Here's an item that would spark some debate:
What's the best sport in the Pacific View League?
The boys' soccer coach maintain it is, well, boys soccer.
"We're so competitive at every school," says Rio Mesa coach Brandon Fuchs. "There's not an easy game on the schedule, and all of us are capable of doing well in the playoffs."
Rio Mesa finished fourth in league last season, and won the CIF-SS Division IV championship. Channel Islands was a finalist, while Pacifica was a semifinalist.
The prognosis is for more of the same this season. Oxnard, Hueneme and Camarillo are all in the hunt for the playoffs, if not a league championship.

Kylie Cunningham had 20 points and seven assists, Brittany Oster had 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Camille Mahlknecht had 12 points and five blocks as the Agoura High girls' basketball team opened the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix, Ariz. with a 67-51 win over Hamilton (Ariz.) Friday.

Sasha Bornstein also had 13 points for the Chargers (7-0), who face Jordan/Pinewood in the quarterfinals of the John Anderson Division today at 3:30 p.m..

"We just played a tough game," said Agoura coach Steve Scifres. "We were able to not allow them to do what they wanted to do."

Hamilton, ranked No. 5 in Arizona's Division 5A-I by the Arizona Republic, used a half-court trap to pull within six points midway through the fourth quarter, but Cunningham and Bornstein responded with consectutive 3-pointers to salt the game away.

GIRLS
Highlands Ranch (Colo.) 51, Buena 37
At Nike Tournament of Champions, Phoenix, Ariz.
Mike Desper Division, first round
Buena: Kacie Sowell had 20 points and 12 rebounds and Keani Albanez added 12 points. Buena led Highlands Park, Colorado state champion in six of the past eight years, 24-15 at the half, but was outscored 23-4 in the third quarter. Buena faces Sacramento, ranked No. 31 nationally by ESPN, today at 11 a.m.
Records: Buena 5-4, Highland Park 6-2.

Oaks Chrisitan School football coach Bill Redell came to the defense of Westlake High coach Jim Benkert in the wake of Petros Papadakis' critical comments about Westlake's program last Sunday night on "The Challenge" on KNBC.

"I think Jim Benkert has done a fabulous job at Westlake High and he is a man of the highest character," Redell said. "The entire Westlake community and Westlake High should be very proud to have a coach of Jim Benkert's caliber and stature running that program. As a fellow coach in the fraternity and as a Westlake community person, I am very proud of what he has done."

Here is the full story

Less than a month after reaching the semifinals of the CIF-SS East Valley Division playoffs, the Grace Brehren High football team is searching for a new head coach.
Terry Gourley has announced that he is leaving the program to become an assistant coach at College of the Canyons. He calls the new job a longtime dream.
Grace Brethren finished 7-5, including wins in the first round and quarterfinals of the CIF-SS playoffs. The Lancers lost to Ontario Christian, 45-0, in the semifinals.
Grace Brethren is hoping to announce its new head coach in the next few weeks.

Here's the video that everyone is talking about in Westlake Village.

Petros Papadakis' strong opinion on the Westlake High football team's CIF-Southern Section Northern Division title run, on Sunday's The Challenge on KNBC:

The Westlake High football team was bypassed Sunday in the selections for this week's CIF-State High School Championship Bowl Games, a victim of an excess of Southern California candidates in the Division II enrollment group (1,101 to 2,399 students).
Getting the nod over Westlake were Servite (13-1) and Crenshaw (14-0), which becomes the first team from the L.A. City Section to play in a state bowl game. Crenshaw will play De La Salle of Concord (12-2) in the Open Division game Saturday at 8 p.m.; Servite faces Rocklin (14-0) in the Division II game at 4 p.m.
"Westlake sits there 14-0, Mission Bay (San Diego Section) sits there 13-0, and Kingsburg (Central Section) sits there 13-0," said Ken Gunn, event director for the bowl games. "That is just an unbelievable division. When's the last time you saw a division with four undefeated teams and a 13-1 team?
"That division was loaded, and obviously, all of those were discussed. In my mind ... it came down to Crenshaw and Servite."
Those teams were deemed to have the edge in strength of schedule.
For more, see Monday's edition of The Star.

The full lineup of bowl games at the Home Depot Center, with the South entrant listed first:
Friday
Small Schools, at 4 p.m.: San Diego Francis Parker (11-2) vs. Modesto Christian (14-0)
Division I, at 8 p.m.: Oceanside (13-0) vs. Bellarmine Prep (11-1-1)
Saturday
Division III, at noon: Serra (14-0) vs. Marin Catholic (13-1)
Division II, at 4 p.m.: Servite (13-1) vs. Rocklin (14-0)
Open Division, at 8 p.m.: Crenshaw (14-0) vs. De La Salle (12-2).

This is the last year on the current bowl-game contract with the Home Depot Center. The facility has bid to continue to host the games, as have the L.A. Coliseum, Bakersfield, Clovis, Stanford and San Jose State.

For a full story on this game, check VCSPreps.com

The two teams went back-and-forth, but Serra prevailed in overtime against Oaks Christian in the CIF-SS Northwest Division Championship. The loss snaps Oaks Christian's streak of six-straight championships and 28-straight postseason wins.

