales, and the No. 5 scorer, Craig Paquette.

Scott Herdman of Laguna Beach is the other top-10 scorer whose team did not make the playoffs.

Morales (24.7 points per game) and Paquette (22) led a Rancho Alamitos team that played half the season without a starter over 6-feet tall before bringing up 6-foot 3-inch Brin Moore from the junior varsity at the midway point.

The Vaqueros’ basic offensive strategy this season was simple: Paquette or Morales.

“It’s me or Randy, whoever’s open,” Paquette said.

Morales is a point guard whose slight 5-foot 10-inch, 140-pound build so belies his abilities that when he heads over to Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley for some playground hoops with a taller friend, Orange County’s leading scorer is sometimes the last one picked for teams. Morales’ highest point total this season was 39.

Paquette, a baseball player first and basketball player second, is a 6-0 senior guard/center/forward who did, well, whatever it was that Morales didn’t. His season-high was 41.

Both say they are considering attending a junior college next year, and Paquette, whose batting average was better than .400 last season, said he will concentrate on baseball.

Four Orange County soccer teams are likely to be the top seeds in their divisions when the Southern Section playoff pairings are announced today.

Defending champion Esperanza is expected to be the top seed in boys’ 3-A, and 1986 co-champion Brea-Olinda should be No. 1 in 2-A.

Two undefeated girls’ teams--Mission Viejo (4-A) and Laguna Hills (3-A)--also are likely to be seeded first. Mission Viejo was 4-A co-champion last season; Laguna Hills advanced to the 4-A semifinals last season.

Prep Notes

El Toro football Coach Bob Johnson has been named to coach the South team in the 36th Shrine All-Star football game Aug. 1 in the Rose Bowl. Johnson led the Chargers to a 14-0 record and the Southern Conference championship. Johnson will share the coaching duties with Bill Redell of Crespi, winner of the Big Five Conference title. . . . Former Los Angeles Rams trainer Gary Tuthill and Charles Felder, director of the Sports Rehabilitation Center at Martin Luther Hospital in Anaheim, head the list of speakers scheduled for the second Orange County Sports Medicine Seminar at 8 a.m. Saturday at Anaheim Memorial Hospital Auditorium.