Red Simmons officiated several basketball games involving John Wooden.

Rudy Castillo intercepted a pass on the 25-yard-line, ran it back to the goal line and then flattened the guy who threw the pass like a bug. Castillo chest-bumped teammates all the way back to the sideline to put an exclamation point on his team’s victory.

The Yucaipa High football team fell to host Silverado of Victorville 28-13 on Friday, Aug. 26.

The Yucaipa High football team dropped its nonleague opener, 21-9 on Friday, Aug. 19, to host Palm Springs.

The Yucaipa High football team dropped its nonleague opener, 21-9 on Friday, Aug. 19, to host Palm Springs. It was Palm Springs’ first season-opening victory in eight years.

Researching a project on Title IX, the gender-equity law of 1972, was fascinating. Title IX, in part, increased the participation of girls and women in athletics.

Yucaipa High School golf team members Blake Richert, Conner Kendrick, Weston Lingo, Mason Montgomery, and Spencer Payne participated in the Valley Junior Golf Association (VJGA) Riverside Junior Championship at Goose Creek GC on July 27 and 28.

Thirty men gathered at the Casa Loma Hotel in 1896 to plan the Redlands Country Club.

Luke Scherrer obviously had his game face on this season.  

Yucaipa High’s Jacob Reimer and Luke Scherrer made the All-CIF-Southern Section Division 1 baseball team announced recently.  

Wooded Oak Glen was the backdrop for the finish of Stage 2 of the Redlands Bicycle Classic. It’s a lovely setting and the results were equally beautiful for a pair of international riders.  

Carter Herrera’s leg was in the right spot last week. Herrera’s Yucaipa High baseball team defeated Citrus Valley 2-0 on Saturday, March 19, in the County Clash, but it didn’t come easily. Citrus Valley’s Marc DiCarlo was up with two out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh. A h…

The hopes and dreams of the Yucaipa High girls water polo team were slipping away last Saturday. Edison of Huntington Beach scored twice in one minute, 12 seconds to take a 1-goal lead with 4:48 left of an eventual 5-3 Yucaipa victory in the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 title game. Then m…

The Yucaipa High wrestling team gave host Northview of Covina a scare but fell short in its quest for a CIF-Southern Section Division 2 dual team title. The powerhouse Vikings held off the Thunderbirds 42-26 on Wednesday, Feb. 2 in the championship match. Despite the loss, Yucaipa coach Davi…

Three Yucaipa High seniors played their final high school football game on Saturday, Jan. 29, at Colton High School. Ryan Sorensen, Wyatt Blackmon, and Iain Matheson contributed to San Bernardino County’s effort as it defeated Riverside County 26-20. The event was the 215 Classic All-Star Ga…

The Yucaipa High girls basketball team, following a mid-season slump during which it lost five of six games, has snapped out of it. The Thunderbirds on Wednesday, Jan. 5, defeated visiting Redlands 73-20 for their fourth victory in five games. The triumph came in the Citrus Belt League opene…

The Cajon High boys basketball team dominated last spring’s abbreviated Citrus Belt League season and, with four starters back, looks like the team to beat in 2021-2022. Besides having that experienced, talented quartet back, coach Randy Murray adds a newcomer by the nickname of “Memphis” to…

Yucaipa High put three players on the All-Citrus Belt League volleyball first team. They are: Kaitlyn Busby, Sara Graham and Phoebie Miller. Busby, a junior 5-foot-7 senior setter, averaged 1.9 digs and 8.3 assists per set. Graham, a 5-7 junior libero, averaged 4.9 digs per set and had 21 se…

Winners crossed the finish line with a flourish. Other runners struggled to finish, many gasping for breath and some collapsing on the ground. One competitor tried to crawl 30 yards to the finish line. He was stopped by race volunteers who provided aid. And this was on a cool day. Such was t…

It was mid-October and already the vaunted Yucaipa High baseball team prepared. Players dressed in blue and gold sprinted to cover bases or field bunts, as veteran coach Ralph Grajeda presided. Proof of the Thunderbirds’ excellence adorns the ballpark walls. Section titles in 1991, 1993, and…

Music thumped. Parents swayed. And children flashed quick smiles when handed trophies. The occasion was the Yucaipa Valley Youth Soccer Organization closing ceremonies Saturday, Nov. 20 at the Rick McCown Soccer Complex on Oak Glen Road. A near-full moon helped illuminate the field and crisp…

Yucaipa Basketball center/ point forward, Nathen Hernandez, No. 24, scored 20 points on Monday night, Nov. 15, against Arroyo Valley High School. Yucaipa won 66-14.

