1999 The year in review

Taking a stroll down memory lane at AVC

By JON MICHAELS
Valley Press Staff Writer

Stroll with me down memory lane as we look back at the year that defined AVC athletics.

Jan. 14

The women's basketball team showed no mercy against Mt. San Jacinto, rolling to a 108-22 victory, the most lopsided win in school history.

The 86-point margin topped the Marauders' 107-26 thrashing of Citrus College during the 1991-92 season. The 22 points given up by AVC is a record for the fewest points surrendered by a Jackie Lott-coached team.

AVC reeled off a 35-0 first-half run to take a 41-6 lead. Guard Erica Yazzie scored 15 points during the run.

The Eagles trailed 76-16 with 10 minutes left. At that point, AVC's defense already had forced 45 turnovers. But, despite the big lead, the Marauders continued to press - and score. Over the next seven minutes, AVC enjoyed a 26-0 run.

Jan. 16

The women's 80-62 drubbing of Cerro Coso kept the team undefeated in the Foothill Conference and sent the Marauders to their ninth consecutive game in a row, setting a new school-record.

Jan. 23

The AVC men's basketball team held on for an 85-83 overtime victory over visiting Barstow in its conference opener.

Charles Austin had a seasonhigh 18 points. He added nine rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots, but saved his best for last.

With the score tied 83-83, Austin rebounded Le'Tre Kelly's missed shot and was fouled as he attempted the putback with .9 seconds left in overtime.

After Austin calmly sank the first free throw, AVC coach Newton Chelette told him to miss the next one so the clock would expire while the Vikings (0-1, 3-16) were grabbing the rebound. But Austin banked it in to give AVC an 85-83 lead. Barstow was unable to get off a last-second shot, though.

Jan. 28

The women's hoops team drained a school-record 14 3-pointers and ended a three-game losing streak with an 80-64 victory over Citrus.

The record surpassed AVC's previous mark of 11 3-pointers against Moorpark on November 28, 1995.

Feb. 17

The men's basketball team defeated host Desert 109-105 in an overtime thriller to clinch their fifth straight conference title.

Sophomore Michael Paul scored a career-high 32 points, drained eight 3-pointers and sparked the Marauders with his tenacious defense.

After hitting his eighth 3-pointer of the game 58 seconds into overtime, Paul turned in two stellar defensive stops. First, he blocked Gene Parker's layup attempt with two minutes left in OT. Then with AVC nursing a 107-105 lead and five seconds remaining, Paul forced a Parker turnover.

Feb. 20

LeTre' Kelly's 23 points and six rebounds made him the first player in Marauder history to score 1,000 points and grab 500 rebounds in a career.

"Le'Tre is an amazing guy," AVC coach Newton Chelette said. "I challenged him earlier in the season to step up and he didn't let us down."

Kelly later earned conference MVP for AVC.

March 2

The men's basketball team's playoff run came to a halt as Dameion Henry's last-second shot rattled out of the rim in a 77-75 loss to host Long Beach City in the Southern California Regional Tournament.

After free throws by Derrell Keys and Devon Rice in the final minute gave Long Beach City a 77-75 lead with 11.6 seconds left, Henry took the inbounds pass and weaved his way upcourt, pulling up for a 14-foot jumper that went in and out as the buzzer sounded.

March 4

Ian Allred's third-inning tworun homer over the center-field fence drove in former high school teammate Mario Varela as the baseball team earned its first win of the season after 13 straight losses with a 9-7 triumph over San Bernardino Valley College.

March 23

Jon Anello hit three home runs and drove in five runs to lead the baseball team to a 13-6 win over visiting Barstow College.

Coach Joe Watts said it was the first time in his seven-year tenure that one of his players hit three home runs in a game.

March 27

Rio Hondo pounded out 10 home runs and scored 60 runs in a double header sweep over the baseball team, winning 31-9 in game one and 29-8 in the second game, both seven-inning affairs.

Rio Hondo jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first inning of the first game, and later had a 31-1 lead. In the second game, the Roadrunners reeled off nine runs in the fourth inning to take a commanding 17-4 advantage.

April 23

Andre Velazquez won the conference championship in the high jump, clearing the bar at 6-8. He just missed defending his long jump title, leaping 23-10 1/4.

Tranisha Holmes held off the competition in the 100 and 200 for conference titles.

May 4

Manny Yanas hit for the cycle as the baseball team pounded Barstow College 16-5. Yanas was 4for-6 with four RBI.

May 7

Chad Spencer tied a state-record, going 7-for-7 and broke a state record with five doubles in a 27-8 rout in the final game of the regular season.

May 8

Andre Velazquez and Tranisha Holmes both double-qualified for the California Junior College track and field state meet with solid performances at the preliminaries at Mt. San Antonio College.

