Rams #1 in Northern California

Rams Beat Reigning State Champions
Close win over Reedley sends Rams to state title bout in Bakersfield

By Zuri Berry

After beating the reigning state champion Reedley Tigers 27-21 at the City Col-lege Hawaiian Punch Bowl last Saturday, the Rams are this years Northern Cali-fornia Champions.

The victory sends the Rams to the state title game against Grossmont of Sou-thern California in Bake-rsfield December 13.

The Rams defense tackles quick footed Reedley quarterback Robert Johnson. photo by Lana Citowsky

Mired by penalties and turnovers that slowed the game down considerably, the game was anything but pretty.

"The refs were going to be strict," said running back Tim Brown, "There's no fighting going on, personal fouls are automatic ejections so the refs were real strict this game."

In their last game, the Tigers were involved in a team fight with Fresno College. Eleven of their players were held out of the game because of the brawl.

Players were warned before the game that there would be immediate ejections for fighting and ext-reme personal fouls.

In total there were seven personal fouls in the game. Rams' right tackle Albert Toeaina was the only player to leave the game after receiving a personal foul in the second quarter. Alth-ough he did not receive an official ejection, he was kept out of the game so he would b able to play in the state title bout.

"That's what was hurting us," said receiver Marcel Love, "We got in the redzone like three times and got pushed out by penalties."

Tight end Jamir Davis replaced Toeaina at tackle to finish the game.

"Our offensive line did a great job when we lost Albert," said quarterback Joseph Ayoob, "They held together and played well."

Davis knows all the plays and was more than prepared to fill in.

"We just tried to do what we do," said Davis. "We kn-ew what we had to do (and) we got the job done."

Love and Brown were a couple of bright spots in the shaky win. Brown, who was recently named the NorCal Offensive MVP, ran for 139 touchdowns while catching another, while Love caught six passes for 71 yards.

Brown caught a screen pass in the first quarter and slashed 35 yards through Reedley's secondary for a touchdown.

Receiver Antwon Guidry probably had the biggest grab of them all. In the fourth quarter Guidry caught a screen pass and raced 30 yards to the Reedley 31 yard-line before being tackled. After that the Tigers used their final timeout, sealing the Rams' victory.

Ayoob passed for 311 yards and one touchdown while rushing for another but fumbled three times in the game and twice in the fourth quarter.

The last fumble led to a Tiger touchdown that brought the score in the fourth quarter to 27-21.

The Rams go in as the favorite against Grossmont College, the Southern California Champions.

Players stopped short of guaranteeing a win.

"I'm not going to guarantee anything, but we're there though," said Brown.

Cross country:
Men and Women Faster than Last Year at State Championships Fresno

by Tracy Held

City College finished cross country season at the California Community College State Championships in Fr-esno on Nov. 22. The City College men's team placed 14 out of 17, and the women placed 16 out of 17.

At the race, 137 men ran 4 miles and 132 women ran 5 kilometers to compete for the State Championships. The top five runners from each school qualified as a team.

Ivy Truong's time (20:35.28) was 47 seconds faster than her time at the 2002 state championships. The women's team also ran an average of nine seconds faster than in 2002. Last year, The women placed 23 out of 27 (23:11 average).

The men's team improved its time by three seconds from 2002, with Jeffrey Gehringer running ten seconds faster, the same time as last year's top City College runner, Samuel Burkholder. In 2002, the men placed 17 out of 25 (22:11 average).

Basketball:
Rams Dunk Tigers 80-53

By Ben Schneider

Johnnie Bryant started the game off with a three point shot and the Rams never looked back winning their first game at home by a dominating score of 80-53.

The Rams offense, ran mostly by Bryant, had no problems beating Monterey Peninsula's full-court trap and quickly opened the game with a 12-5 advantage.

The Rams did an impressive job of forcing turnovers that lead to easy opportunities and uncontested baskets. Freshman guard Alec van Tellop got the Rams and their fans on their feet with a first-half steal that lead to a fast-break dunk.

"I was thinking dunk the whole time, luckily I got one tonight," Van Tellop said.

The Rams were in a small scoring drought towards the 11 minute mark of the first half but sophomore guard Jamal Holden ended it with an explosive steal and dunk followed by a great no-look pass to a streaking Harry B-rown.

Although the Rams dominated every statistical category in the first half, Mont-erey was able to stay in the game thanks to six first-half three pointers.

Overall, Monterey seem-ed to be intimidated by the Rams' strength and athleticism inside.

Coach Labagh's decision to start freshman Lex James was huge. James provided the spark the coach was looking for in the first half. After James scored the Rams first eight points of the second half, the rout was on.

James led the Rams with 18 points on an array of thunderous dunks coming off the offensive glass.

NBA Rookie of the Year Up for Grabs

by Miles Harwell

Having signed a $90 million contract with Nike before even stepping on an NBA court, Lebron James is easily the most celebrated number one draft pick in NBA history.

In his first game playing for the Cavs, Lebron put up 25 points and played like he was worth 100 million dollars.

It seemed like the Cavs might actually do something this year.

However, as the game wore on, it was clear the Cavs were still the Cavs, and they lost.

Despite the potential James has shown the Cavs sit at the bottom of the Central division.

Carmelo Anthony, the smiley faced, headband wearing kid who led Syracuse to a NCAA title in his freshman year, is James' chief competition for rookie of the Year honors.

Drafted by the Denver Nuggets, Anthony experienced success similar to James early in the season, dropping 30 points against the LA Clippers on November 11th.

Although the Nuggets are slightly above the .500 mark, they will have to do a lot of work to snag a playoff spot, as they are still trailing 5 teams in their division.

Other rookie talents showcased in the league include Milwaukee's TJ Ford, Miami's Dwayne Wade and Toronto's Chris Bosh. All three have been impressive so far. The race for Rookie of the Year is still up for grabs.

Ron Artest - Yes, when he's not flagrantly fouling or getting suspended, he's a pretty good player, and probably one of the best defensive players in the league. Ron has raised his scoring average from 15 to nearly 19 points a game, leading the Indiana Pacers, who have the best record in the league. Don't be surprised if you see him in the All-Star game.

Non-rookies to look out for this season:

Rashard Lewis - Opening the season with a career-high 50 point performance, this guy is here to play. With the absence of Ray Allen, expect 'Shard to step it up for his Seattle team, as they hope to stay in long enough to earn a playoff spot.

Zach Randolph - He went from being a virtually unknown player to averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds a game. Along with Rasheed Wallace, Randolph gives Portland a frightening front-line and possibly enough to make it out of the first round of the playoffs.