Follow the Acorn Newspapers for updates and news on sports teams and athletes. Have a story? Email sports editor Eliav Appelbaum at eliav
@theacorn
.com.
Newbury Park High softball head coach Mike Dagan, 50, passed away from COVID-19 last night, according to multiple folks in the Panther community.
Dagan led Newbury Park softball to its first CIF-Southern Section title in 2018. A story from happier times:
Awful, devastating news.
Katie Meyer, former Newbury Park High girls' soccer goalie and an NCAA champion superstar for the Stanford women's soccer team, has died.
Exciting news: The Acorn Newspapers sports staff welcomes Joy Hong to our team.
Joy, a Thousand Oaks High grad and incoming UCLA senior, will intern with us this summer. The talented young journalist was managing editor & a sports editor for
@dailybruin
.
Follow her
@joy__hong
.
Colin Sahlman, a Newbury Park High senior who hails from Camarillo, breaks the 4-minute barrier in the mile.
What an unbelievable achievement and moment.
BREAKING: HE DIT IT!!!! 3:58.81 FOR THE MILE!! At the Dr. Sander Invit'l in New York,
@NPHSXC
@NPHSTF
@ColinSahlman
wins the indoor mile in 3:58.81. That's insane!!!!
After one game,
@EvanYabu
is early favorite for Acorn Coach of the Year after leading Thousand Oaks football team to a win in his first game at the helm, against a rival Newbury Park, and to stop his team’s 25-game losing streak.
Take a bow, Evan.
Lancers, go celebrate safely.
Michael Wilson (
@michaelgwilson1
), a Simi Valley resident who stars on football field for Chaminade, committed to Stanford. Wilson also plays basketball for Chaminade. We're not surprised to see the best athletes play multiple sports.
Alex Singleton (
@alexsingleton49
), a Thousand Oaks High grad, is named Philadelphia Eagles' captain. Huge honor for the linebacker, who is ready for an encore after his best season as an NFL pro.
Football: Josh Henderson will be stepping down as Grace Brethren High's head coach after this season, his 10th, according to multiple reports. He will go down as arguably the best coach in school history.
Photos from the Lancers' 2018 CIF-SS Div. 4 title win by
@Michael_Coons
.
Westlake High mourns the death of Julius Poppinga, 17, a varsity football player who died earlier this week from unspecified complications. Poppinga was a junior defensive end and offensive lineman for
@_WHSFootball_
.
The Warriors play Friday, Sept. 1 vs. Thousand Oaks at home.
Newbury Park High boys' cross country makes history in emphatic run to U.S. championship, its second straight national title. Photo courtesy of Lynne Young.
Track and field:
@achs_scorpions
senior
@cieramusc
quit cheer after suffering three (recorded) concussions in less than three months during her freshman year.
She's since found her niche, becoming one of the top pole vaulters in Ventura County.
BOOM!
New HS Indoor 4xMile indoor record for Newbury Park!
16:29.31
Splits: Aaron Sahlman 4:11.83, Leo Young 4:06.85, Lex Young 4:07.34, Colin Sahlman 4:03.74
#NBNationals
We salute
@LayoutLopez
for live tweeting all the heart-pounding action of the Conejo Valley Championship high school football game between Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park tonight.
Was everyone else hitting the refresh button every five seconds waiting for an update from David?
The pick is in.
Drake London, the pride of Moorpark, goes to No. 8 overall in the first round to the Atlanta Falcons.
Two Ventura County players go in the top-10 of NFL draft. What a great moment for football in the area.
Chase Martin, Thousand Oaks High football superstar and the best player from the schools that we cover across five newspapers, has committed to Boise State.
Martin was the catalyst for Thousand Oaks finishing the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record this fall.
And now, the cover for the 10th annual Pigskin preview. Photos by
@acornrichard
and
@Michael_Coons
. Layout by
@LayoutLopez
.
Pick up your copy inside your Acorn this Friday and Saturday.
In need of a head coach, Calabasas chooses former defensive coordinator Chris Claiborne (
@fratboyzprez55
). Claiborne, who played at USC and in the NFL, is bringing a star-studded cast to the
@CalabasasFtball
program. The latest:
Football: Calabasas superstar wide receiver Mycah Pittman, who will one day play in NFL (not a typo), narrows his college choices to, in alphabetical order, Alabama, Florida, Nebraska, Ohio State and Oregon.
FOOTBALL: It’s a final in Westlake. Thousand Oaks 10, WHS 7 on FG as time expired. Big win for Coach Yabu and Co. Lancers first win vs Warriors since 2008.
Alex Singleton, NFL linebacker with Denver Broncos and a Thousand Oaks High graduate, is hosting a FREE camp for kids next Saturday, July 22 at TOHS.
