Baseball
Jake Wood named First team All-Foothill Conference
The Marauders ended the season with four straight losses to finish 15-25 and 9-15 and seventh in the Foothill Conference. Looking at stats, one thing comes out clearly as a difference from last season's 27-12-1 season -- hitting. The Marauders' team ERA was only .2 off from last season (4.35 to 4.55), but hit 50 points less (.284 to .328). Given that AVC was 4-10 in one run games, it shows that AVC was close to another .500 season, but just couldn't get the hitting.
Jake Wood (OF, L/R, 6-1, 195, SO, Lancaster (Quartz Hill ’05)), who was the Marauders' top hitter, and led
Wood • LaMoure
AVC in sacrifices and stolen bases was named First team All-Foothill Conference. Named to the Second team was John LaMoure (LHP , L/L, 6-3, 185, FR, Palmdale (Highland ‘07)) who moved into the ninth spot in Marauder season strikeouts with 58.
Wood set the record for triples in a season with nine, surpassing Johnny Brown's eight in 2008. Brandon Haynes (1b, L/R, 6-0, 180, SO, Lake Los Angeles (Littlerock ‘06)) picked up two of the toughest -- at least on the body -- records on the books. Haynes was hit by a pitch 15 times this season, giving him the painful record, as well as the career record of 20.

Fastpitch
Next Game -- Second Round Playoff at Mt. San Antonio, May 10, 7 p.m.
The No. 6 Marauders have lost seven straight to the No. 3 Mounties, and are 1-4 against them in the playoffs. The winner of this best two of three series will play in the state championships.
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Last Game -- AVC 8, Citrus 0 - 5 innings
It was the quickest playoff series in the history of Marauder Fastpitch, as the No. 6 AVC shutout No. 11 Citrus for the second straight day and beat the Owls 8-0 to advance to the second round.
It is the first time AVC won both playoff games in five innings and marks the third straight playoff win over Citrus in a shortened game. The only other time AVC shut out their opponent in both games of a playoff series was last season's first round 7-0 and 2-0 shutouts against Ventura.
It also was the Marauders' 40 win of the season, the third straight time AVC has won 40 plus games.
Gracie Perez, who became the winningest Marauder in the playoffs with her sixth win yesterday, picked up No. seven in the playoffs and No. 21 on the season with a four hitter. The furthest she allowed any Owl in the weekend was second and she struck out five on Sunday to become the first Marauder to strike out 500 batters in a career. She now has 501.
AVC jumped on the Owls early on this one, getting three straight hits to open the game -- with a Shannon Barnhill sacrifice bunt sandwiched in between -- with the third a two run Felicia Shepler home run.
Candice Miller also homered, and with a three for three day with a double as well, she had four RBI, moving her to just two behind the Marauder season record.

Fastpitch
Marauder Clean sweep of Foothill Conference Honors
Marauder Fastpitch made a clean sweep of the Foothill Conference Awards for only the third time taking home Most Valuable Player, Pitcher of the Year, Catcher of the Year and Coach of the Year. Traci Wolf was
Wolf • Perez • Bailey • Vargas
voted the Marauders' ninth Foothill Conference player of the year while Gracie Perez became the only Marauder to be twice named Foothill Conference Pitcher of the Year, and the 11th Marauder selection. Perez was the 2006 Pitcher of the Year, while Shannon Bailey became the Marauders' fifth straight FoothillConference Catcher of the Year.

