San Clemente

Huntington Beach High withstood a late charge by San Clemente in a heated prep surf competition last weekend at the Huntington Beach Pier, and the Oilers were able to hold on for a 71-70 victory over the Tritons in the National Surf League's Red Bull High School Cup. Huntington took a four-point lead into the fourth quarter where San Clemente scored some top waves to get back into contention. Trevor Sanders landed a huge front side alley-oop air followed by two huge snaps, moves that earned him the game's Most Radical Maneuver award.

Huntington Beach High’s Christian Saenz is among the top competitors at the 2009 National Scholastic Surfing Assn. National Championships, which began Tuesday and continue through Saturday at Lower Tressles in San Clemente. Saenz, who lost a tiebreaker to Luke Davis of Capistrano Beach at the West Coast Championships in May, is considered one of the favorites in the open men’s division. He won the Southwest Conference open men’s division this season. “Christian is the real deal,” Oilers surf Coach Andy Verdone said.

HUNTINGTON BEACH — TJ DeFalco opened with an ace serve Thursday night and from there, it was aces all around for the Huntington Beach High boys' volleyball team. The Oilers reserved a spot in Saturday's CIF Southern California Regional Division 1 championship match by sweeping past visiting San Clemente, 25-20, 25-18, 26-24, before another great crowd at Huntington's Elmer Combs Gymnasium. Huntington, the top seed in the tournament, returns to Santiago Canyon College in Orange for Saturday's 7:30 p.m. Division 1 finale.

The Huntington Beach High boys' volleyball team weaved its way through tough competition to earn a spot Monday in the Orange County Championships Division 1 final at Edison High. In the title game, a hotly contested one against San Clemente, the top-ranked team in CIF Southern Section Division 1, the fifth-ranked Oilers came up just shy of handing the Tritons their first loss. San Clemente held off the Oilers in four sets, 25-22, 25-23, 20-25, 25-19, to win the crown. Senior setter Matt Butler had four kills and 50 assists.

WET AND WILD WITH ROCKIN' FIG The National Scholastic Surfing Assn's Interscholastic State Championships went off in some nice weather and surf down at Church's in San Clemente Saturday. A solid combination of a southern- hemi swell filling in and west wind swell gave the surfers some 3- to 5-foot clean conditions to work with, nothing like the stormy conditions that were dealt the first time around forcing a postponement about a month ago. The San Clemente High School Tritons took advantage in their home turf sending five surfers to the six-man final.

Here are the men and women who have won the U.S. Open: MEN U.S. Open of Surfing 2004: Taj Burrow (Australia) 2003: Cory Lopez (Florida) 2002: Kalani Robb (Hawaii) 2001: Rob Machado (Cardiff) 2000: Sunny Garcia (Hawaii) 1999: Shea Lopez (San Clemente) 1998: Andy Irons (Hawaii) 1997: Beau Emerton (Australia) 1996: Kelly Slater (Florida) 1995: Rob Machado (Cardiff) 1994: Shane Beschen (San Clemente) WOMEN U.S. Open of Surfing 2004: Chelsea Georgeson (Australia)

The men and women who have won the U.S. Open are: MEN U.S. Open of Surfing Cory Lopez (Florida) -- 2003 Kalani Robb (Hawaii) -- 2002 Rob Machado (Cardiff) -- 2001 Sunny Garcia (Hawaii) -- 2000 Shea Lopez (San Clemente) -- 1999 Andy Irons (Hawaii) -- 1998 Beau Emerton (Australia) -- 1997 Kelly Slater (Florida) -- 1996 Rob Machado (Cardiff) -- 1995 Shane Beschen (San Clemente) -- 1994 WOMEN U.S. Open of Surfing Chelsea Georgeson (Australia)

Below is a list of the men and women who have won at the U.S. Open of Surfing: U.S. Open Men 2009: Brett Simpson (HB, Westminster) 2008: Nathaniel Curran (Oxnard) 2007: C.J. Hobgood (Florida) 2006: Rob Machado (Cardiff) 2005: Andy Irons (Hawaii) 2004: Taj Burrow (Australia) 2003: Cory Lopez (Florida) 2002: Kalani Robb (Hawaii) 2001: Rob Machado (Cardiff) 2000: Sunny Garcia (Hawaii) 1999: Shea Lopez (San Clemente)

Edison High and the girls varsity basketball program will host the inaugural Orange County Championships, a four-day basketball tournament that will run from Dec. 27-30 at the Edison gymnasium. The tournament has landed quite a field for its first endeavor, with eight of its teams ranked among the top 15 by area sports writers. All eight competing teams are reigning league champions, and posted a combined 76-4 record in league play during the 1999 season.