Oaks Christian trailed early by as much as 21-7, but took a 35-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Serra tied it up with 4:48 left in the game, and neither team could score in the rest of regulation despite good field position. Oaks Christian scored first in overtime on a Malcolm Jones 1-yard run but missed the extra point, allowing Serra to win the game when they scored a touchdown on a Connor Preston 1-yard run and the extra point. Jones ran for four touchdowns.

For a full story on this game, check VCSPreps.com

With the CIF-SS Northern Division Championship on the line, Westlake found itself trailing late into the fourth quarter. Backup quarterback Justin Moore ran it in from two yards out on 4th-and-1 with 41 seconds left to give Westlake the lead. Moore came into the game when starter Nick Isham got hurt in the third quarter.

On its final drive, Moorpark drove all the way to the Westlake 35-yard line, but Westlake recovered a fumble as time expired to win the championship. Moore told Star reporter Joe Curley that he left Moorpark because "they tried to make me play receiver on the freshman team."

Less than 20 minutes to go until kickoff at Simi Valley High.

We'll have live in-game updates on the VCPreps.com Twitter page.

Less than 20 minutes to go until kickoff at Simi Valley High.

We'll have live in-game updates on the VCPreps.com Twitter page.

The Ventura County Fusion men's soccer team, the reigning USL Premier Development League champion, is holding a two-day tryout this weekend in Ventura.

Saturday's session is at Ventura College. Sunday's session is at St. Bonaventure High. Registration is at 9 a.m. Cost is $50.
 
Call 805-256-0925 for more information.

In front of Fox Soccer Channel's cameras, the Fusion defeated the Chicago Fire 2-1 in the USL PDL Final on August 8 at Buena High.

Five Moorpark High football players have earned nominations to U.S. service academies, athletic director Rob Dearborn announced.
The Fab Five are James Dearborn (Army, Navy, Merchant Marines); Joe Frank (Air Force); Corey McCourt (Merchant Marines); Stephen Picchini (Army, Navy) and Pat Stewart (Army, Air Force).

An overlooked factor in Friday's matchup between Westlake and Moorpark for the CIF-SS Northern Division football championship, could be the play of the kickers.

Both the Musketeers and Warriors have outstanding kickers.

Westlake's Alex Ball has set a program record with 96 points this season, including eight field goals. He notched a 25-yard field goal in the third quarter of last week's 17-7 victory over St. Bonaventure.

Most significantly, few kickoffs have been returned this season by opponents.

Moorpark senior Stephen Picchini  is considered one of the top kickers in the Southland.
On a cold, wintry night at Valencia High last week, he blasted field goals of 48- and 45-yards in the 40-14 win over Valencia.

"I wish we had a kicker like him," a Valencia supporter said in the press box.

The Northern Division football championship game between Marmonte League rivals Westlake (13-0)  and Moorpark (12-1) will be played Friday at 7 p.m. at Simi Valley High.

To host the Northern Division championship game Friday at 7 p.m. against Marmonte League rival Moopark, Westlake is renting bleachers.

Because Saturday's Oaks Christian-Cathedral playoff game ended so late -- 10:35 p.m., well after The Star's scheduled East County edition deadline -- I was unable to get any postgame comments into the story on Oaks' 38-11 win.
And because it was one of those Murphy's Law kind of nights --with a long game, unexpected rain and other less than ideal working conditions -- it figures that I had a tape-recorder malfunction and lost some of the comments I did get. My apologies to Malcolm Jones and Blair Holliday.
One point Jones made was that defensively, the Lions didn't have to adjust schematically to Cathedral's passing game -- a short, possession-minded attack that (particularly in the early going) primarily featured throws to the sidelines -- as they had to just get use to the style and tempo. Coach Bill Redell agreed.
"Clay (Matthews) and Mark (Bates) I'm sure did a couple of little things," said Redell, referring to his primary defensive assistants, "but nothing major. We just got after them a little bit, got used to what they were doing."
On the game's first possession, the Phantoms went 75 yards in 16 plays, driving from their own 9 to the Oaks 16 before settling for a field goal. Those 16 plays consumed just four minutes, 48 seconds. By the time the quarter was over, Cathedral had run 30 plays to Oaks Christian's 5, and held the ball for 10:03 of the 12-minute period.
And yet Oaks led 7-3, having cashed in a short drive after Cathedral failed to get a first down on fourth-and-a-long-one at their own 36. Two plays later, the Lions were in front.
"They were doing a good job of keeping us off the field," said Oaks quarterback Nick Montana, who threw for three TDs. "They were completing a lot balls and moving the ball down the field. We just had to take advantage of our chances, and they weren't coming right away. But we stuck with it, and that's why we ended up with 38."
Holliday -- who had five catches for 101 yards and a touchdown -- said the offense didn't get frustrated during that early period of Cathedral possession because it had faith that the defense would perform. And in time, it did. It pressured Cathedral quarterback Trevor Olson relentlessly, sacking him five times. And after Olson was 16 of 31 for 157 yards in the first half, he was just 8 of 20 for 117 yards in the second half, and was intercepted three times, with most of the yardage coming on a late drive against Oaks reserves when he was 3 for 3 for 78 yards and the lone Cathedral touchdown.
"It was definitely an adjustment," said defensive lineman Dillon Van Der Wal, "coming from the last six weeks and stepping up to a high-caliber team and fast pace. We had to adjust in the first couple series. We were slow, and then we picked it up."
Once the defense had a grasp of Cathedral's offense, it started getting stops -- getting its first three-and-out stand late in the first half, along with five more in the second -- and then the offense started rolling, as well. Beginning with Malcolm Jones' 61-yard touchdown run with 55 seconds left in the first half (which followed the first of those three-and-out defensive series), the Lions scored on four of five possessions to go from a 7-3 lead to a 31-3 advantage.
"I think that kind of took the wind out of their sails a little bit," Redell said of Jones' long run.
Van Der Wal also had a couple of key catches at tight end, stepping in to a void created when Alani Fua was injured in the first half. No immediate report was available on his condition, although Redell said he thinks the senior will miss the title game with Serra.