Miller • Barnhill • Terry • Shepler • Guevara
Named to the first team were Candice Miller, Felicia Shepler who took a step up from the second team selection of last season, Shannon Barnhill, Jade Terry and Vanessa Guevara.
Named to the second team was Alyssa Smith, Alaina Patino and Jordon Hood.
Marauder Head Coach Cindy Vargas received her fourth straight Foothill Conference Coach of the Year Honor.
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Pepsi Scholar Athlete
Elizabeth Kreiger 27th Marauder named to Pepsi Scholar Athlete Award Rolls
Elizabeth Kreiger (Wgts, 5-11, SO, Quartz Hill (Desert Christian ’05)) has been the 27th Marauder student athlete to be named to the Pepsi Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll, according to the Commission on Athletics, and will be honored at the Pepsi Celebration of Student Athletes Luncheon on Thu., Apr. 3 at the Doubletree Ontario Airport Hotel.
Kreiger competed in the weights for both the 2006 and 2007 Track and Field Seasons. As a freshman set the school record in the hammer throw at 141-6, also competing in the shot put and discus throws. As a sophomore reset the hammer record at 148-2 and placed seventh in the state hammer throw event, helping the Marauders to their best ever fifth place state finish. She also competed in the shot put, discus and javelin throw.
Kreiger graduated summa cum laude with a associate in arts degree in letters, arts and sciences and a 3.85 grade point average. She is attending school at Humboldt State and throwing the hammer for the Lumberjacks.
The Pepsi Scholar Athlete Award is based on academic and athletic performance, as well as citizenship.  Each conference is allowed one male and one female award nomination that in turn become the award winners.  AVC student athletes have won more Pepsi awards than any other community college in California.  “When our department defines success, one important element of that success depends on the personal development of the athlete.  We are really proud that our athletes are so successful in the classroom as well as on the field and court,” said AVC Athletic Director Newton Chelette.
Kreiger's inclusion on the honor roll marks seventh straight for a Marauder and the 16th time in 17 years that a Marauder student athlete has been so honored. AVC has had 20 honorees in the last 17 years. In 1998, AVC had student athletes win both Pepsi Scholar Athlete Awards available to the institution for the third straight year, the first time a school could claim such a feat. It also marked the fourth time in five years that AVC has had both award winners. There has only been two times Marauder Athletics has been shutout for the award, 1990 and 2000. With this award, the Marauders have pulled 9 award winners ahead of any other school in the state.
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Women's Basketball
Last Game -- Cerritos 55, AVC 30
The Marauders never got started and ended their season with the lowest half scoring in Marauder history. It was the second straight season the Marauders made it to the regional finals.

Men's Basketball
Last Game -- Fullerton 68, AVC 64
The Marauders ended their roller coaster season losing at Fullerton in the regional finals. The Hornets only led toward the end of the game, and AVC took a three point lead with 1:30 left. But a four point play and missed shots for the Marauders down the stretched gave Fullerton the chance to go to the state championships.

Women's Basketball
Freshmen Hobson, Lloyd named All-Foothill Conference
The women landed two freshmen on the first team including Carleigh Hobson (G-F, 5-9, FR, Palmdale (Desert Christian ’07)) who right now has more points than any other Marauder this season, and was fifth in
LLOYD • HOBSON
conference scoring and third in three pointers and assists and Brittney Lloyd (G, 5-5, FR, Palmdale (Palmdale ’07)) who was 18th in conference scoring.
Shakira Autry (G-F, 5-8, SO, Palmdale (Antelope Valley ‘05/UC Irvine)) and Tracy Wittebolle (C, 6-4, SO, Ieper, BEL (Koninklijk Atheneum ’06) who was second in conference blocks were named to the honorable mention team.

Men's Basketball
Arnold, Esprit and West named All-Foothill Conference
Robert Arnold (G, 6-6, 170, SO, Lancaster (Lancaster ‘06)) who was the Marauders' top scorer and No. 2 in the conference was named to the All-Conference team for the second time as was JaVaughn Espritt (F, 6-6,
WEST • ESPRITT • ARNOLD
190, SO, Lancaster (Lancaster ‘06)) who was honorable mention last season and was this season's top rebounder for AVC and was sixth in rebounding in the conference and Jason West (G, 6-4, 170, FR, Las Vegas, NV (Desert Pines ‘07)) who was third in the conference in both blocks and field goal percentage.

Football
Eric Leon named Second Team All-America and Academic All-America
Eric Leon (LB, 6-2, 230, FR, Rosamond (Rosamond ‘06)) who was the captain and top player for the nation's top rushing defense has been honored by the JC Grid-Wire/JC Football.com as a member of the second team All-America team and Honorable Mention Academic All-American team. According to the release, the only reason Leon and five others were named honorable mention was because they had been named to the "regular" All-America team, they were ineligible for inclusion for first team Academic All-American honors.
Leon was named a Foothill Conference Player of the Week in all nine conference games that he played in and led the state in tackles. He ended with 130 tackles on the season, ten sacks and 424 defensive points, breaking Anthony Diggs 413 points compiled in 2001 in 10 game. He ended in the ninth spot for a season sacks and because a broken collar bone ended his season with just three tackles against Mt. San Antonio, just one tackle away from Ryan Liles’ record of 131 season tackles. He was twice named honorable mention State Male Athlete of the Month. Leon was named the Marauders' Most Valuable Player.

