Tologs are indeed No. 1

Smith’s averages of 19.6 points, 14.8 rebounds and 4.8 blocks a game led Prep to success, but when the team’s dominant force in the middle was contained in the first half of the Division V-AA championship by Muir the rest of the squad helped pick up the slack.

All the Rebels had a hand in the 47-44 victory over Muir — from Smith’s 15 points, 16 rebounds and six blocks to Jared Norsworthy’s 14 points and nine rebounds to Robert Cartwright scoring the final bucket of the game for a big three-point lead. Prep’s 2011 boys’ basketball squad goes down as the best in program history, since they’re the group that’s delivered the program’s first CIF championship.

“We just made history,” said Smith after the win over Muir. “I’m so happy right now, I’m so proud of every one of those guys. We worked so hard to be here and we finally made it. This is it.”

The first three rounds of the playoffs went down pretty easy for Flintridge Prep with wins over Whitney (75-46), Blair (79-57) and Mission Prep (86-72) in the first three rounds of the Division V-AA playoffs. Prep’s most dominating performance of the year came in the first round of the CIF Division V State Championships with a 98-32 win over Tranquillity. The Rebels’ season came to an end at the hands of St. Bernard, with a 68-54 loss, in the second round of the State Championships.

6 St. Francis soccer: Talent doesn’t always translate to success, but it did this year for the Golden Knights. Seven St. Francis players hauled in All-Mission League honors after the team took second in the ultra-competitive league with a 9-3 league record.

St. Francis finished the season with a 15-10 record and advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division I quarterfinals. The Golden Knights had a flair for the dramatic with two last-minute goals in wins over Santa Barbara (3-2), the top-seeded team in the CIF Southern Section Division I poll, and Thousand Oaks (2-1), in the first round of the playoffs. St. Francis also defeated Ventura, 2-0, in the second round of the playoffs before losing to San Clemente, 3-2, in the quarterfinals.

There seemed to be a different hero each time as Mark Verso notched a hat trick, including the game winner, against Santa Barbara and his brother Eric Verso scored two goals and the late winner against Thousand Oaks. The Verso brothers went on to be named to the ESPN Rise All-State list.