Welcome to Prep Spotlight, our feature that sheds more light on the Bay Area’s high school sports scene. For tips and story ideas, email highschools@bayareanewsgroup.com. If you haven’t already, please subscribe. Your contributions keep us going.
CORNERSTONE CHRISTIAN: READY FOR MORE
By capturing league, North Coast Section and NorCal crowns in 2024, Cornerstone Christian won everything an East Bay boys basketball team could.
Well, almost everything.
The small Antioch private school was unable to compete for a state championship in Sacramento because only NorCal holds a regional in Division VI. There was no state final in that classification.
This season, with a majority of the team back, the Cougars hope to play in at least Division V for NorCal, which would open the door for possible state hardware.
“We want to hang a banner. That’s what we play for,” star guard Benjamin Lukacs told the Bay Area News Group.
Cornerstone has set out to prove that it deserves to be in a higher bracket in the NCS’s first year of flexible, competitive-based divisions, and so far, so good.
Through Wednesday, the Cougars are 18-3.
They have defeated College Park, Marin Academy and a trio of Las Vegas schools. They also pushed Campolindo in a close loss. And just for good measure, Cornerstone took down Antioch’s public schools, Deer Valley and Antioch, too.
“We can move up as many as two spots, and I think my guys are ready and they’ve been looking forward to it,” coach Michael Thomasson said.
Led by Lukacs, the Cougars play an exciting brand of up-tempo basketball, with Marcus Wagner, Kamel Johnson, Jayden Stewart and others providing scoring and defense.
“I’ve had these guys for three years, and all they do is continue to get better and better each year,” Thomasson said.
Cornerstone is on the smaller side, with no player in the rotation being over 6-foot-2. But its star scorer doesn’t think that will be much of an issue come the postseason.
“It doesn’t matter who we go against, because I feel like we could beat anybody,” Lukacs said.
– Joseph Dycus
HOMESTEAD: MUSTANGS SEEING DOUBLE
What’s better than one dominant post player? Perhaps two of a kind.
In an ideal world, that’s what Homestead boys basketball would have available. The Vikings boast twin towers – literally – in twin brothers Drew Hamburger and Will Hamburger. But right now, only one of them is on the floor.
“Will is our second-leading scorer, leading rebounder,” Homestead coach Matt Wright said. “He’s averaging a double-double in league (play) right now. So he’s been a phenomenal player all year, just awesome. Team captain, he’s a junior. So we’re excited. He has a twin brother who is pretty dang good too. Injured all year, but we’re hoping to get him back before the end of the league (season).”
Drew starred for the Mustangs last season, when Will was out with an injury of his own.
“Last year was reversed,” Wright said. “Will was hurt all last year. Drew played in our first game and had a good game versus Santa Teresa, but he’s got a shoulder injury that’s been bugging him. But we’re hoping to see him before the end of the season. It’s been a lingering injury right now, but he’s a starter when he gets back, so we’re excited.”
Homestead’s done pretty well in Drew’s absence. The Mustangs are 13-3 overall and 5-1 in the SCVAL El Camino Division, trailing only Saratoga, which the Mustangs lost to in overtime on the road by three points.
Drew’s return could provide a boost for an excellent Homestead squad. But will he be able to play nice with his brother?
“I’m excited to get to the point where we get both of these guys,” Wright said. “They got the twin telepathy a little bit. So we’re excited to get Drew back, whenever it is.”
– Christian Babcock
Monta Vista’s Stanley Du, right, battles against Homestead’s Will Hamburger in an SCVAL basketball game on Jan. 17, 2025. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
BOYS BASKETBALL: NORTH’S BOOGEYMEN?
St. Joseph’s-Santa Maria is having quite the season. Led by four-star Baylor commit Tounde Yessoufou, the Knights are 20-1 and are one of the top teams in the country.
So why should Bay Area teams care?
St. Joseph’s is in a tricky geographical bind. Santa Maria, located just an hour north of Santa Barbara and an hour south of Morro Bay, is in the Central Section but won’t know whether it will be a northern team or a southern team in the state playoffs until the brackets are announced on March 2.
Two years ago, the Knights were placed in the north and reached the CIF Open Division state championship game by beating NorCal heavyweights Dougherty Valley and Modesto Christian. Last year, St. Joseph’s was placed in the south and fell to Roosevelt-Eastvale in the regional semifinals.
While we won’t know where the Knights will be placed this season until after the section playoffs, it’s safe to say that the easiest path to another Open Division state final appearance would be to a NorCal team.
St. Joseph’s has defeated Oakland Tech, Fremont-Oakland and Fresno-area powerhouse Clovis West by an average margin of 27.6 points.
While the Knights have made themselves familiar with NorCal opponents, coach Tom Mott said he isn’t thinking about where his team will be placed.
