The winter sports season has tipped off and that means basketball and soccer for student athletes at Alpine’s Liberty Charter High School.
The old adage continues to hold truth: it’s not how one starts, but how one finishes that matters most.
Liberty Charter boys basketball coach James Shaw thus sees his team’s 1-9 start as not necessarily indicative of what the entire season holds for the Lions. Of the Lions’ opening nine opponents, seven are lodged in higher playoff tiers.
“I’m very impressed with our start, especially since we’ve been playing good teams,” Shaw said. “We’ve had two or three starters out. We’re getting better and our goal is to be playing at our best when league play starts, and we’ll hopefully get a playoff spot.”
Liberty Charter tipped off the season Nov. 17 with a 39- 27 non-league setback at Bayfront Charter, then defeated the School for Entrepreneurship & Technology by a score of 63-21 in a non-league encounter on Nov. 20.
Senior Joshua Cisneros keyed the Lions in their first victory of the season with 15 points. Senior John Rose collected 10 points and while sophomore Duke Dengerink and senior Joseph Gammoh both had nine points.
Liberty Charter led 39-14 at halftime while holding SET to single digit scoring in each quarter. Seven players scored points in the win as senior Jay Medallon contributed eight points while junior Andruw Godinez and sophomore Isaac Anderson each dropped in six points.
Cisneros sank three three point field goals while Rose and Dengerink each had 10 rebounds. Dengerink also contributed three steals, eight assists and three blocks. Godinez had three steals and three blocks.
The Lions closed out November with a pair of narrow losses: 43-37 in a return engagement against Bayfront Charter on Nov. 28 and 57-51 against Southern California Yeshiva on Nov. 30.
The month of December was less kind with six more setbacks, including a 67-29 nonleague loss against the El Capitan Vaqueros on Dec. 4, and additional losses to Bonsall (62-42 on Dec. 5), Castle Park (53-41 on Dec. 11) and Kearny (52-33 on Dec. 16).
Liberty Charter opened the Frank Pekarek National City Host Lions Club Classic at Sweetwater High School in National City with a 50-40 loss to Preuss UCSD on Dec. 18 and followed that with a 63-23 setback to host Sweetwater on Dec. 19. The team continues to build in the early weeks. Some student- athletes are still in the process of joining the team following the conclusion of the fall sports season.
Senior Joel Bray and sophomore Marcos Heers, for instance, were kept busy by competing in the San Diego Section cross country finals and state championship meet. Bray has quickly become a contributor by averaging 10.6 points per game, 2.3 rebounds per game in seven appearances. Freshman Henry Appelquist has made an even more auspicious debut by averaging 12.3 points per game in three appearances. He led the Lions with 16 points in the loss to Preuss. Dengerink has averaged 11.8 ppg and 9.3 rebounds per game through eight games.
Liberty Charter competes in the Frontier Conference alongside Ocean View Christian Academy, Chula Vista Learning Community Charter, High Tech High North County and High Tech High Mesa.
The Lions will play eight league games, starting Jan. 9. Regular season league play extends through Feb. 8, followed by the section playoffs.
Liberty Charter will be vying for inclusion in the Division 5-AA playoff tier. Bonsall and SET are also in the Division 5-AA tier for comparison.
“We want to be in a position to contend for a league championship and try to get a spot in the playoffs,” Shaw said.
