The Brave News

by Aeden Alexander, Sports Editor

The Angels’ two-way superstar, Shohei Ohtani of Japan, leads the Most Valuable Player (MVP) race following a historic year on the mound and in the batter’s box, establishing himself as a modern-day Babe Ruth.

With the baseball season coming to an end, baseball fans look to the MVP race, which is shaping to be one for the ages. The Angels’ Ohtani, who has made history numerous times this year as both a pitcher and a hitter, is the frontrunner in a tight race against prodigy son Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Angels, coming off yet another disappointing year filled with injuries and much more, had light in the performance of Ohtani, as Shohei became “Shotime.” There’s no doubt that Ohtani is doing something that has never been seen before, but does it do enough to overtake Guerrero’s extremely impressive season?

The simple answer is yes, as the name of the award is Most Valuable Player, and even with Toronto being a team that is still fighting for a playoff spot, Shohei Ohtani is much more important to his team. 

Even with Guerrero’s offensive stats being higher than Ohtani’s, he doesn’t provide enough as a hitter only to help his team win as many games. Shohei is coming off a 9-2 season on the bump, with many of his 23 starts being quality starts that ended in no decisions.

Ohtani also had an astonishing 3.18 earned run average (ERA) and went undefeated in his starts at home. He became almost unhittable towards the end of the season, fixing his command issue and making batters swing and miss more frequently.

He was no doubt dominant on the mound, but was also arguably just as dominant with the bat. Many people’s arguments for Guerrero to win MVP is that he will win the offensive triple crown, which consists of leading in home runs, batting average, and runs batted in, which has only happened a handful of times in Major League Baseball (MLB) history.

Although this may be a valid point, Ohtani is not far behind. As a matter of fact, he is right behind Guerrero. They have battled all season with each other and even with Ohtani slightly falling behind offensively, it is not enough to make anybody besides Shohei the MVP.

Even with a lackluster August and early September at the plate, Ohtani currently holds a .258 batting average and a .371 on base percentage, while hitting 45 home runs and batting in 98 runners. 

Many people argue that due to the Blue Jays’ success, and another subpar year for the Angels, as they will miss the playoffs for a seventh straight season, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. should be the MVP. This is not a fair point however, because unlike other team sports, such as basketball, it is much harder for one player to “carry” a team in baseball.

This year, the Blue Jays have had significantly better pitching overall and have had far less injuries, with Angels’ star players Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon missing most of the year. Thus, there is nothing Ohtani can do or could have done that would have helped the team more than he already has. Baseball is a team sport, making team success a largely invalid point regarding the MVP award.

Regardless, with everything that Shohei Ohtani has accomplished this year, the future is bright in Anaheim. There is no doubt that both Ohtani and Guerrero. are superstars and are important for the future of baseball, but, when this season does come to an end, it would not be a surprise to see Shohei Ohtani win a unanimous MVP.

by Aydn Morris

Although they don’t have the experience of many other teams, Bosco water polo is working hard to reach the top of their division.

The young and inexperienced Bosco water polo team has had a hot start to their new season – their first full season since the start of the pandemic. The Braves have been excited for this season, given their last season was continuously delayed. 

“Last year water polo was getting dragged on forever for the initial start of their season, from being told they would start in October to December all the way back to March. And their ended up being not much hype to the season,” said Head Coach Jeff Powers.

The push back of the season made it tough for the Braves to be consistently prepared as well as motivated for their season. This push back also remarkably shortened the season with water polo only being able to play 6 games in the two-to-three week schedule.

They went 2-4 overall in those six games that they played, but so far this year the Braves are 7-8 after winning their last game against Sage Hill by a score of 13-5. 

With the 7-8 record start for the Braves, they are still in contention for CIF playoffs hopes. As of now they are in Division Five, and if they are able to make it to the playoffs, they will work on a deep playoff run that would hopefully lead to a championship.

“There is a lot of potential in the team making the playoffs. We have beaten and also lost to many of the teams who are in the division, but we know that we can compete with them and have learned a lot from those competitive games,” Coach Powers said. 

Although inexperienced, the Braves feel that they are ready to make a playoff run. The team has a few experienced players on their team that are ready, but water polo is played with seven in the pool. As a result, the Braves have been trying to get their younger, more inexperienced players up to speed, so that they can be at their full potential during their playoff push. 

