Rivals Dread the Arrival of Ciarelli

The appointment last week of Tony Ciarelli as football coach at his alma mater, Huntington Beach, should make people take notice.

Just ask Servite Coach Larry Toner. Ciarelli was the defensive coordinator and strength coach at Division V football runner-up Newport Harbor, which beat Servite in the semifinals, 23-16.

Although Servite was a heavy favorite to win that game, Toner knew better.

Several days before that game, Toner told how he became acquainted with Ciarelli during a 1996 summer passing league game at Newport Harbor. Toner took a walk around the Newport Harbor campus and was amazed at what he saw.

“They had that weight room right down to a science,” he said. “He does a really fine job with those kids.”

Toner told himself right then that he hoped the Friars would never play Newport Harbor.

Tough luck.

A well-known name in the Huntington Beach community, Ciarelli joins his wife, Stephanie, the Oilers’ strength coach. His brother, Rocky, is the boys’ and girls’ volleyball coach. A daughter, Alison, was The Times Orange County girls’ volleyball player of the year.

Said one Sunset League boys’ volleyball coach who did not want to be named: “Getting Ciarelli is bad for us. That means all of the good kids [who would play football and volleyball] will go to Huntington.”

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Huntington Beach Athletic Director Dave Van Hoorebeke was amazed to discover that someone had listed the Oilers’ football coaching job on the Internet. A total of 23 candidates applied, but Van Hoorebeke saw the value in keeping it local by hiring Ciarelli.

“We didn’t have anybody big time flying in from Minnesota or Iowa to interview with us,” Van Hoorebeke said.

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Cassie Keller, a senior guard/forward for the girls’ basketball team at Los Alamitos, made the transition of her life Saturday night, not long after she played in the Griffins’ 57-43 loss at 10th-ranked Huntington Beach.

Keller beat out a field of six others to be voted Queen of the Court, an annual ritual at Los Alamitos that is akin to being named the winter homecoming queen. Candidates were nominated by the boys’ basketball team and the Griffin student body voted on the winner. The award was announced at halftime of the Griffin boys’ 76-53 victory over the Oilers.

At first, Keller didn’t think she would be able to participate, said her mother, Gail, because Los Alamitos was scheduled to play a girls’ game that night at Huntington Beach. But Huntington Beach officials accommodated Los Alamitos by moving the starting time of the girls’ game to 3 p.m.

Keller, who ranks 21st in her class of 563 students, is a straight-A student who plans to attend college at Oregon or Colorado. She saw a special meaning in winning, said her father, Don.

“You know the image girls athletes have. They are not always seen as beauties on campus,” Don Keller said. “The fact that you can be running around in sneakers bumping into people with a mouthpiece at 3 p.m. and then being crowned with the tiara as queen four hours later, that is the story.”

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Although “we haven’t had to turn anybody away at the door” since returning to their home gym exclusively this season, Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight said his Monarchs will go back to UCI’s Bren Center next year for their Friday boys’ basketball games.

“We’ll still keep the Wednesday games on campus,” McKnight said. “And we may also play there for certain league-rival games.”

Playing in the Bren Center has not always been economically feasible for Mater Dei, but McKnight said it can be an advantage because his team is used to playing in the bigger arena and other teams are not.

Capistrano Valley Coach Brian Mulligan agreed.

“They are used to big crowds and lots of noise, which they can get there,” Mulligan said. “Sometimes I think it’s harder for them to play when the gym’s only half full.”

Times staff writer Mike Terry contributed to this story.