Too late for Sunday's paper, though it will appear on Monday,  here's the box score from Saturday's Oaks Christian playoff game:

Oaks Christian 38, Cathedral 11
CIF-SS Northwest Division semifinal
Oaks Christian    7    7    17    7--38
Cathedral             3    0      0    8-- 11
First quarter
Cat -- FG Leiva 34, 7:12.
OC -- Payton 24 pass from Montana (Davis kick), 1:55.
Second quarter
OC -- Jones 61 run (Calix kick), 0:55.
Third quarter
OC -- Holliday 3 pass from Montana (Calix kick), 0:55.
OC -- Jones 1 run (Calix kick), 4:29.
OC -- FG Calix 32, 0:00.
Fourth quarter
OC -- Van Der Wal 30 pass from Montana (Calix kick), 6:31.
Cat -- Jefferson 35 pass from Olson (Merrill pass from Olson), 3:12.

                                   OC           Cath
First downs                15              17
Rushes-yards            36-155       19-9
Passing yards            199            274
Comp-Att-Int              11-23-0      24-51-3
Sacked-yards lost      4-33            5-30
Punts-avg.                  4-40.8        5-42.4
Fumbles-lost              2-1              2-1
Penalties-yards            5-50        5-30

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Oaks Christian: Jones 20-167, Payton 1-22, Mendoza 4-20, Gretzky 1-3, Camacho 4-(--13), Montana 5-(--30), team 2-(--14). Cathedral: Ivory 8-34, Olson 11-(--25).
PASSING -- Oaks Christian: Montana 11-23-0-199. Cathedral: Olson 24-51-3-274.
RECEIVING -- Oaks Christian: Holliday 5-101, Van Der Wal 2-55, Payton 2-26, Fua 2-17. Cathedral: Merrill 8-89, Jefferson 6-95, Hasson 6-48, Ivory 3-34, Porchia 1-8.
MISSED FIELD GOALS -- Oaks Christian: Davis 42.
TEAM RECORDS -- Oaks Christian 13-0, Cathedral 11-2.

For a full story on this game, go to VCSPreps.com.

Oaks Christian won its CIF-SS Northwest Division semifinal game on Saturday night, beating Cathedral 38-11. Nick Montana threw for three touchdowns and UCLA-bound Malcolm Jones ran for two scores.

Oaks Christian (13-0) advances to play Serra (13-0) in Friday's Championship game at Serra.

For a full story on this game, go to VCSPreps.com.

Moorpark won its CIF semifinal game against Valencia 40-14 on Saturday night, with Austin Edmonson running for three touchdowns.

Moorpark (12-1) will face Westlake (13-0) in Friday's Northern Division championship game. Moorpark's only loss this season was to Westlake and beat a Valencia team that was unbeaten going into the game.

For updates on Moorpark/Valencia and Oaks Christian/Cathedral, check our scoreboard with highlights, the VCSPreps.com homepage, and the VCSPreps on Twitter.

There is an outside chance that two area football teams could be picked for state bowl games if they win CIF-Southern Section championships.

For full stories on these games, go to VCSPreps.com. Compiled from staff reports.

Westlake 17, St. Bonaventure 7
Westlake trailed 7-3 for most of the fourth quarter. With 1:01 left, Nick Isham's 1-yard touchdown run gave Westlake the lead. On St. Bonaventure's next possesion, they fumbled it in the end zone and the ball was recovered by Westlake's Max Winsburg for a touchdown. Westlake remains unbeaten and will play the winner of Saturday's Moorpark-Valencia game in next week's championship game.

Ontario Christian 45, Grace Brethren 0
Ontario Christian's Manuel Macias ran for 156 yards to help end Grace Brethren's season. Grace Brethren finishes 7-6.

For updates on St. Bonaventure at Westlake and Ontario Christian at Grace Brethren, check our scoreboard with highlights, the VCSPreps.com homepage, and the VCSPreps on Twitter.

Saturday, Oaks Christian plays at Cathedral and Moorpark at Valencia in two more CIF semifinal games.