Santa Monica High

Where are the Westside prep football stars of yesteryear? Some are playing in the NFL, and some played or are playing at universities and community colleges. Others are ordinary people living ordinary lives.

With a trip to Sacramento at stake, the player who has risen up in big games all season, Jordan Mathews, came through again for Santa Monica High, calmly sinking a three-pointer with two seconds left, giving the Vikings a 53-50 victory over Los Angeles Loyola in the CIF Southern California Regional Division I boys' basketball final Saturday at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario. "Big-time players make big-time shots, and we wanted the ball in Jordan's hands," Santa Monica Coach James Hecht said.

The City Council this week urged the Santa Monica/Malibu Board of Education to consider how a proposed high school in Malibu would affect Santa Monica High School. The proposed school has some Santa Monica parents worried that it would take away Santa Monica High School's status as a college prep school, drain Santa Monica's educational resources and create an ethnic imbalance, with mostly Anglo students attending the new high school. Some urged the council, which this year is giving $1.

Trey Mason swished a pair of free throws with five seconds left and Los Angeles Loyola came from behind to slip past host Santa Monica, 83-82, in overtime Friday night in a semifinal game of the Santa Monica tournament. Parker Jackson-Cartwright scored 27 points, including four three-pointers, and Mason added 17 for the Cubs (7-0), who handed Santa Monica its only other loss last week in the finals of the South Bay Classic in Torrance. "We had confidence because we've played them before and we were down 10 points in the fourth quarter the last time," Mason said.

A large parking lot will open Monday at Santa Monica High School. The 420-space lot is at the northeast corner of the school grounds, off Olympic Boulevard. It replaces a lot at 7th Street and Michigan Avenue, where 21 portable classrooms have been placed. The classrooms will be used during the reconstruction of the science and technology buildings.

Santa Monica High School, representing the United States, took third place at an international youth music competition in Vienna, it was announced Thursday. The 85-member symphony orchestra and the school's smaller chamber orchestra won honors for selections such as Brahms' "Academic Festival Overture," Mendelssohn's String Symphony No. 2 and Beethoven's Symphony No. 5.

The Santa Monica High School Symphony Orchestra will leave for Spain next week to perform in a series of international music festivals. The 83-member group will first play at the International Festival of Youth Orchestras in Valencia. From there, they will travel to other cities in Spain to perform in festivals in which professional musicians play. The invitations themselves are an honor, said Jeff Edmons, director and conductor of the high school orchestra.

A committee of parents, teachers, administrators, students and community members will be set up to examine the curriculum, student population and other aspects of Santa Monica High School. The board of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District this week gave its preliminary approval for the committee.

Former Santa Monica High receiver Michael Jackson tore ligaments in his right knee during a July 20 practice for the 43rd annual California Shrine All-Star Football Classic. Jackson, who was among 64 of the state's best recently graduated high school players selected to play in the game, underwent surgery July 27 and is expected to be sidelined seven to eight months. Jackson, who will attend Washington State on a scholarship, is expected to apply for a redshirt freshman season.

The Santa Monica High School students craned their necks Friday as they walked past the nurse's office, curiously eyeing two boxes with signs that said "Take One." Some almost fell over backward, while others returned for a closer look. A few discreetly dipped a hand into one of the boxes and pulled out a packet without missing a step.

To go from bitter high school rivals to college roommates doesn't happen very often, but it's taking place at the University of Pennsylvania, where freshmen football players Dylan Muscat (Santa Monica High) and Cameron Countryman (Beverly Hills) have suddenly found themselves sharing a microwave, television and refrigerator in their dorm room. "We're trying to get a bean bag," Muscat said of his new friendship with Countryman. For four years of high school they went head to head on opposite sides of the ball.

Santa Monica police are investigating an alleged racial incident at Santa Monica High School in which an African American student said fellow members of the wrestling team chained him to a locker and hung a noose around a brown wrestling dummy. He also told police that those teammates made racially charged remarks. Although the incident allegedly happened more than a month ago, it was reported to the Santa Monica Police Department on June 21 by the student and his mother, Victoria Gray.

Over months of Friday mornings, the teenagers dug holes for kale and eggplant. They staked and tied vines heavy with tomatoes and pulled out the plants when the season was done. Working alongside them on a narrow strip of schoolyard outside Olympic High in Santa Monica was Ray Garcia, the executive chef at the swanky restaurant Fig in the Fairmont Miramar Hotel, who came each week to the school to teach and to learn and to try to open the teenagers' eyes and palates. Quietly, he urged them along, talking about the plants and his work.

Police and school officials questioned Monday why a seemingly upbeat and well-liked freshman at Santa Monica High School bolted from baseball practice, climbed to the 10th floor of a hotel and leaped to his death. Matthew Mezza, 14, was reportedly practicing with teammates about 5 p.m. Friday when he abruptly ran from the group, crossed the street to the Sheraton-Delfina Hotel and jumped from the upper floor as his horrified teammates looked on, said Santa Monica Police Sgt. Jay Trisler.

Edgar Andres caught the movie bug when he was 16 years old, after a filmmaker came to his high school to talk about the craft. Soon after, the teen joined a couple of programs, the Urban Oasis Film Academy and Inner City Filmmakers, which teach urban youth the basics of filmmaking. For Andres, who prefers classics such as "Casablanca" and "The Godfather," the programs were a chance to see how movies were put together. He was so eager to get started on his career that when he graduated from Santa Monica High in 2009 he decided to look for work immediately.

The color scheme in the Katz household has undergone a radical change. Out is powder blue and gold ? what were they thinking? ? and in are orange-and-black patterns. A short drive from the UCLA campus, the home where Ryan Katz was raised has become Corvallis, Ore., South. Katz, Oregon State's quarterback, on Saturday returns to the Rose Bowl, where he and his family used to root for UCLA. Now? You could say they are all eager Beavers. "There are going to be quite a few family members and friends there, maybe 100," said Katz, a redshirt sophomore who graduated from Santa Monica High School.

The school's hotshot junior varsity wrestler prefers to play Bach on the viola. A baseball player belts out a mean Mozart on the clarinet. And one of the campus eccentrics, known as "the guy with the blue hair," gives a brilliant performance on the bass. Welcome to Santa Monica High School, where the coolest clique on campus is the school's symphony orchestra.

Susan Wilson walked into the cafeteria at Santa Monica High a few weeks ago and finally saw the product of a year's work. She scanned the room, table after table, observing loud teenagers free from teachers and lectures. There was nothing different about this lunch period, except for what she saw as she was about to walk out the door. "It was one of our basketball players," she said. "It was one of the players who had had some trouble in class and had been academically ineligible before.

Harold Connolly, who at the 1956 Olympics captured the gold medal in the hammer throw as well as the attention of the world for his Cold War romance with the discus champion from Czechoslovakia, died Wednesday. He was 79. Connolly, who was one of the greatest ever to compete in his event, was exercising on a stationary bicycle at a gym in Catonsville, Md., when he fainted and hit his head on the floor. He died of brain trauma from a concussion, his family said. A four-time Olympian, Connolly broke the American record for the hammer throw 12 times and the world record seven times.

Norm Lacy Championship coach in Santa Monica Norm Lacy, 56, who coached Santa Monica and St. Monica Catholic high schools to Southern Section football championships and was serving as the athletic director at Santa Monica, died Saturday at John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio after suffering a heart attack while on vacation. Lacy coached St. Monica to a Southern Section football championship in 1998 and Santa Monica to a championship in 2001. He also coached wrestling and golf but gave up coaching in 2003 and continued as athletic director.