EDITOR’S NOTE: These people were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of an intoxicant. They are considered innocent until proved guilty.   Bryan G. Sparks, 27, Whittier Natalie M. Colwell, 21, Huntington Beach Chase I. Garcia, 22, Stanton Amanda K. Edwards, 25, Huntington Beach Kevin R. Olson, 47, Westminster Matthew C. Upton, 26, Long Beach Hilary R. Chace, 18, Westminster Laura B. Blum, 25, Newport Beach Richard S. Miller, 62, Ventura Craig A. Holt, 24, Costa Mesa Kimberly S. Coderre, 21, Huntington Beach Elizabeth Langlois, 64, Costa Mesa Nohemy Briseno, 33, Lakewood Rolando Ortiz, 20, Huntington Beach Teresa A. Payne, 44, Marysville Chris W. Bloom, 52, Huntington Beach Aimee K. Engelhardt, 33, San Clemente Dinh Q. Tran, 48, Garden Grove Carlos V. Quezada, 29, Newport Beach Thai D. Dang, 22, Los Angeles Arturo S. Gonzalez, 28, Huntington Beach Olga D. Perez, 51, Perris Thomas O. Miller, 51, Huntington Beach Lieu Tran, 34, Westminster Francisco R. Camacho, 32, Huntington Beach

HUNTINGTON BEACH — TJ DeFalco opened with an ace serve Thursday night and from there, it was aces all around for the Huntington Beach High boys' volleyball team. The Oilers reserved a spot in Saturday's CIF Southern California Regional Division 1 championship match by sweeping past visiting San Clemente, 25-20, 25-18, 26-24, before another great crowd at Huntington's Elmer Combs Gymnasium. Huntington, the top seed in the tournament, returns to Santiago Canyon College in Orange for Saturday's 7:30 p.m. Division 1 finale.

With one championship already in its possession, the Huntington Beach High boys' volleyball team began its quest for another postseason title when it opened play Tuesday in the CIF Southern California Division 1 Regional. The Oilers, who three days earlier had won the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship, swept visiting Clovis Buchanan, 25-10, 25-15, 27-25, to move on to the regional semifinals. Huntington, the No. 1 seed in the Division 1 Regional, will host No. 4-seeded San Clemente at 7 p.m. Thursday.

The Huntington Beach High boys' volleyball team weaved its way through tough competition to earn a spot Monday in the Orange County Championships Division 1 final at Edison High. In the title game, a hotly contested one against San Clemente, the top-ranked team in CIF Southern Section Division 1, the fifth-ranked Oilers came up just shy of handing the Tritons their first loss. San Clemente held off the Oilers in four sets, 25-22, 25-23, 20-25, 25-19, to win the crown. Senior setter Matt Butler had four kills and 50 assists.

The end of a tough three-week stretch comes to an end Friday for the Edison High football team. Having taken on the likes of Servite and Mater Dei in their previous two outings, splitting those two nonleague games, the Chargers - ranked second in the CIF Southern Section Southwest Division - now venture to San Clemente to take on the Tritons. "It's a real tough stretch for us," said Edison Coach Dave White. "We schedule these types of games to get us ready for Sunset League play.

The Huntington Beach Jr. Clinic Division Oilers earned their second victory of the season Saturday by dominating the South Bay Packers, 27-0, in Jr. All-American Football action. Huntington received strong performances from several players as the Oilers ran their record to 2-1. Running backs Andy Rodriguez and Lyric Fata had big games for the Oilers, who improved to 2-1. Rodriguez rushed for 96 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown run. Fata scores on touchdown runs of 65, 15 and eight yards.

The Huntington Beach High boys' water polo team is off to a hot start in the 2012 season. The Oilers won their sixth straight game to start the season by downing San Clemente, 12-5, Tuesday. They secured the win by outscoring the Tritons, 4-0, during the fourth quarter. Jovan Jeremic converted five of his nine shots to lead the Oilers in scoring and sophomore goalie Alex Wolf recorded 15 saves. Before defeating San Clemente, Huntington traveled south for the Poway Tournament and won the three-day event.

As the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear tragedy in Japan continues to unfold, some Orange County residents wonder what it might be like if anything like it happened here. Such a nightmare for folks along the Orange Coast would impact us all. A tidal wave of surge refugees would sweep inland. All reasonable preparatory steps should be taken. That's easy to say but daunting even to think about. We shrink from the implications of breached nuclear generation stations. Minute radioactive sparklers are now making their way into Japanese flesh, blood and bone.

Below is a list of the men and women who have won at the U.S. Open of Surfing: U.S. Open Men 2009: Brett Simpson (HB, Westminster) 2008: Nathaniel Curran (Oxnard) 2007: C.J. Hobgood (Florida) 2006: Rob Machado (Cardiff) 2005: Andy Irons (Hawaii) 2004: Taj Burrow (Australia) 2003: Cory Lopez (Florida) 2002: Kalani Robb (Hawaii) 2001: Rob Machado (Cardiff) 2000: Sunny Garcia (Hawaii) 1999: Shea Lopez (San Clemente)

Shaggy-haired tweens in tank tops and board shorts sat in front of white iMacs taking Photo Booth pictures and checking out merchandise online in a motel room lined with surf boards from several decades. A tanned, long-haired teen sat on a longboard as he flew down the motel's hallway, and a handful of people clad in sunglasses lounged in a side yard decked out with sand, AstroTurf and old-school travel trailers. Huntington Beach resident Noah Caprio sat in the side yard with his helmet on and his bike on the ground next to him. It was his first trip to the Motel No Tell, but he said he can already see himself spending his whole summer there.

The National Scholastic Surfing Assn. held its 2010 NSSA Interscholastic State Championships from March 5 to 7 at the Huntington Beach Pier. It was surfing’s version of March Madness, as three days of intense competition with 46 schools, 21 college teams, 11 high schools, five junior varsity and nine middle schools went head-to-head for State Titles. In the high school division, San Clemente dominated this year again, racking up 116 points to second-place Newport Harbor with 102 points.