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BASKETBALL: PIONEER COACH LEAVING FOR DE ANZA COLLEGE
After 27 years as Pioneer’s boys basketball coach, Joe Berticevich will have a change of scenery next season.
No, he isn’t leaving his day job.
He will continue to teach at the San Jose high school. But Berticevich, 52, will also spend part of his day driving up Hwy. 85 to De Anza College, where he has been named the fifth men’s basketball coach in the 57-year history of the Cupertino school.
“I’ve always liked De Anza,” Berticevich said. “I am looking forward to get going.”
When Berticevich says he is starting from scratch, he means he is starting from scratch.
Because the program was temporarily suspended last season to undergo what the school website called “some changes,” there are zero returning players.
Berticevich will have a clean canvas from which to build a program that Jason Damjanovic led for 17 years before officially stepping down in August.
The team had an interim coach in 2022-23.
“It’s kind of unique,” Berticevich said. “With the spring basketball class, you have your returning basketball players. I don’t have any, so I am working on it. Hopefully by a couple of weeks I’ll have some guys to coach.”
Berticevich, a 1989 Prospect High graduate, was a guard at West Valley College in the early 1990s.
He went on to coach the frosh-soph team and assist with the varsity at Los Gatos before taking over the varsity program at Pioneer more than a quarter century ago.
Berticevich also will step down as Pioneer’s athletic director, a position he has held for 14 years.
Tough decisions, yes, but the opportunity for a new challenge has put some bounces in Berticevich’s step.
“It’s going to be weird seeing someone else on the sidelines,” Berticevich said about Pioneer. “We have a good group of kids coming back. The program’s in a great place. Whoever takes it over is going to have a great group of kids to coach.”
Why leave?
“Obviously I played at that (college) level and really like this level,” Berticevich added. “From afar, I’ve had opportunities to coach at this level and I have turned ‘em down just because I know the time commitment and what it takes. I had two young kids. But now they’re out of school. I have more time and this came up. It was a part-time position, so I could stay at Pioneer and teach my load there and leave in the afternoon.
“The big piece is the recruiting piece, You get to recruit players and build your team from that. I’ve never done that before and my time is running out on that.”
Pioneer’s head coach Joe Berticevich speaks to his team during a time out against Willow Glen at Willow Glen High in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023. (Brandon Vallance for the Bay Area News Group)
Berticevich still hopes to help coach Pioneer’s girls flag football team in the fall. He was the head coach last season — the program’s first — but would have to be an assistant in Year 2.
“I am hopefully going to still call the plays because the games are at 7 at night,” Berticevich said. “I think it’s great. You’re going to see a lot more teams.”
– Darren Sabedra
BASKETBALL: DOC VISITS THE MASTERS
Doc Scheppler’s voice rose in pitch as he excitedly explained the intricacies of a sport.
No, the longtime Pinewood girls basketball coach wasn’t breaking down his specialty – the science of long-range shooting.
He was describing his trip to Augusta to watch the Masters tournament this weekend. Scheppler made it clear he was going as a fan on what he called a “guy’s trip” with his five former basketball teammates and friends of almost 60 years.
“So I tell my players, look around the room here,” Scheppler said. “You’re going to know each other’s significant others, kids and grandkids. That’s what sports are supposed to be about.”
Pinewood coach Doc Scheppler gives instructions to his team in March 2023. (Joseph Dycus/Bay Area News Group)
Scheppler will relish each and every detail as he walks the course and said going to the Masters is a “bucket list item” for the diehard fan.
“You know the par-5s are 13 and 15, and you know 12 and 16 are the par-3s over the creek,” the longtime coach said. “You know the finishing hole. You know everything about it. It’s the Wimbledon of golf. It’s the NBA Finals. It’s going to be so much fun going there with my high school buddies.”
He’s hoping to see Rory McIlroy win his first Masters.
“I get very sentimental, oh I’m about to tear up now, when a guy who has never won the Masters puts on that green jacket,” Scheppler said. “It’s their dream to win this tournament, and when they put on the jacket, they talk with such emotion.”
– Joseph Dycus
FOOTBALL: GRANADA HIRES NEW FOOTBALL COACH
The Brandon Black era has begun at Granada.
The longtime Dublin head coach was hired to lead Granada after the Livermore school parted ways with Marc Moses in February.
“I live in the community, my family’s here and my kids go to school in Livermore,” Black said. “It was a spot that was always attractive to me and when it opened up, it was a no-brainer for me.”
In five seasons at Dublin, Black was 25-21.
The Gaels had their best season under the coach in 2022 when they finished 6-4 overall and 2-2 and placed second in the East Bay Athletic League’s Valley Division.
Black said he plans to implement some of the philosophies that made his teams successful while also adopting Granada’s tradition of winning the line of scrimmage.
“Having that leverage up front is going to play a big role,” Black said. “There are times we’re going to pound the rock, and we can certainly do that now. But I think our mindset and philosophy is we’re going to be more of a spread team.”
Granada went 7-4, 3-1 last season, losing to Rancho Cotate in the first round of the North Coast Section Division II playoffs.
Black believes he has all the tools he needs to build a championship contender.
“Livermore is a community where kids don’t transfer out often,” he said. “I believe it starts with that type of culture. The relationship piece of this is built with the kids, and if you end up at Granada, we’re going to coach you.”
– Nathan Canilao
BASEBALL: PITTSBURG, HERITAGE SET FOR BIG SERIES
Pittsburg and Heritage will meet in a crucial two-game series next week – Tuesday at Heritage, Thursday at Pittsburg – that could ultimately could decide which team wins the Bay Valley Athletic League championship.
Both are among the Bay Area News Group’s Top 20 and undefeated in league play.
“We’re ready for them,” Pittsburg sophomore JJ Robinson said after a victory over Oakland Tech last week. “We got a fire in our stomach to play them.”
The 11th-ranked Pirates have won eight straight games, which include two wins over third-place Freedom. No. 9 Heritage (12-3-1 overall) beat Antioch twice to start league play.
One of the key matchups will be Heritage pitcher Ryan Williams (0.37 ERA) against a Pittsburg lineup that averages seven runs per game.
“There’s great teams in our league,” Williams said. “ It’s just about coming out playing our best baseball and continuing to keep dominating on the field.”
– Nathan Canilao
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL: DUBLIN FINDS NEW COACH
Kevin Kramer has been named Dublin’s next girls volleyball coach.
He had previously been a head coach Gavilan College, leading the women’s indoor and beach volleyball teams, and coaches at NorCal Volleyball Club in Livermore.
Kramer said Dublin has the infrastructure for success despite having just two winning seasons since 2018.
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“There is a sense that when you wear the Dublin logo on your shirt, you better show up to compete because that’s what the expectation is across the athletic department,” Kramer said. “That is exciting and Dublin has done an amazing job of making sure that their athletes are taken care of.”
– Nathan Canilao
WEIGHTLIFTING: PIEDMONT DEADLIFTER BREAKS RECORDS
Piedmont sophomore Layth Haddawy rewrote the California state deadlift records for the 14-15 age group’s 132-pound category last weekend.
At the USPA Spring Break competition in Oakland, Haddawy squatted 280 pounds, bench pressed 206, and deadlifted 371 for a combined total of 857 pounds. His father Chris said each of these marks set a new record.
– Joseph Dycus