A sizable contingent of area athletes signed NCAA National Letters of Intent last week and expressed joy. Yucaipa, paced by its juggernaut baseball program, is sending nine student-athletes to the college ranks on scholarship. The Thunderbird signees are: Chase Antillon (Cal Baptist, basebal…

The Redlands East Valley High boys and the Yucaipa girls scored huge cross-country victories on Saturday, Oct. 30. The event was the Citrus Belt League finals at Yucaipa Community Park. The REV boys victory allowed the Wildcats to tie Citrus Valley for the league title. The Blackhawks as a t…

Senior night became senior day at Beaumont High. Blame the state-wide shortage of officials. But the host Cougars shined anyway, defeating Yucaipa 36-19 on Saturday, Oct. 23, in a Citrus Belt League football game. The game was originally scheduled for Thursday night, Oct. 21 but the change d…

Lauren “Lolo” Padgett played volleyball in middle school and studied ballet for nine and a half years. She doesn’t dance now but thinks the experience helped and is one of the reasons she’s now the Citrus Belt League girls golf champion. Padgett shot an opening-round 84 on Monday, Oct. 18, a…

Iain Matheson returned an interception 20 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter to help lift the Yucaipa High football team past host Redlands, 9-7. The game was played on Friday, Oct. 1. Only a missed late field goal by Redlands kept Yucaipa (6-0 overall, 1-0 Citrus Belt League) u…

BY JOHN MURPHY

BY JOHN MURPHY

BEAUMONT – Top competitors in niche sports like cross-country and wrestling often have parents who were stars. That’s true in the Citrus Belt League where the offspring of star runners prevailed on Saturday, Sept. 25.

Yucaipa, in an era when most cities are divided like pies and teem with multiple high schools, is an aberration.

Calimesa’s Lori Becker grew up while skating at the Stardust Roller Rink, an iconic 1950s-era venue which burned down in 2019. The rink housed many memories, but now Becker and her charges are all about making new memories. Lori and her old coach Verda Asman guide the Academy of Champions Sk…

The Yucaipa High volleyball program, after a year’s absence due to the pandemic, is back.

The Yucaipa High football team remained unbeaten by defeating host Hesperia 41-13 on Friday, Sept. 10. The game was played at the school where Yucaipa coach Justin Price served his father, Butch Price, as a ball boy. Butch was the first-ever Hesperia football coach. Following a 6-6 first qua…

QB1 of the Bulldogs Nathan Martinez is 2good2btrue. The University of Redlands star is a modern version of Frank Merriwell (Google him kids), with a rifle for an arm and magic in his feet.

The Yucaipa High football team, led by the band, enters the stadium. AC-DC’s “Thunderstruck” blares. As the T’-Birds sprint onto the field, the crowd erupts.

The Yucaipa Valley American Little League won the minors (Under 10) baseball title in dramatic fashion on Monday, July 12 on a single by Cameron Urias in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Yucaipa Valley American Little League manager Jeff Scott missed his team’s 11-1 victory against Twentynine Palms on Saturday, July 10, because of vacation. But it was OK because acting manager Rob Eland did just fine in making sure the boys touched home plate on every run and smiled for phot…

Former Yucaipa High baseball stars are in the news lately.

Pleasant temperatures awaited Citrus Belt League track and field competitors for the league championship meet Thursday, May 27, at Yucaipa High.

It took the Yucaipa High baseball team until the final day of the Citrus Belt League to clinch a championship – but clinch, it did with its second victory against Redlands in three days.

Identical twins know the comments are coming. Having a sibling who is your mirror image is a magnet for silly remarks and mindless questions.

YUCAIPA – The strategy of the Yucaipa High basketball team was not complicated. It spread the floor on offense, left the middle open for forward Jonathan Stradford, and then let Stradford drive to the basket for shots or dish it to open teammates.

The Citrus Belt League Boys Golf Individual Prelims were held at Yucaipa Valley Golf Club on Monday, May 24.  Timmy C. from REV led the field with a 4 under par 68. The Yucaipa High School Varsity team was represented by Mason Montgomery (75), Spencer Payne (78), Connor Kendrick (81), and Ty…

Back in the 1960s, a few years after the Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, I was a brown-haired lad playing third base for Ram’s Sporting Goods of the San Bruno Pee Wee League.

Elijah James completed 15 of 20 passes for 220 yards and one touchdown and ran for 30 yards and two scores to lead the Yucaipa High football team to a 31-0 victory against Redlands East Valley on Saturday, April 10.

The Yucaipa High baseball team highlighted its week with a 7-2 victory against Capistrano Valley on Wednesday, March 31.