Haller hangs up his whistle

The changing of the guard is continuing in the athletic programs at Garden Grove High School.

Ralph Stevens has stepped down as athletic director, his place being taken by Ricardo Cepeda, who is retiring from being the varsity football head coach.

Now, Steve Haller is retiring after 22 years of coaching the Argonaut freshman team. During his tenure, his teams had an overall record of 157 victories and 63 defeats, which is a 71 percent winning percentage. His teams had three undefeated season and 11 league championships, including winning the title every year from 2011 to 2019.

He’s also served as the varsity quarterback coach and has two CIF-SS championship rings won by the Argonaut varsity team under Willy Puga and Cepeda.

Pre-league baseball checkup

It’s the time of year for high school baseball teams to turn from tournaments and such and start league play. So who among the teams in our West Orange County area are looking the most formidable? (We’ll look at softball teams later).

The top team is almost certainly Huntington Beach, which is (as of this writing on Tuesday morning) 5-2 overall after a strong performance in the Best of the West tournament.

Pacifica (5-3) might be next and Bolsa Grande also has a 5-3 mark.

Garden Grove’s record looks modest at 5-5, but that record includes four wins in five games against former Garden Grove League rivals (including Bolsa Grande).

Other locals with winning records are Ocean View (4-3) and Marina (4-3).

League play starts for some leagues on Friday, so we’ll soon see who the real contenders are.

An Aztec ace wins again

Nevaeh Gomez of La Quinta notched another win in the Aztecs’ 6-4 win over Savanna earlier this week in softball. She pitched all seven innings, yielding no earned runs and just two hits. She struck out nine batters.

The Blue-and-Gold are 3-3 and visit Rio Hondo Prep on Wednesday afternoon. The Aztecs will start Garden Grove League play on Friday, March 15 against Loara.

To our readers: Want your favorite high school team(s) to get more recognition? Coaches, fans, parents, athletes, etc. are encouraged to submit photos, game results, rosters, feature ideas to us at orangecountytribune@gmail.com.