Football
Meet Encinal’s new coach
Derrick Lyons graduated from Encinal and teaches at Encinal. But he didn’t coach football at Encinal.
Until now.
He is the Alameda high school’s new head coach, taking over from Keith Minor, who recently stepped down to become the coach at Moreau Catholic.
Lyons spent the past three years as the assistant head coach at Piedmont. His new program went 39-13 in five seasons under Minor, winning three league championships. The Jets were 9-2 overall and 6-0 in their league last fall.
The first order of business, Lyons said Monday, is to evaluate the personnel on the roster.
“Really assessing the talent, seeing what’s there, to see how we can make a game plan on the future of these young athletes,” Lyons said. “I just want to be able to give them a chance to develop their skills within the classroom as well as on the football field.”
Given that he teaches business and marketing at the school he graduated from in 1998, Lyons, 42, won’t be a stranger when he steps onto the practice field.
“Those are my students,” he said. “A lot of those guys are in my class, and I talk to them about sports always. Even though I was a coach at Piedmont, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t always talking about sports – how they can get better, what are they doing, how are they setting themselves up for college.
“My main objective is I’m alumni. My objective is to help Encinal out even when I wasn’t coaching there, in any way possible, just to be able to say, ‘You know what, you have support.’”
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Lyons played on the offensive line at Encinal for four years. He has coached for about 20 years at multiple levels – Laney College, Missouri Valley State, high schools around the Bay Area – but the Encinal job is new ground for him.
“This is my first venture as a head coach,” he said.
Baseball
Monte Vista 3, No. 7 California 1
California’s hopes of winning the East Bay Athletic League regular-season championship took a big hit Monday as the Grizzlies, leading by one, gave up three runs in the visitor’s half of the seventh and lost to Monte Vista.
Raoul Fabian homered for California, which fell to 16-4 overall and 6-3 in the league, two games behind first-place De La Salle with four to play.
Monte Vista is 8-12, 3-6.
Mission San Jose 10, Hayward 3
Mission San Jose scored seven runs in the seventh inning to break a 3-3 tie and beat host Hayward in a non-league game.
Harsh Patel went 3 for 4 with three RBIs and Caovinh Nguyen had a hit and knocked in two runs for MSJ, which evened its record at 8-8.
Heyward fell to 7-10-1.
Softball
No. 3 Archbishop Mitty 12, Valley Christian 1
Mitty, playing at home in San Jose, took charge with four runs in the first and five in the second on its way to a West Catholic Athletic League rout of Valley Christian in a game called after five innings because of the 10-run rule.
Taryn Kern and Jamie Hicks each homered and drove in three runs, Sara Pina had three hits and two RBIs and Corri Hicks had two hits and knocked in two runs to lead Mitty (18-2, 2-1).
Jessica Werthman pitched all five innings for the Monarchs, allowing two hits and an unearned run.
Valley fell to 12-8, 2-2.
Dixon 8, No. 10 Benicia 5 (9 innings)
Benicia, playing on the road, tied the score with three runs in the seventh but lost the non-league game when Felesha Lepenske hit a three-run homer in the ninth.
Robynn Balmediano had three hits, including two triples, and an RBI and Kyra Mason had two hits and drove in two runs for Benicia (12-5).
Dixon is 14-1-1.
No. 11 Pinole Valley 14, El Cerrito 2
Pinole Valley built an 8-1 lead through four innings on its way to a victory on the road over El Cerrito in Tri-County Athletic League Rock Division play.
Kailani Tatro had three hits and three RBIs and Melina Mendoza and Aneesa Brewer each had two hits and two RBIs for Pinole Valley (17-2-1, 8-0).
Ella Bergstrom had two hits and knocked in two runs for El Cerrito (9-11, 3-5).