Velazquez placed third in the high jump with a leap of 6 feet, 6 inches and scored a new personal record in the long jump. His leap of 24-5 was good enough for fourth place and also doubled as a new AVC record.

Holmes scored second-place finishes in the 100 and 200, finishing behind Long Beach City's Krista Groves in both events.

April 25

Jen Smith singled home Nadine Klemenz in the eighth inning to send the softball team to its first championship in the fifth annual AVC Softball Tournament at McAdam Park.

Smith's hit capped an improbable 5-4 extra-inning win over Sacramento City College - the same Sacramento team ranked No. 3 in California and in search of its 43rd victory of the season.

July 1

Former Palmdale High head coach Bill Norton returned to the Valley after a 12-year hiatus, accepting a job as linebackers coach at AVC.

Norton replaces Troy Jackson, who left after five seasons to pursue a full-time teaching and coaching job at Lancaster High.

Aug. 31

Autumn St. George made sure that AVC's inaugural women's soccer game would be one to remember fondly.

The freshman midfielder scored twice, breaking ties both times as the Marauders dominated in a 3-1 victory over host Porterville.

After dominating the first half with little to show for their effort, the Marauders finally broke a scoreless tie with seconds to go in the half as St. George broke in on goal and made history by beating goalkeeper Amy Peterson with a hard shot to the left for AVC's first score.

Sept. 11

Freshman running back Jason Anderson had quite a debut, rushing for 215 yards and two touchdowns as the Marauders beat visiting Santa Monica 24-14, their first season-opening win since 1991.

The Palmdale High grad - who would later quit the team - carried the ball 15 times, but none were bigger than his 84-yard score that sent AVC to its final margin of victory with 5:33 left in the game.

Sept. 25

David Newton's 8-yard touchdown run in overtime completed AVC's rally from a 14-point thirdquarter deficit to beat defending conference champion Grossmont 20-14 in the conference opener for both schools.

The Marauders' defense came up big in overtime as Mike Kott and Al Walsh sacked Grossmont's Clint Womack at the start of the extra session. After an incompletion, Bobby Antee intercepted Womack's pass in the end zone to give AVC the ball at the 25-yard line.

AVC opened its overtime possession series on a strong 15-yard surge by Travis Alkire (81 rushing yards). Three plays later, the offensive line opened a huge hole for Newton, who ended the game with his 8-yard score.

Oct. 20

Jennifer Keating forever etched her name in the AVC record books in a 15-3, 15-4, 15-1 thrashing of visiting Cerro Coso.

Keating broke the single-season kills record last year, recording 267 in her freshman season. Last week, Keating added a record-setting performance against Desert with 25 kills, breaking the previous record off 22 in a match.

Keating needed only three kills to break Heidi Roarty's career record of 376 kills from 1990-91. Keating didn't waste any time, collecting three kills as the Marauders (6-2, 7-3) raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first game.

Oct. 30

Mount San Jacinto's David Minnich's overtime touchdown spoiled what would have been the biggest comeback in AVC history and ended any hopes of a bowl berth for the Marauders with a 49-42 loss.

The Marauders forced seven second-half fumbles, five of which they recovered, and added an interception en route to scoring 28 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to force overtime against the 12th-ranked team in the state.

Trailing 42-14 in the fourth quarter, Andre Velazquez answered an Eagles' touchdown with an incredible 100-yard kickoff return in which he cut back to the opposite side of the field, spun around several defenders and sliced the deficit to 42-21 with 11:51 remaining in the game.
The Marauders ran off the next 21 points to force the OT session.

Dec. 3

Five-foot-8 Nick O'Neil grabbed an offensive rebound and hit a four-foot jumper with 3.1 seconds left to lift the men's basketball team to a 58-56 come-from-behind victory over MiraCosta in the semifinals of the Big Mac Tournament.

The final flurry of activities didn't start well for O'Neill. AVC came out of a time out with 16.5 seconds left and set up a screen to get O'Neill an open 3, but the sophomore could not convert. Michael Callaway grabbed the rebound and missed his shot before Peterson grabbed the miss but again couldn't covert.

O'Neill grabbed Peterson's miss and sent AVC to the win.

Dec. 13

Nick O'Neill took a year and a half of aggression out on his former teammates, visiting Bakersfield Community College, hitting five second-half 3-pointers in a 65-59 non-conference victory that brought AVC back to .500 for the first time in the 1999-2000.

O'Neill, who led the state in 3point accuracy when he buried 61percent of his long distance shots at Bakersfield in 1997, led AVC's 18-5 offensive run that put away the Renegades (8-3).

The 5-foot-8 guard began the back-breaking run with a 3-pointer that cut Bakersfield's lead to 54-50 with 6:09 left in the game.

Uploaded January 3, 1999