As more games are being played the improvement has shown. 

“The players get better by their gameday experiences and the practices. Practices usually include preparation for any upcoming games, but also improvement on previous in-game issues to work on,” Coach Powers said.

While the Braves are looking toward the rest of the season, they know that they have very high potential in upcoming years with their youthful roster. The attention may be focused on the varsity water polo team, but they also have a deep pool of 18 players on junior varsity, with 17 of them being underclassmen who are inexperienced at water polo. There is room for the development of the team into a championship contender. 

This season and the future of the Bosco water polo team continues to become brighter. As they continue to look forward, their focus is on keeping up their strong performances throughout the course of the season. They are working extremely hard in order to prepare for their upcoming match against the Team in Red next Thursday, the team’s first Trinity League match-up.

by Ian Cook

​After a chaotic year of athletics, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) released updated COVID-19 protocols so that high school athletes in California can return to the field as safely and with as much normality as possible.

In the last year, the COVID-19 pandemic put a pause on many activities in California, one of them being high school sports. Since March 2021, a year after the initial shutdown, the CIF has been able to give all California high schools the opportunity to play sports, as long as they follow certain procedures and requirements. However, the CIF just released an updated set of protocols that schools must follow. These protocols and requirements have caused a dramatic change in the lives of many athletes and coaches at St. John Bosco High School. 

“We’re social distancing when we can, following the COVID guidelines and keeping our mask on as much as we can,” said senior Ryan Tuaolo, a defensive end and outside linebacker on the football team.

In addition, the CIF, particularly Executive Director Ron Nocetti, put into place mandatory COVID-19 testing for all unvaccinated athletes that play an outdoor sport. They also require mandatory testing for all athletes, vaccinated or not, who play an indoor sport, which starts this week. 

If an athlete or coach were to test positive for COVID-19, they would have to be quarantined for ten days and provide a negative COVID-19 test following their quarantine to return to campus. During the athlete’s quarantine, the school has to do contact tracing and issue a five-day quarantine for the unvaccinated student-athletes with whom the infected individual had close contact, while also being required to provide a negative COVID test and be asymptomatic in order to return to campus and athletics.  

If a vaccinated student-athlete or coach is in close contact with an infected individual, they can continue participation in school and sports so long as they exhibit no symptoms. This dynamic provides a lot of question marks week-to-week for Bosco athletic programs

“Not knowing if [players] are able to play and practice every day makes it frustrating, but it forces us to give it our all during practice and games every chance we get,” said senior Xavier Mangum, a defensive back on the football team. 

The CIF COVID-19 protocols for California high school sports are very simple. All unvaccinated outdoor sports athletes  must test once a week and at least three days before competition. Vaccinated players must show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination card in order to avoid testing.

The CIF’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused mixed reactions from the athletes and parents at Bosco and statewide. However, despite the challenges, Bosco student-athletes and coaches are more than grateful to be able to participate in athletics despite the pandemic.

“I think they handled the situation pretty well, despite us not being able to have a complete season due to the state guidelines last year. I know CIF wants us to have a regular and complete season, and I am on board with what they’re doing so that we can be as safe as possible,” said Nate Munson, the wide receiver coach for varsity football and the junior varsity head coach. 

Although the testing has put another obstacle in front of many athletes and coaches here at St. John Bosco, it has also caused the athletes to look out for each other off the field and during school.

“It’s going to be tough to have to test, but we have to do it if we want to be able to play,” said senior Niko Riera, a first baseman and pitcher on the baseball team. 

The consensus seems to be simple among student-athletes and coaches: they will happily adhere to CIF protocols if it means the continued joy of competition.

by Aeden Alexander, Sports Editor

After traveling to Virginia, St. John Bosco football obliterated Oscar Smith High School 49-0 for their final game before the start of league play.

The notorious Bosco Braves got to travel to the East Coast to match up for their first road game of the year against Oscar Smith, a top ranked program in the state of Virginia. This was a great opportunity for the Braves as it was a chance to show their talent nationwide. The players, coaches, staff and cheerleaders all flew out in hopes to continue the perfect season. 

The game began with Oscar Smith starting with the ball, this was their first taste of what would be a long and disheartening night for their offense. They began with a solid drive down field, but ended up fumbling just before the end zone resulting in the Braves getting the ball.

