Tustin

A long weekend of fast-pitch softball ended on a high note for the Huntington Beach Girls Softball 12-and-under team as they earned an invitation to the upcoming State Qualifier. The state tournament will take place over the Fourth of July weekend in Vista. The Xtreme began the weekend at the Central District Tournament held in Anaheim Hills with an 8-0 victory against Mission Hills. In the first game on Saturday, the Xtreme pulled away from Mission D-Oro in the bottom of the fourth inning and went on to record an 11-4 win. They came back later that afternoon to face a tough Los Alamitos squad.

And then there were two. When the prep football season reaches its quarterfinals stage Friday , two local teams, Edison and Huntington Beach, will be among the teams still alive in the hunt for a CIF Southern Section championship. The Chargers and Oilers both advanced to the elite eight of the Southwest Division playoffs after picking up first-round victories last week. Brethren Christian was the third local team playing in the postseason, but the Warriors had their playoff hopes dashed in the cold last Saturday against Big Bear.

The class started out with 34 recruits -- upon graduation, there were only 20. "It takes a lot of effort, heart and help to complete this course," said Gary T. Knostman, graduate of Golden West College's Criminal Justice Training Center. "I couldn't have done it on my own." The 125th graduating class of Golden West College's Criminal Justice Training Center held its ceremonies in the larger and more spacious Robert B. Moore Theater at Orange Coast College on Friday.

The Ocean View Seahawks went from contenders to pretenders for the Golden West League football title mighty fast during Thursday night's showdown with visiting Tustin. The Tillers simply were overpowering, as they combined an over-zealous defense with an unstoppable rushing game to dismantle the Seahawks, 78-7, at Huntington Beach High's Sheue Field. The victory gave Tustin sole possession of the 1999 league championship and the league's top seed in next week's CIF Southern Section Division VI playoffs.

Estancia High senior Heather Morton swept in singles and two Eagle doubles teams also swept in the school's 15-3 nonleague girls tennis win over host Tustin Monday. The senior tandem of Sarah Muradian and Krizia Tonin, as well as senior partners Susan Cloud and Elizabeth Armstrong won all three sets against the Tillers. Estancia evened its record at 1-1, while Tustin fell to 0-2. Estancia visits El Modena Wednesday at 3:15 p.m. UCI sitting 13th GOLF: The UC Irvine men's golf team is in 13th place after two rounds of the Mid Pines intercollegiate at the Mid Pines Golf Club in North Carolina.

Led by a strong defensive effort, the Huntington Beach Pee Wee Gold Chargers posted a shutout victory last Saturday by downing the Tustin Black Cobras, 6-0, in football action at Edison High. The game's lone touchdown came on a run by leading rusher Michael Bogard. Keenan Allen, who along with Dan Samarin and Christopher Halamandaris comprised the rest of the Gold Chargers' rushing attack, had a touchdown nullified by penalty.

The Huntington Beach South Chargers ran its National Junior Basketball record to 3-1 with a 54-36 rout of Tustin in boys' sixth-grade All-Net action. The Chargers took advantage of great perimeter shooting to take command of the game. Connor Hughes was hot from both outside and inside the paint, finishing with 20 points and five rebounds. Sean Guite hit three, three-point baskets and finished with 18 points and Cole Farmer got all seven of his points on 7 of 8 shooting from the foul line.

The Huntington Beach Gold Chargers' 2002 season came to an end Saturday in a 14-0 defeat at the hands of the Tustin Cobras in a first-round Pee Wee Division game of the Pop Warner Football playoffs. The two teams were locked in a defensive struggle well into the third period, when Tustin was trying to protect a precarious 2-0 lead. The Cobras had pushed their advantage to 8-0 in the fourth quarter when Huntington Beach drove down to the Tustin eight yard line.

The Huntington Beach Pop Warner Junior Pee Wee division Gold Chargers won another nail-biter Saturday over the Tustin Gold Cobras, 12-6. Behind the blocks of Paul Rogers and Jonathan Moreida, Mike Saffell scored the winning touchdown in overtime for the Chargers. The Cobras scored first in a quarterback sneak and HB ended the first half down, 6-0. On their first possession of the second half, Chase Ault ran the ball 60 yards for a touchdown behind great downfield blocking.

A former fugitive who bought a Huntington Beach home fraudulently, among other crimes, was convicted Tuesday of committing $2.8 million in fraud and stealing the identities of more than a dozen victims. Gene Anthony Franklin Jr., 34, of Tustin, purchased a $685,000 local home — and signed up for its water and phone bills — in 2006 using a victim’s personal information, which he obtained during an “investment opportunity” discussion. When the victim saw his credit report, he contacted Franklin and was falsely told his name would be removed from the home.