HOT OFF THE PRESS.

Byline: - By Gerry Gittelson

Santa Clarita's Lopes a two-sport star

Christian Lopes, a 13-year-old from Santa Clarita who has been named the National Youth Baseball Player of the Year, is developing into a terrific football player, too.

Lopes, a 5-foot-9, 160-pound running back, rushed for 1,355 yards and scored 16 touchdowns in 12 youth games this season, leading undefeated Santa Clarita to a 30-12 victory Saturday over previously undefeated Ventura in the local championship game.

In Saturday's final, Lopes rushed for 193 yards and scored two touchdowns, including one on a 55-yardrun.

Four's enough ... almost: San Fernando High's basketball team lost to Viewpoint of Calabasas 72-54 on Thursday -- but there was a catch. San Fernando suited up just four players for the entire game because several players were benched for disciplinary reasons.

The scrappy foursome of Louie Arredondo, Andy Sandoval and Giovanni Torres trailed by just four points with five minutes left before Viewpoint pulled away.

They're Harvard men: Former area basketball players Drew Housman (Calabasas), Jimmy Goffredo (Crescenta Valley) and Evan Harris (Harvard-Westlake) are starting for Harvard (4-3), which is expected to compete for an Ivy League title this season.

Pierce volleyball hangs tough: Despite losing in the first round of the State Championships in Fresno last weekend, the Pierce College women's volleyball team staved off elimination while working its way through the loser's bracket to qualify for the final -- only to lose to defending champion Orange Coast of Costa Mesa 30-24, 30-21, 30-19.

Ashley Lugo-Brown, Tara Henn, Meredith Rice and Jackie Tomas were named to the all-tournament team.

In other volleyball news, former Harvard-Westlake of Studio City girls' volleyball standout Kristin Quinn was named New England Player of the Year by the New England Women's Volleyball Association after finishing her senior season at Amherst College in Massachusetts.

Quinn also was named to the New England Small College Athletic Conference first-team as a middle hitter. A member of Harvard-Westlake's 2001 state championship team, Quinn is regarded as the best player in Amherst history. Her younger sister, Cathryn, one of the area's top middle blockers, is a Harvard-Westlake senior.

Paris nice this time of year: Royal of Simi Valley boys' soccer player Paris Figueroa needed just twogames to surpass his scoring total of last season and solidify his status as one of the Marmonte League's most promising forwards. Figueroa, who scored just three goals last season as a sophomore, scored five of Royal's nine goals as the Highlanders began their season with victories in their firsttwo games of the Burroughs tournament.

``He stays every day after practice to work on finishing,'' Royal coach Kevin Corley said. ``He had the speed and the footwork and everything else before, he just couldn't finish. But he's been working very hard on that every single day.''

Figueroa's hat trick in Friday's victory against Harvard-Westlake helped lift Royal into Friday's tournament quarterfinal against St. Francis of La Canada.

``He's going to be one of the twomost dangerous forwards in our league,'' Corley said.

Little League sign-ups: Registration for Northridge Little League's spring league has begun. The league is also looking for team managers. Information: www.nrcll.org.

Wheeler keeps rolling: James Wheeler, a former Hart High of Newhall football standout, is a freshman defensive back at El Camino College, which has advanced to the state championship Saturday against City College of San Francisco. Wheeler scored on a 5-yard fumble return last Saturday in a 23-20 overtime victory against Bakersfield.

Brains and brawn: The Crespi High of Encino boys' soccer team has earned the NSCAA Team Academic award for a sixth consecutive year. The national honor is given to teams maintaining at least a 3.0 team grade- point average the entire school year. The Celts, who won the Mission League last season, had a 3.65 GPA for the 2005-06 school year, during which eight of the 20 players had at least a 4.0.

St. Francis of La Canada, with a 3.44 team GPA, also was honored.

-- Heather Gripp, Ivan Orozco and Jack Pollon contributed.

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