SoCalHoops High School News

High School Team Preview:
Century High School--(Nov. 27, 1999)

Century High School is located in Santa Ana, part of the Santa Ana Unified School District.  It's a four year, coed high school with an enrollment of 2550 students, which would place it in Division I-AA, the highest division in the CIF Southern Section for playoff purposes, assuming that they had any chance of making the playoffs.  Of course, anything is possible, but in comparison to the rest of the talent in their league this year, it's a stretch to say that they will finish in the top half of the league.  The team competes in the Empire League, a six team league, which means that only the top three teams automatically qualify for the playoffs.   Other teams in the league include Cypress, Katella, Kennedy, Loara and El Dorado.   Last season, the league was won by Loara, and they are again one of the favorites, while Century. . . well, Century isn't.

Coach Greg Coombs is in his 10th season, and during the prior nine years, he's accumulated a 140-100 record. Last season the team finished in fifth place in the Empire League,  with an overall record of 8-18, and a league record of 2-8, and the Centurions didn't make the playoffs.  This year, the Orange County Register's Richard Manfredi, who did the Empire League previews on November 24, 1999,  predicted that Century would finish dead last in the league, behind El Dorado, Loara, Cypress, Katella, and Kennedy, in that order. Last.  Worse than last year.

Who's on the team this year?  Well, like a lot of the teams in Orange County, we can't say for sure because we haven't interviewed Coach Coombs and he hasn't sent us a roster. Are we taking the easy way out, or just being lazy by relying on newspaper reports to do our previews.  Well, let's put it this way:   There are more than 500 schools, and that's just in the Southern Section alone, and we just don't have the resources to be able to speak personally with every coach. So, as we will when required, we'll rely on the local papers, in this case, the Orange County Register and/or the LA Times' Orange County Edition. Here's what we know about the roster:

Here's what the Times' preview (published 1123/99) had to say about the team: "Coach Greg Coombs likes the team's work ethic and believes that most of the players on his 13-man roster will see a lot of playing time. But a lack of size could be a key factor. The tallest player is 6-2. Junior guard Chris Ferretti and senior forward Joel Valdez are returning starters and they're joined by senior guards Hugo Ornelas and Bun Pho, as well as junior guard Matt Napier. The three are returning lettermen. Fighting for starting roles are senior swingman John Robledo and juniors Phillip Alves, Joel Mijares, Ruben Pineda and Jose Vegara. "We will try to be solid on defense and take good shots," Coombs said."

Richard Manfredi of the Orange County Register, had this to say: "Two starters return from last season's squad, including three seniors who lettered."  Er, um, ok.  Doesn't tell us much, and while we now know the names and heights of the players, we don't know much else. But that, as they say, is better than nothing. Oh, we know about the schedule too. Here it is:

Here's a map to the school:

Century High School 1401 South Grand Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 714-568-7000

 
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