Longtime Claremont High School football coach Mike Collins will retire from coaching the Wolfpack, although he will continue to teach at CHS, according to an announcement this week from Principal Brett O’Connor.

“Mike Collins has been coaching football for the last 30 years; 20 of those years have been as head coach at CHS. He always understood that football was a vehicle to learn about life: self-discipline, teamwork, respect, time management and relationship building,” Mr. O’Connor said in the statement that was emailed to the CHS community.

“Win or lose, he treated the young men with respect and dignity. When we won, he always gave the players the credit, and when we lost he always made sure to support his players,” he said.

In 2011, ABC7 paid a visit to CHS to present Coach Collins with the ABC7-NFL Coach of the Week award, a ceremony that was later aired on ABC’s “Sports Zone.” The CHS football program received a $1000 grant from the National Football League’s Youth Football Fund as a result of Coach Collins acknowledgement from ABC.

CHS football made it to CIF this year, a great accomplishment given last year’s team only had one win. In 2014 their record was 2-3 in league, 6-5 overall.

Basketball team follows tough loss with strong win

The CHS boys basketball team had a mixed week losing a very close game on Saturday, but followed up with a win on Monday, according to coach Stan Tolliver.

On Saturday the boys basketball team lost a close contest by the score of 49-48 to Palm Springs. CHS led most of the game, but Palm Springs sunk a three-pointer with nine seconds to go in the fourth quarter, putting them ahead. The Wolfpack’s Noah Daniel had one final shot at the buzzer that went in and out and secured victory for Palm Springs. Game high honors go to Tyler Fraser with 12 points and Justin Burgos with 10 points.

In the opening round game of pool play at the North Orange County Championships Tournament on Monday the Pack beat Orangewood Academy by the score of 75-65. The Wolfpack had a balanced attack that was lead by senior Noah Daniel with 15 points, Kyle Scalmanini with 14 points and Tyler Fraser, who added 13 points. CHS continued pool play on Wednesday against Gahr.

Water polo overpowers West Valley

Varsity girls water polo defeated West Valley on Friday by a score of 14-2. Top performances came from freshman Makenna Moore, who led the Pack with four goals, followed by freshman Amber Cui’s hat trick (three goals). Rounding out the offensive effort, freshmen Emily Marks and Lauren Hoyle had two goals apiece. Defensively, senior goalie Morgan Stockham had a great game with six blocks.

Soccer holds off strong competition

Girls soccer continues in its winning ways with three victories and one loss in the Katella Tournament over the last week.

Starting out on Friday, the girls defeated tournament host Santiago by 1-0. They followed up the next day with a decisive win over Western, 4-1, but then a lost to Kennedy 1-0. On Monday the girls came back and defeated Kennedy 2-1.

Boys soccer has yet to lose a game, but they did tie Alta Loma last week 2-2, with junior Jack Kolodge scoring both goals. Their record is now 4-0-1. They faced Covina on Thursday. More results in our next edition.

—Steven Felschundneff

steven@claremont-courier.com