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The record may say the Livermore boys’ basketball team had its season ended with a 56-31 loss to Amador Valley in the second round of the North Coast Section Division I playoffs.
But this was a season to celebrate for the Cowboys and the Livermore High community.
There’s one main reason, and that one reason alone made this a magical season for the Cowboys.
Coming into this season, it had been 13 years and 123 games since Livermore had won an East Bay Athletic League boys basketball game.
Let that sink in. Thirteen seasons and 123 games without a win in EBAL play.
“We had a phenomenal year,” said Livermore coach Mike Tripp. “We got a lot of accomplishments this season.”
Tripp was the coach at Livermore from 1992 to 2002 before moving on to Washington High almost 25 years ago. Retired from teaching, Tripp came back to take over the Livermore program.
Last season the Cowboys finished 15-14 and went to the second round of the North Coast Section playoffs but went 0-9 in EBAL play.
“I thought we were good last year, and we had everyone back this season,” Tripp said. “We just had to get past being the doormat of the EBAL, and we got the kids to buy into it.”
It didn’t take long to get the win as Livermore stunned Amador Valley on opening night of EBAL play. Many in the area have the Dons as the most talented team in the league, but it was Livermore that came away with the 74-63 win to start the season.
“We got the monkey off our back the first game,” Tripp said. “It was crazy – like we had just won the Super Bowl. I’ve never seen a student body like that when they rushed the court. After the Amador win, I think we opened some eyes.”
If they didn’t then, they sure got everyone’s attention when they beat 51-45 De La Salle in a bizarre game that took two days to finish after an incident with four minutes left in the game forced the end of the game to be played at a later date.
It was the first time Livermore had beaten De La Salle in any sport.
The Cowboys also beat Foothill during the league season and finished a better-than-it-looks 3-6. They were in almost every game and no longer were an automatic “W” on the schedule.
Tripp is quick to point out that former coach and current Livermore athletic director James Petersdorf deserves much of the credit for the turnaround.
“Coach Petersdorf built the program,” Tripp said. “Hats off to him for all he’s done.”
Tripp is right. Petersdorf is a Livermore grad and bleeds green as much as anyone I have known. He battles for Livermore athletics regularly and is now reaping the benefits as the Cowboys won the EBAL Valley football championship this year.
He was also recently honored by being named the North Coast Section Athletic Director of the Year.
He also got to see the basketball team accomplish something else this year. Once in the NCS playoffs, the Cowboys went to Cal High and knocked off the Grizzlies 83-80 in the first round.
“That was the first NCS road win in 30 years for the school,” said Tripp. “That win was epic.”
Which led to the game against Amador last week. The Dons gained a measure of revenge by winning the game and knocking Livermore out of NCS. But it was no time for the Cowboys to hang their heads.
“I kind of broke down when I was talking to the kids after the game,” said Tripp. “I told the kids this was the best team I have coached in my 40 years of coaching. We did it the right way – the foundation was there; we just needed them to believe. I told them: do not let what happened in the game ruin everything they accomplished.”
NCS basketball
In the boys’ Open play De La Salle beat Moreau 71-68 and Dougherty Valley went on the road and beat Marin Catholic 83-79 to send the two schools into the semifinals.
De La Salle will play at Salesian and Dougherty Valley is at Clayton Valley. Both games are on Wednesday night.
Division I play sees Granada at Amador Valley in one semifinal on Tuesday night, with Liberty going to Bishop O’Dowd in the other.
Amador beat Redwood and Livermore to advance to the semifinals, with Granada getting wins over Alameda and Monte Vista.
Wednesday night will bring on the girls’ Open semifinals with San Ramon Valley hosting Clayton Valley in one, while Carondelet will host Piedmont in the other.
The Wolves beat Clayton Valley 69-30 on Jan. 24.
NCS soccer
Monte Vista boys’ team finds itself in the Open finals on Saturday following their 2-0 win at Vintage-Napa in the semifinals. They will be at top-seeded Clayton Valley in the finals on Saturday.
In the D-I tournament, San Ramon Valley travels to Analy (Sebastopol) for one semifinal Wednesday after beating Mt. Eden and Tamalpais. Berkeley will host Albany in the other semifinal.
In the D-II tournament, Granada beat Campolindo and Sonoma Valley to advance to the semifinals where they will be at Richmond on Tuesday night. Castro Valley is at University in the other semifinal.
In girls’ action Carondelet will play at Bishop O’Dowd in the Open championship game on Saturday. The Cougars beat Cardinal Newman in one semi, while O’Dowd topped Amador Valley 2-0 in the other.
The D-I semifinals will see San Ramon Valley traveling to Ukiah on Wednesday in one game, with Liberty at Las Lomas in the other. SRV had wins over Castro Valley and Berkeley to get to the semis.
In D-II play, Livermore will be at Analyn on Tuesday night in one semi, with Alhambra at Marin Catholic in the other. Livermore beat Saint Mary’s and San Marin to advance to the semifinals
NCS wrestling
Six EBAL wrestlers found success with wins at the NCS meet held Feb. 20-21 at James Logan High.
On the boys’ side Jake Baker won the 132 final beating Miguel Rodriguez of James Logan 19-1 earning a technical fall.
At 138 pounds Jack Bronte of Granada beat Cole Schmidt of Windsor with a fall at 4:23. Finally Trevor Economos of Monte Vista topped Charlie Herrington of Granada 7-4 in the 150-pound finals.
On the girls’ side, it started with a win from Eliano Caro of Amador at 100 pounds when she beat Alyse Domingo of Washington 5-3.
At 125 pounds Maile Nguyen of Granada beat Angelina Kachroo of Albany 7-1. Finally, Lana Nguyen of Dublin beat Alexis Peregrina of Upper Lake 14-4 in the 130 pounds final.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for the Pleasanton Weekly. This column originally appeared in Tri-Valley Preps Playbook, a weekly sports e-newsletter published by Embarcadero Media Foundation. To sign up for free, visit here.
