It’s rare to find a high school sports league where every game is a rivalry game.
In the Santa Clarita Valley, there are seven public high school basketball programs grouped closely together in the Foothill League.
The proximity of the schools creates several distinct factors not seen in other leagues.
Most of the student-athletes grew up playing together in elementary school, recreational leagues or AAU teams. So even when they do go their separate ways to different high schools, there is a level of familiarity with each other.
Gymnasiums are packed for basketball games, no matter which school is hosting, with spectators often forced to stand shoulder to shoulder to fit everyone into the venue.
And it doesn’t matter if the team at the top of the standings is playing the No. 7 team — the intensity meter is off the charts. Every boys basketball game in the Foothill League is a rivalry game.
All seven head coaches and players from each team echoed that sentiment in the league’s first media day that took place Saturday, Nov. 9, at Canyon High School.
Valencia’s Bryce Bedgood, #35, and Saugus Bryce Mejia, #1, and Max Guardado, #45, scramble for a loose ball during third period action in a Foothill League game at Valencia High Friday, December 1, 2023. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
“It’s really nice that this league has become a total rivalry. Every game,” said Hart coach Tom Kelly. “There is no day off. I don’t care if you’re having a great year, an average year or not a good year, there’s no day off. Anybody can beat anybody on any night.”
“Our league, I argue that I don’t know that there is a better public school basketball league around,” Golden Valley coach Chris Printz said. “Part of the uniqueness of this league is every game is a rivalry game, so when you go and play Castaic on the other side of the Valley, it’s a rivalry game.”
Valencia, Saugus, West Ranch want repeat success
Over the last several years, three teams have held their ground at the top of the standings: Saugus, Valencia and West Ranch.
Valencia repeated as league champions in 2019 and 2020, followed by three consecutive titles for West Ranch. Last season, Saugus captured its first league title in 43 years.
Saugus head coach Alfredo Manzano doesn’t think there’s a specific target on his team’s back.
“I think it’s even. In this league, the parity is there,” Manzano said. “Everybody knows what we’re doing, we know what everyone is doing. It’s about execution and that’s pretty much it. At the end of the day, it’s between the lines. We’re going to execute, that’s what we’re going to focus on.”
While those three programs have finished at or near the top of the league standings in recent years, the other league teams have been improving immensely.
Canyon, Golden Valley have something to prove
Canyon, a team that won three league games each year from 2018-2020, went 8-4 in 2021 and 6-6 last year, making the postseason three years in a row.
With the level of competition in the league closer this year than it’s ever been, the Cowboys are eyeing a run to the top of the standings and a deep playoff run.
“Some of the goals we want to meet are making a run in CIF and league as well as trying to hold teams to 50 points or less,” Canyon head coach Ali Monfared said. “Ultimately, our main goal is to stay together when we do have great games or tough games and improve as the year goes on. Steady improvement.”
Like Canyon, Golden Valley has made vast strides in recent years with Printz in his second stint as head coach of the program.
From 2018-2020, the Grizzlies didn’t win a single league game, going 0-29 in that span. They’ve won 13 total league games in the three years since and finished with a 17-11 overall record last year, their best record in a decade.
Golden Valley has packed its nonleague schedule with challenging opponents this year like Brentwood from the Gold Coast League and Crespi from the Mission League in anticipation of the Foothill League gauntlet.
“You can’t replicate what goes on in the Foothill League…so it’s important to us to up our nonleague schedule to prepare us for those moments,” Printz said. “That helps us prepare for 12 crazy nights in the Foothill League.”
Castaic and West Ranch continue to build, Hart is still strong
Castaic, the proverbial new kid on the block, is entering its fourth year with a varsity boys basketball program.
The Coyotes have faced several challenges as they build up their young program, but made a surprising CIF Southern Section Division 5AA playoff run last year, defeating favored El Segundo in the championship game.
Vito Cavallo of Castaic hugs teammate Ethan Thomas #20 of Castaic after defeating El Segundo 63-52 to win a CIF-SS Division 5AA boys basketball championship game in the Felix Event center on the campus of Azusa Pacific University in Azusa on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Under the guidance of new head coach Louis Fernando, Castaic is looking to be a contender in the Foothill League this year and beyond.
“The challenge is togetherness. There’s been a lot of growing pains since we’ve started together and trying to get everybody on the same page and speak the same language is a challenge,” Fernando said. “But we’ve definitely done a good job. We’ve gotten better at it every single time we’ve stepped on the court together.”
In addition to Fernando, two more coaches are entering their first seasons with their respective teams: Greg Fontenette with Valencia and Bryan Bartley with West Ranch.
Fontenette was an assistant with Valencia last year, but unofficially took over as the head coach halfway through the season with Bill Bedgood planning to step down at the end of the year.
“You’re not really going to see much of a difference. Coach Bedgood would tell you I was pretty much coaching the team going into that second half of that season,” Fontenette said. “So it’s still defense first. We like to play fast, get in transition.”
West Ranch, once an Open Division team, will recalibrate this season with a new coach in Bartley.
West Ranch boys basketball players Ryder Sundquist, left, and Prince Okonkwo address reporters with their coach, Bryan Bartley, on Foothill League media day. (Photo by Dan Lovi)
Bartley has extensive coaching experience, about 30 years under his belt. He was the assistant men’s basketball coach at Auburn for four years, worked in the front office for the Atlanta Hawks and has coached several NBA players.
He’ll bring his coaching and development style to help new players on the team and a handful from last season, including Ryder Sundquist and Prince Okonkwo.
“Our goal is to prove people wrong this year because people thought our talent kind of dropped off. Even the Damien Tournament this year we’re in a lower division,” Sundquist said. “So it’s just showing that we can compete and do as well as we did last year.”
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Hart, which last won a Foothill League title in 2018, is one of the longstanding members of the Foothill League.
Kelly is entering his 25th year at the helm and was coaching the team back when the Foothill League was composed of Burbank and Burroughs, before Golden Valley and West Ranch entered the picture.
He thinks that the level of competition in the Foothill League is closer than it has ever been before, speaking to the parity his counterparts mentioned.
“I think our league is really underrated. We’re not like the Mission League that has three to four DI guys on every roster top to bottom, but I think everybody in our league does their homework,” Kelly said. “It’s all going to be neighborhood kids going at it head to head and I think that’s the fun and beauty of our league is we have a bunch of local kids going at it. These kids have all known each other since elementary school. So I think the league parity is going to be a lot more fun this year.”