Football
Perry Jehlicka to be awarded George Sekul Award
Marauder Football Coach Perry Jehlicka will be honored with the George Sekul Community College Coach Award by the All-American Football Foundation at the 89th All-American Football Foundation Banquet of Champions on Dec. 20 at the Planet Hollywood Hotel in Las Vegas.
Jehlicka, in his first year as the Marauder head coach, pulled off one of the greatest turnarounds ever in the state. With a 26 game losing steak hanging over them the Marauders won their first nine games of the season to win their first Foothill Conference title since 1987, played in their first bowl game since 2001 and their first playoff game since 1974 when they won the small school state championship. It is only the fifth time in 61 years a Marauder team has won nine games in a season.
Jehlicka was named the Foothill Conference Coach of the Year.

Marauder Athletics
SID Glenn Haller to be honroed with Scoop Hugins Award
Marauder Sports Information Director Glenn Haller will be honored with the Scoop Hudgins Outstanding Sports Information Director Award by the All-American Football Foundation at the 89th All-American Football Foundation Banquet of Champions on Dec. 20 at the Planet Hollywood Hotel in Las Vegas. The award is given by the Foundation to those who excel in their efforts to promote the game of football.
Haller has headed the Marauder Sports Information Office for 19 years. In 2006, he was honored with the California Community College Sports Information Association BRASS TOP Award. Over the 19 years he has won numerous national and state awards for publications, and has been the state championship game statistician for football.

Marauder Athletics
Dean and AD Newton Chelette to be inducted in CCCMBCA Hall of Fame
In 1989, when Newton Chelette was hired as the Head Men's Basketball Coach for the Marauders, most onlookers -- from media to community members to the California community college basketball community -- gave him little chance of doing the impossible: making Antelope Valley College anything more than just a football school.
In recognition of proving the skeptics wrong and building a state basketball powerhouse at AVC, the California Community College Men's Basketball Coaches Association will enshrine Chelette into their Hall of Fame in March of 2008, at the state basketball championships.
In the 19 years before Chelette arrived on the Lancaster campus, Marauder Basketball had just three winning seasons, played in the playoffs only once and won one conference title.
In just his first year Chelette's squad broke the school record for wins in a season, won their first tournament since 1968 and the Foothill Conference championship.
In his 17 years as the head coach for the Marauders his teams would win ten conference titles and he was named coach of the year seven years, including four straight. He coached six straight conference players of the year, and his Marauder teams hosted playoff games in 13 of those 16 years. In 1995-96, 1996-97, and 1998-99 Chelette’s teams were undefeated in conference play, the only Marauder teams to achieve perfection in conference and in 2004 he led the Marauders to the state championship final four for the first time since 1956, comes as close to the definition of coaching diversity.
In the 2000-01 season, he became the winningest coach in Marauder basketball history, recording his 272th win against Rio Hondo, and moving past the man he replaced, Bob Murray.
In 1996-97, the Marauders set the school record for wins in a season, were ranked second in the state and won the third straight conference title. In both that season and in 2003-04, Chelette was named State Coach of the Year. 
In the summer of 2005, Chelette was named as the Dean of Physical Education and Athletics. He had held the interim position for two years before that, and in those years Chelette oversaw a complete revamp of Marauder Gym, including new stands, court chairs and media tables. He also has pushed forward the marketing effort of Marauder Athletics, and has strengthened ties with many community leaders and businesses -- efforts which have spilled over to help improve other areas on the campus as well. He was co-chairman of the committee for the passage of Measure R, a bond issue that will allow AVC to significantly improve the campus.
Fruits of his efforts are currently evident on the west side of the campus as the two year construction of the Marauders’ first athletic complex begins.
In 1984, Chelette became head basketball coach and athletic director at Southeastern Louisiana, positions he held until 1987.
Chelette was named the third most influential person in the history of Marauder Athletics, and was tabbed as the 12th most influential in the history of Antelope Valley athletics by the Antelope Valley Press in late 1999.
In 2001, he was inducted into the High Desert Men’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame Coaches Division.
Chelette served as President of the CCCMBCA in 2002 and 2003.

