The Boy Makes the Paper

When I was growing up, having my name in the local paper for scoring four points in a ten-year-old basketball league game was exciting. I guess seeing ones name in the paper is still exciting, and Mark had his name recently in the Pasadena Star News. If you cannot access the article, or if the cache is removed, here it is:

SOUTH PASADENA - Arcadia High School boys volleyball coach Chuck Freberg expected a battle when his team took the floor Tuesday against South Pasadena.

The Apaches appeared battle ready after giving their coach a glimpse of their resiliency during a three-game sweep - 25-20, 31-29, 25-19 - in a nonleague match at South Pasadena.

After dropping the first game, South Pasadena (5-1), the 2005 Division IV runner-up, appeared primed to tie the match by taking an 18-11 lead in the second game on a hard kill by Tim Tong.

Mark Stochl's kill gave the Tigers a 24-21 advantage and game point.

But Arcadia (2-1), ranked No. 7 in the latest CIF-Southern Section Division II rankings, stormed back and won the game on a pair of kills by Ryan Scott.

Scott led the Apaches with 15 kills and four blocks. UCLA-bound Kyle Matyas collected nine kills, and Eric Robinson-Curry had eight.

"We really stepped it up, blocking-wise," Scott said.

With the momentum squarely in its side, Arcadia raced to a 5-1 lead in the third game and never looked back.

"We were just fired up after coming back from a large deficit in the second game," Matyas said.

Tim Tong led South Pasadena (5-1) with 13 kills and a team-high three blocks, and Stochl had nine kills.

"Arcadia's been the No. 1 program in this area for the last 20 to 25 years," Tigers coach Todd Terzian said. "If you let down on your execution for a moment, they take advantage."

It was a tremendous game, and the Tigers could have won it. Instead, they fought to a three game loss, but gave the larger Arcadia team ll they could handle. Way to go, son!

On a related note, Mark was second team All-League for the Tigers as a defender in soccer. Even though he only played about half the games with a bad leg bruise, Mark's skills and competitiveness as a defender were obvious to all players and coaches in the Rio Hondo League. Another attaboy for Mark!