DIVISION V BOYS’ PLAYOFFS : Christian Wins Fourth Section Title in a Row

SAN DIEGO — When a school wins its fourth consecutive section championship, comparisons to past teams are inevitable.

But that really wasn’t the case Saturday afternoon at the Sports Arena, where Christian High defeated Calipatria, 57-44, to claim its fourth consecutive section title and second in a row in Division V.

Instead, Christian High was comparing itself to one player.

More than that, it was exorcising the ghost of Tony Clark, who last year single-handedly led Christian to the State Division V title by scoring 43.8 points per game.

“There is no comparison (to last year’s Tony Clark-led team),” Coach Randy Wright said. “We’re able to draw on so much depth this year.

Chad DeGrenier scored 20 and David Piester added 18. The only other player in double figures was Jeff Rose, with 10.

Christian used nine players in the game, and substituted often. Calipatria, on the other hand, stuck with its starting five for much of the game.

“They were only playing six players,” DeGrenier said. “And we were playing with eight or nine so at the end of the game we were in better shape.”

That point can be made by looking at the point totals in the first and last quarters. After the initial quarter, Calipatria held a five-point lead, 14-9.

By the fourth quarter, however, Calipatria could manage only six points while Christian was dumping in 16.

Ed Vega led Calipatria with 17 points.