Sign up now before it's too late.
Chris Casillas, former Thousand Oaks High football head coach, is new linebackers coach at Moorpark College. Casillas most recently assisted at Moorpark High.
Good coach. Better person. A real mensch, which is the best thing sports editor Eliav Appelbaum can say about anyone.
Moorpark football team advances to the CIF-Southern Section Division 5 championship game on blocked punt, and clutch final drive in win against Paramount. Break out the rye bread and butter.
Juice World
Julien "Juice" Stokes, a junior running back/safety for Grace Brethren High's football team and a Newbury Park resident, has recently picked up multiple offers from Ivy League teams.
Check out the Acorn story now:
Newbury Park High football QB Brady Smigiel (
@BradySmigiel
) throws record-tying seventh touchdown pass to his brother Beau (
@beausmigiel2424
).
Seven TD throws in one game ties Ventura County record. Wow.
@NPPanthersONE
defeats Golden Valley 59-49 in shoot-em-up opener.
Nine local baseball players with ties to Acorn country were selected in this week's
@MLB
draft, including first-round pick
@Maxmuncy_8
of
@tohsbaseball
to the
@Athletics
.
Check out the story now:
Football final: St. Bonaventure 63, Calabasas 0
@LeilaniArmenta
, a CIF-SS girls’ soccer player of the year and one of the top multisport stars in Ventura County, kicks nine extra points in win.
Where are they now? Former Thousand Oaks High softball star Kealia Wysocki is batting .340 with six home runs, 20 RBI, 18 runs and four doubles this year for Bradley University. She was an All-Missouri Valley Conference second team selection last year as a freshman.
Thousand Oaks' Colin Walton (
@colinwalton04
) earns a spot into the Yale Young Global Scholars program. Walton is a two-sport star in basketball and volleyball for Thousand Oaks High.
Football final: Thousand Oaks 41, Newbury Park 38 in double overtime.
@chasemartin_12
, who picked up his first Division I scholarship offer earlier this week, rushes in for the game-winning touchdown as Lancers secure the Conejo Valley Championship for third straight season.
Weber on attending today's practice: “I’m just going to try to benefit my team as much as possible. Even though I can’t be on the field as a leader, I’m going to be on the sideline being just as big of a leader as I can. I’m still a part of this team.”
.
@jaquez_jr
plays great in crunch time for UCLA men’s basketball in 70-63 win against Colorado on the road. Defensive rebounding, big 3-pointer, solid defense in final minutes . . . The true freshman out of Camarillo High has exceeded expectations.
San Francisco Giants pitcher Jimmie Sherfy (Newbury Park High grad) returns to Major League Baseball for the first time since 2019 after pitching well for Triple-A Sacramento River Cats and helping Team USA clinch a berth at the Olympics in Tokyo on Saturday.
@NPHSAthletic
Christian Yelich, Westlake High grad and 2018 NL MVP, hits for the cycle for the Milwaukee Brewers today in a 14-11 loss to the Reds. Yelich has three cycles in his career, tied for the most in Major League Baseball history. Yelich has a record three cycles against one team.
Cameron Rising, a Newbury Park High grad, has been named starting quarterback at the University of Utah of the Pac-12 Conference.
Ben Gulbranson, another Newbury Park grad, is a backup QB at Oregon State.
Sidney Dobner was promoted to head video coordinator for the
@Bucks
, making her the first female to hold that position for the team.
@MikeBudenholzer
says Sidney is the first female to hold that position in the NBA. More about this trailblazer’s story on
@CBS58
@pconnaughton
All the football teams in the Acorn coverage area are in one place. Learn about the preseason Acorn All-Stars and the preseason Power Poll in this one-of-a-kind special section.
Pick up your copy inside the Acorn Newspaper today and tomorrow.
Football final: Thousand Oaks 27, Newbury Park 24. Lancers stop Panthers on fourth-down at goal line to win their first game since 2017. The 15-game losing streak is over. Evan Yabu wins his first game as head coach. Wild. Wild. Wild stuff.
"Grounded by mom"
Cortez Espinoza, a recent
@CLUSports
grad, knows who to thank for his success on and off the baseball diamond. Espinoza, who earned academic scholarships at Cal Lutheran and Oaks Christian, heading to
@azusapacific
.
Story by
@joy__hong
:
Gabriela Jaquez (
@gabrielarj11
) scored 52 points for the Camarillo High girls’ basketball team last night in a road playoff loss. Jaquez had arguably the best game of any Acorn local in the sport since
@KaylaOverbeck
willed Newbury Park to a
@CIFSS
title in 2016.
Just want to give a shout-out to Gabriela Jaquez of
@achs_scorpions
on an amazing performance in the game tonight against our girls’ basketball team. One of the best scoring performances ever in our gym.