“We want to be wherever they put us,” Mott said. “Two years ago, they put us in the north, and when you win something, you want to go back and defend it. Last year, we were put in the south, but it’s out of our control.”
For Yessoufou however, he feels the Knights have unfinished business against SoCal opponents.
“Me personally, I want to be in the south,” he told reporters on Monday.
While St. Joseph’s has a plethora of talent, the Knights aren’t unbeatable. At the MLK Classic at De La Salle on Monday, Modesto Christian stormed back from a double-digit deficit and held a four-point lead late in the fourth quarter before St. Joseph’s took over and pulled out a 67-62 win.
Salesian – the No. 2 team in the latest Bay Area News Group rankings – will get its crack at St. Joseph’s at the Crush in the Valley showcase at Contra Costa College on Saturday.
– Nathan Canilao
St. Joseph-Santa Maria’s Tounde Yessoufou dunks in a CIF Open Division regional game at Dougherty Valley on March 4, 2023. St. Joseph won 87-76. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
ST. MARY’S-BERKELEY: THREE-GAME SKID REFOCUSED TEAM
After a surprising 13-2 start, St. Mary’s-Berkeley was one of the highest rising teams in the Bay Area.
But the Panthers struggled last week and went on a three-game skid, losing to Salesian, Albany and St. Patrick-St. Vincent in the crux of league play.
“I think when we lost to Salesian and Albany, we were just like, ‘OK we just lost a few games,’” forward Donovan Mikel said. “But once we lost to SPSV we really had to lock in.”
Since then, the Panthers seem to be back on the right track. St. Mary’s broke its losing streak by defeating Granada 80-55 at the MLK showcase at Miramonte and put on a defensive clinic against Vallejo on Tuesday in a 77-16 rout.
“We all came together and had a team meeting,” senior point guard Jaden Jones said. “We had to revisit all the stuff we were doing in the beginning of the season and what got us on our win streak like our mentality and the intensity we were practicing at. We just had to go back to that.”
– Nathan Canilao
Vallejo’s Larry Burton (34) fights for a rebound against St. Mary’s Donovan Mikel (23) and Julian Henderson (20) during a basketball game at Vallejo High School on Tuesday. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
RECRUITING: BELICHICK LANDS DLS COMMITMENT
One of De La Salle’s top athletes and arguably the fastest player in NorCal orally committed to Bill Belichick’s North Carolina program on Tuesday.
Junior cornerback Jaden Jefferson, who is rated as a three-star athlete by 247sports.com, announced the decision on social media. He is the fourth player to commit to the Tarheels.
“They made it known that I’m a ball player and I fit the team with the abilities I bring,” Jefferson told 247.
Jefferson won the 2024 NCS 100-meter championship in 10.40 seconds, and that speed has translated onto the football field.
He ran for 344 yards and four touchdowns, returned two kicks for scores and was a lockdown defensive back for a DLS team that won the NCS Open Division title and reached the CIF Open championship game.
– Joseph Dycus
De La Salle’s Jaden Jefferson (15) runs the ball while being defended by St. Francis’ Kaimani Keanaaina during a game on Sept. 13, 2024. (Photo by Anda Chu)
COACHING: VACANCIES AROUND BAY AREA
Aspiring football coaches have no shortage of places to apply this offseason. Defending CCS Open Division champion St. Ignatius is looking for a new head coach after Bay Area News Group coach of the year Lenny Vandermade stepped down to take a job at Santa Margarita.
Related Articles
Prep roundup: Evergreen Valley girls turn back Willow Glen; Salesian boys dominate another league foe
Bay Area News Group boys athlete of the week: Jayden Minor, Mountain View basketball
Bay Area News Group girls athlete of the week: Tallyah Nasol, Archbishop Riordan basketball
Prep roundup: Palo Alto keeps rolling in boys basketball, Mills girls handle Carlmont
Thriller: Christopher outlasts Westmont in OT as Jaxen Robinson’s late shot rolls in
Perennial NCS power El Cerrito is still looking for a leader after Jacob Rincon – who had been placed on administrative leave – took a job at Contra Costa College, where he became the program’s recruiting coordinator and associate head coach.
Christopher, James Logan, Heritage and Leland are also looking for new head coaches.
– Joseph Dycus
CALPREPS: NEW NAME, SAME GAME
The Calpreps website, which uses computer-aided formulas to quantify a team’s quality and predict outcomes, is rebranding. The site used by many CIF sections – and the Bay Area News Group’s ever-popular pick ‘em show – is now called hsratings.com.
“This is a better name for us, given that we’re number-crunchers and we do so for high schools nationally,” founder Ned Freeman wrote on the website.
– Joseph Dycus
