Sports
Kenneth Walker, a senior at Kennedy High School, is one of the school’s great success stories, an accomplished young man who will attend UC Berkeley next fall.
Ed Moger, a Richmond resident and horse trainer, sat alone among the rows of grandstand seats high above Golden Gate Fields. One hand grasped a stopwatch and the other pressed binoculars to his eyes as he scanned the bustling track, waiting for his horses to come out for an early gallop. It was a cold, dreary morning in the Bay Area, but Golden Gate Fields was wide-awake. At 6 a.m., the skies may have been dark, but the track glowed…
For the Richmond Rockets, it was a game of two halves. And a Richmond audience of roughly 800 people did not want to believe the second half Friday night: the Rockets led by 20 points for most of the first half, and kept the lead for most of the second half. But for the last five minutes, the San Francisco Rumble controlled the game to defeat the Rockets 107-97. “We just didn’t play well in the second half,” Coach Lamar…
The Piedmont Highlanders defeated the Kennedy Eagles 37-31 in a tough, physical, closely fought game Thursday. The Eagles’ playoff hopes ended on a cold night on the manicured fields of Piedmont High School.
The game started well for Kennedy with two quick running touchdowns. The 14-0 lead lasted until the Highlanders struck back in the waning minutes of the first quarter. But the Highlander passing game, led by quarterback Eric Huppert, was nearly flawless, and Piedmont piled on the points. Two quick scores near the end of the first half ran the Highlander lead to 27-14.
This was a night for the underdogs. The Richmond Rockets, the city’s new American Basketball Association team, defeated reigning conference champs the Bay Area Matrix 78-71 in their debut game. “I’m overwhelmed and overjoyed,” said owner Eric Marquis just seconds before the end of the game. When the final buzzer went off he yelled, “I do believe we just won,” before running off to high-five his staff. For the Rockets, the win comes after a week of uncertainties. How many…
While De Anza High celebrated on the field, passing around the Richmond Cup, Richmond High’s star senior Isaiah Brown wept on the sidelines after a dismal end to a dismal season. For Brown it would be the last time he would ever wear pads.
For the first time in 20 years, the Kennedy Eagles have a shot at the playoffs. If the team defeats Piedmont High School Thursday, first-year varsity football coach Mack Carminer said the win will qualify the team for one more game. Despite excitement during Tuesday’s practice, several Eagles players expressed confusion about the upcoming game. “Let me ask one more question,” Takkaris McKinley said. “We win, we are in the playoffs?” “What you heard on the street, from your friends,…
On Thursday at 7:30 p.m. the Rockets will make their American Basketball Association debut at Richmond’s Civic Center Memorial Auditorium against the Pacific North Conference defending champion Bay Area Matrix. It’s a night owner Eric Marquis has been looking forward to for more than a year, and he’s doing everything he can at the last minute to make sure Richmond residents are in the stands to greet his team.
Richmond resident Jeremy Wallace spent a large part of his childhood on the tennis courts at Nicholl Park. From age nine through his teenage years, Wallace showed up almost every day, ready to teach dozens of Richmond kids to play a sport that, historically, hasn’t played a large part in underserved communities. By 13, Wallace was coaching the city’s summer tennis program. Throughout the years, he also coached more advanced kids, to whom he taught strategy and other skills they…