Bosco wasted no time, scoring a 70-yard rushing touchdown from senior Rayshon “Speedy” Luke. Oscar Smith was then pressured again on offense and resorted to handing the Braves back the ball.

Michigan State commit Katin Houser came into the game at quarterback and quickly found his targets while moving up the field. The drive ended in a quick pass to junior Matayo Uiagalelei for his first of several touchdowns on the night.

Oscar Smith offensively got nothing going as they would continue to get smothered by the Braves stacked defense. Bosco’s other quarterback, Pierce Clarkson, followed up their last drive making two big passing plays, which resulted in finding Matayo again for his second touchdown of the game. This would put the Braves up 21-0.

Bosco’s defense would shine again, executing yet another scoreless drive and regaining possession of the ball for the offense. Houser followed with another impressive drive, ending in yet another touchdown making the score 28-0 in favor of the Braves.

Oscar Smith finally made a decent drive down field gaining yardage, but that was short-lived, as the Braves were able to push them back forcing them to turn the ball over yet again. Bosco tried to score again in the first half, but came up short, moving them into the second half of the game. 

The defense for Bosco continued to make an impact forcing another fumble that the Braves recovered. They swiftly took the ball down field and threw another touchdown extending the lead 35-0.

It would seem as though the offense and defense for Oscar Smith would check out early, with the Braves scoring two more times before the clock ran out. The final score was 49-0 in favor of the visiting Bosco Braves.

This will be the last game for Bosco before they head into league play. They have a bye this week, allowing players to rest and prepare the nation’s most anticipated match-up of the high school football season. The Braves open league play next Friday against the Team in Red.

by Aeden Alexander, Sports Editor

In a high-scoring battle between St. John Bosco Braves and East St. Louis High School Flyers, the Braves steamrolled another national competitor to keep their perfect season going.

The St. John Bosco Braves continued to shine in their final home game before the start of league play against the nationally-ranked Flyers from Illinois. The Braves are now 4-0 and continue to show improvement every week they step on the field.

Such a marquee match-up even attracted the attention of NBA and New Orleans Pelicans superstar Zion Williamson, as he was in attendance for the game.

To start the game, East St. Louis was given the ball and quickly showed they were not backing down from the Braves’ stacked defense. Their first drive did not result in a score, but was the best start for any team so far against Bosco.

But, just like their offense, their defense came to play as well. Despite the Flyers giving up two big plays to start, the Braves were forced to give back the ball. The rest of the first would be a defensive battle with neither team scoring, but that would quickly change in the second quarter.

The Braves would start by scoring the first touchdown of the game on a long run by the quarterback Pierce Clarkson, giving Bosco a 7-0 lead. The Braves defense would continue to shine, giving the ball back to the offense, allowing them to make a drive down the field, which resulted in another touchdown.

With the Braves quickly regaining the ball, they made another fantastic drive down the field, which led to them pulling ahead 21-0.  With no answer to the Braves dominant defense, East St. Louis went scoreless for the rest of the first half.

At the start of the second half, St. John Bosco began with the ball and quickly scored on an impressive run from Rayshon Luke, which increased the lead to 28 points. With no real answer or game plan from East St. Louis, Bosco sought to put the final nail in the coffin, scoring yet again to put them in front 35-0.

Finally, the Flyers found a spark, scoring their first touchdown of the game, as they looked to make a game of their lackluster performance. With not much working on offense, East St. Louis was able to find the end zone on a punt return as well as a fumble recovery.

Later, the Flyers scored their final points of the game on an impressive pass from their quarterback, which led to their first successful two-point conversion. But, to round off the victory, St. John Bosco’s quarterback, Pierce Clarkson, threw an unbelievable touchdown pass while being hit. This play was arguably the play of the night and the one to end it, as it put the Braves out of reach with a score of 42-26, the eventual final tally.

After four home games, our St. John Bosco Braves football team traveled across the country to Chesapeake, Virginia, where they play their next opponent, Oscar Smith High School. The Braves look to continue their winning season and defeat another national opponent in the Tigers, known for their viral video of their walk out in the “Tiger Cage.” The game will be streamed on the NFHS Network with radio play-by-play available here from Bosco alum Chris Sylvester.