SoCalHoops High School News

High School Team Preview:
Foothill High School--(Nov. 26, 1999)

Foothill High School is located at 19251 Dodge Avenue, in Santa Ana, CA.  It's part of the Tustin Unified School District, and it competes in the Century League in CIF Southern Section against Villa Park, Santa Ana Valley, Orange, El Modena and Canyon.  The school has an enrollment of 2000 students, which last year placed them into Division II-AA.  Bob Thate is the head coach, and he's going into his seventh season at the helm, and during that time he's compiled a record of 68-91.   The Knights surprised a lot of people last season, finishing third in Century League play behind first place Canyon and second-place Villa Park, and they amassed a 20-8 overall record, and went 6-4 in league.  As a result of their league performance, they qualified for the Division II-AA playoffs, and did reasonably well, surviving a first round game against Elsinore, which they won 77-68, but then they ran into Tim Tucker's team from Pasadena who finished them off in the second round 81-63 before losing themselves in the semifinals in overtime to an even more surprising Gahr team.

We haven't had the chance to interview coach Thate for this preview, so we're going with what we know from the papers:  The Orange County Register's Steve Fryer did the league preview for the Century League, which was published in the Register on 11/22/99, and here's what he said about their prospects for this year:  

"The Knights were very good last season.  They could be even better this season with a talented returning group led by all-league returnees [Chad] Bigler, [Alex] Rasmussen, and [Zach] Smith."

Here's what we know about the roster for this season:

Three starters return from last year's team.  At the perimeter, Foothill should be more than good with Alex Rasmussen who was an All-League selection who averaged 18.5 ppg and hit for 72 three-pointers last season.  He's one of the better shooters, and he also had a good summer at several of the camps and tournaments. Also back is Chad Bigler, a 6-4 wing player who averaged 15 points and made 69 three-pointers and Zach Smith, a 6-4 wing who averaged 10 points and seven rebounds. Three senior post players--6-6 John Weir, 6-5 Ryan Evans and 6-3 Joe Henderson--will, according to the LA Times preview article, "offer tough inside play," but they will have difficulty against taller teams, at least in our view.  We don't know a thing about the newcomers, Johnson, McCamey or Scott, so we really can't say anything about them at this time.  Undoubtedly there will be others joining the team who didn't make the Times or Register previews, but we have no idea who that will be either.

We do know a little about Foothill's schedule this season. Here's what the CIF 1999-2000 Master Schedule and Media Guide has for the Knights this year:

And in case you get the urge to go check out a home game, here's where the school is located.  Remember to call first and please, please, please, don't rely solely on the schedule above, because the CIF stuff is known to be compiled as early as last spring, and things sometimes change. If you go and there's no game, don't blame us.  Call the school or check the local paper before making the trip.

Foothill High School 19251 Dodge Avenue, Santa Ana, CA (714) 730-7464

 
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