Volleyball
Next Match -- Fri., Oct. 26 at Desert, 5 p.m.
Katrina Valencia -- No. 12 -- (S/OH, 5-9, SO, Lancaster (Desert Christian '06)), who broke all the Marauder service ace records and Shaunna Garcia -- N0. 9 -- (OH, 5-8, SO, Boron (Boron '06)) were named first team All-Foothill Conference today.
The Marauders finished 4-8 and sixth in conference and were 7-11 overall.
Valenica, who was named to the first team All-Conference last season, set the Marauder match record with nine in a three game match against Oxnard in 2006 and demolished both the career service ace record and season ace record in 2007. She led the Marauders in set assists as well.
Garcia was tops on the Maruders for kills, perfect passes and digs and ended second on the Marauder record charts for season digs and third for career digs.
Before attending AVC, the two were named co-Desert Mountain League Most
Valuable Players in 2005.

Football
Five named All-Foothill Conference; Jehlicka Coach of the Year
The Marauders landed five players on the All-Foothill Conference team, including the Defensive Player of the Year and Coach of the Year.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: To no surprise to anyone, Eric Leon (LB, 6-2, 230, FR, Rosamond (Rosamond ‘06)) was named the Foothill Conference Defensive Player of the Year. Leon led the state in tackles this season, and broke the Marauder record for defensive points in a season. With 127 tackles on the year, he is second on the Marauder charts, just four away from the record 131. Leon is the first Marauder to be named Defensive Player of the Year since Daron Rogers in 1991.

FIRST TEAMERS: Actually, this season there is only one team, so there is no second team. Those who
Murphy • Watson • Collins • Hicks
made the squad were:Jamison Watson (DL, 6-1, 245, FR, Wellford, SC (Byrnes ‘07)) at defensive line, Demetrius Collins (DB, 6-0, 195, FR, Miami, FL (Jackson ‘03)) at outside linebacker, Sam Murphy (DB, 5-8, 180, SO, Palmdale (Littlerock ‘03)) at defensive back, while offensive lineman Hayworth Hicks (OL, 6-4, 325, FR, Palmdale (Palmdale ‘07)) was the only Marauder on the offensive side named.
COACH OF THE YEAR: For the first time since 1987, when AVC won their last conference title, AVC’s head coach has been named the Foothill Conference Coach of the Year. Perry Jehlicka and Dean Dowty of Desert will share the awards. Both the Marauders and Roadrunners went 9-1 this season and are co-champions of the Foothill Conference. Last season AVC was 0-10 and Desert was 1-9, beating only AVC.

 

Football
Next Game -- Sat., Nov. 17 at No. 3 Mt. San Antonio, 6 p.m.
The Marauders will enter the playoffs as the No. 6 seed and travel to No. 3 Mt. San Antonio Mounties (7-2, 4-0 and champions of the Mission Conference National Division), playing in the National Bowl which is also part of the first round of the Southern California Playoffs.
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Listen to the game live here
Last Game -- *Southwester 20, AVC 17
With first down and goal from the two yard line, and a minute left in their final regular season game and leading 17-13, the Marauders (9-1, 7-1 and champions of the Foothill Conference), who had been charmed for nine hours and 59 minutes became cursed.
AVC sent Aaron Wilson, who was 28 carries for 131 yards rushing with two touchdowns already, to the goal line to ice the game and the first perfect 10-0 season in the school's history when the ball popped out and Derrick Perrault returned it 32 yards with 1:01 left on the clock.
From there, Drew Westling, who was 17 for 32 passing for 306 yards and a touchdown then hit Joshua Sipho for 39 yards and Kevin Pike for 13, and was able to get AVC to commit pass interference in the end zone. He then did something no one else has done against the Marauders this year -- scored a rushing touchdown -- and the Jaguars had a dream end to a rather flat 3-6 season.
Both Pike and Sipho had over 100 yards receiving, and Sipho had put the Jaguars up 13-7 on the first drive of the second half with a 55 yard strike from Westling.
The Marauders would put together their last three drives of 80, 71 and 64 yards, scoring a Wilson touchdown, hitting a Javi Navarro field goal to give AVC the four point lead, and 67 yards on seven plays to the one where the fumble took place.
Even without the state's leading tackler, Eric Leon, the Marauders held the Jaguars to just 40 yards rushing, and stopped Southwestern on fourth down with four minutes left before setting up their cursed drive.
AVC's offense burst forward for a season high 416 yards on the night, including a 14 for 20 night passing for Rodney Dorsette good for 151 yards.
In the game Marcus Flores missed four field goals for the Jaguars after opening the game with two straight.  AVC did not give up a touchdown in the first quarter in the season, and only nine points in the first stanza in total.