On Wednesday, the State Assembly voted down Bill 2312, which intended to loosen the rules of eligibility for high school athletes who transfer schools without moving. The subject long has been a controversial one in high school athletic circles. One wonders if this will be the catalyst for even more debate on transfers. Do the existing regulations keep the situation under control? Will there be any future legislation proposed, or do you expect the topic to drift away? Please weigh in with your comments.

I just got my hands on an amazing resource for prep sports: the sixth edition of CalHiSports.com’s State Record Book & Almanac. Here you can look up practically any state record imaginable, such as most two-point conversions in a season by an individual (14), most yards of total offense in a game (912), most rebounds in a game by an individual (53), most home runs by a team in a season (75).

Curious about who holds these records? There are a limited number of these books on sale at the De La Salle book store. That makes sense since former Spartans star D.J. Williams of the Denver Broncos shares the covers with luminaries as Ted Williams, Marion Jones, Jason Kidd, Lisa Leslie and Tiger Woods. All of these athletes played high school sports in California, and the sheer number of great California athletes is another facet of the book that will amaze you.

The De La Salle High School football team’s first play from scrimmage on Saturday night against Clovis West was a 16-yard run by Ryan Nastor.

Unfortunately for the Spartans, it equaled their longest gain of the night.

De La Salle’s offense struggled to move the ball against the Golden Eagles, to say the least. But fans of the Spartans shouldn’t be overly worried. Just look at last year. Kevin Lopina could hardly be described as a prototypical split-back veer option quarterback. But as the season wore on, he reduced his mistakes and was ripping off long runs. So as long as the offensive line improves, De La Salle should get back to being a very good running team.

Speaking of Saturday night, about 5,000 showed up to see the game at immaculate Buchanan High. The stadium itself holds about 10,000 people and the field was perfectly manicured. Kind of lets you know how big a deal high school football is in the Valley.

I’m not sure what I was expecting as far as pre-game festivities at Buchanan High, but the parking lot was practically empty. There was a couple there who had WAY too much food for two people to consume, and there was three other college-age guys pouring beer into plastic cops as to not alert the Clovis po-po. Nice going, fellas.

De La Salle’s loss dropped it from USA Today’s Super 25. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/preps/football/poll/2005-super25.htm

Calhisports.com still had DLS ranked No. 6 in the state. http://calhisports.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=454302

What a weekend! First, the Sacramento Monarchs earn a trip to the WNBA finals. Then Fresno State puts the hurtin’ on Weber State (Oregon’s next!). As if things couldn’t get better, my trip to Candlestick, er, Monster Park, ends with a 49er win!

But I digress. Back to preps.

Right now, my mind is turning toward water polo, specifically East Bay Athletic League water polo. I’ll be heading out to Danville on Tuesday to see the Monte Vista girls play California in the league-opener. Several things come to mind when thinking about this matchup. Namely, what are the Mustangs going to look like? For years, we’ve grown accustomed to seeing standouts Stephanie Schnugg and Jessica Steffens do their thing in the pool. Translation? Totally dominate. In fact, the last time I saw Monte Vista in action, the squad was celebrating its dramatic victory over EBAL rival San Ramon Valley in the NCS final. (Mark your calendars. Those two teams meet next month)

But what about this season? Schnugg and Steffens are in college. Will the Mustangs be celebrating an NCS three-peat come November? Call me curious (it’s early, I know), but inquiring minds want to know.

To quench your water polo thirst, check out this site