Join the Bay Area News Group prep sports reporters all day for a live blog from Saturday’s NorCal high school basketball playoff championships, semifinals, beginning at 10 a.m.

Clyde Byrd has been hired as the new football coach at Castlemont High.
Byrd was the head coach at Kennedy-Richmond in 2010, and also at Oakland High in 2003 and 2004.
“I used to work in the area. I worked at Elmhurst (Community Prep) for years. I used to coach at Oakland High, I used to coach at Mack. I thought it was time for me to come back home and coach,” Byrd said.
Among his goals for the team is “to change the culture of the football program of the school.
“I feel this group can win right away,” he said.
Last season, Castlemont was 0-8 overall and 0-5 in the Oakland Athletic League.

Here is the link for the video of the game. Please ignore my face and voice, because it’s pretty bad.

Join the Bay Area News Group prep sports reporters for a live chat from Tuesday night’s NorCal high school basketball playoff semifinals.

De La Salle golfer Justin Pagila tied a Diablo Country Club course record when he fired a 9-under par 62 on Monday during the De La Salle golf invitational. Pagila’s impressive round helped the Spartans win the team title at the event over second place Christian Brothers-Sacramento and third place Jesuit. Pagila finished nine strokes ahead of second place Shintaro Ban of Archbishop Mitty.

According to Aaron Wells, the head pro at Diablo Country Club, only two others have carded a 62 at Diablo Country Club — Bud Shank in 1962 and Geoff Gonzalez in 2011.

Salesian High boys and girls basketball games on Tuesday have been moved to Saint Mary’s College, said Pride boys coach Bill Mellis. The move is due to an anticipated large crowd. The girls game will start at 6 p.m., followed by the boys game at 7:30.

Some schools have had enrollment increase or decrease so there is a little bit of shifting within the three divisions. Let’s look at the top contenders from each division.
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The Division I boys All-Star soccer team used two first half goals to top the Division II All-Stars, winning 2-1 in the first annual East Bay All-Star Senior Showcase.
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A memorial service for longtime Newark Memorial High School educator and coach Rich Swift will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 10 at Newark Memorial High School’s Event Center. The service is open to the public.
Swift died on Feb. 13 of an inoperable brain tumor. He was 60 years old.

Most of us are caught up in the high school basketball season, but a pretty cool baseball event is slated for Saturday. It’s the First annual EBAL/DFAL Challenge. Dougherty Valley coach Brian Freitas is serving as the event director for the challenge, which will take place at three different venues.

At Granada High, Amador Valley will face Alhambra at noon, followed by Granada vs. Dublin at 3 p.m.

At San Ramon Valley, California meets Las Lomas at noon and San Ramon Valley plays Acalanes at 3 p.m.

At Dougherty Valley, there are two excellent games with Monte Vista facing Dougherty Valley at noon, followed by a showdown between De La Salle and Campolindo at 3 p.m.

Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for childer 12 and under, and under 5 is free.