By Jeanne Flores On Wednesday, April 2, 2003 Canyon High School in Anaheim welcomed Kevin Zegers, Mike “The Miz” Mizanin, Arlen Escarpeta, Dejai, DJ E-man, Josh Henderson, Dion Basco, Bryan Datillo, Cylk Cozart, Trevor Penick, guests Josh Keaton, Jeff Licon, Mischa Mandel, Sarah Ramos, and performers Evolution and Jillian as the Hollywood Knights played against the Canyon High School faculty all-stars. The crowd favorite on the faculty side was Gabor Takacs, Chemistry teacher, as the students helped raised money for their Dance Team, Colorguard, Band, and Orchestra. Jillian started off the night by singing the National Anthem, which was followed by the tip off. DJ J Boogie kept the crowd on their feet by giving away free skate wear while the Knights led over the faculty. The crowd got some amusement early in the quarter when the basketball was stuck at the top of the backboard. Josh Henderson jumped off the wall, climbed on the polls like Spiderman, and made his way towards the ball. Henderson’s first attempt failed and only resulted with him doing several pull-ups to get him closer to the ball. Next, one of the referees’s tried hoping to knock the game ball down. The crowd laughed when the second ball was stuck up on the backboard with the game ball. Finally, Henderson attempted once more to retrieve the ball by jumping off the wall and climbing the polls. A big “aw” came from the crowd when Henderson brought the balls down, then the game was on its way once again. While Trevor was falling in the stands after trying to save a loose ball, Josh Keaton was seen chatting up a storm with fellow Hollywood Knight Ashley Simpson. Michael Mirisch took the role of DJ J Boogie and continued to hype up the crowd by giving away Axion shirts and was later accompanied by Josh Henderson. Who could say “no” to a shirt from Josh? Half time included performances by Will, Guy, John and Tony also known as Evolution (check out their site @ www.evolutionmusiq.com). The boys wowed the crowd with their a cappella version of Shai’s “If I Ever Fall In Love” and their self written song “Party” off their album (which is currently in the works). Jillian followed Evolution and performed a new song entitled “Get to My Heart,” along with “Heartbreaker.” Finally, the fans rushed the autograph tables in order to get more intimate with their favorite Knights. During the madness, faculty member David Walda, Science teacher, revealed his team’s strategy to prevail over the Knights. “Our strategy to win the game is to stay alive and upright. Just try not to run out of air,” said Walda. The Knights weren’t the only ones giving away autographs. Students rushed over to Takacs to show their support. “It’s awesome” beamed Takacs. The game continued and a lucky fan, Jennifer Hodgers, freshman, was pulled out of the stands by Henderson and played alongside him for a minute. After missing the shot, Hodgers scrambled off the court while the Knights continued to play. A scare fell over the stands when the loose ball flew in the air and DJ E-man and one faculty member collided in hopes to retrieve the ball. Between the third and fourth quarter, Trevor called off numbers for the raffle. Ironically the same girl won both prizes, which included an autographed basketball by the HK and an autographed Clippers hat. “I’m a great picker, I know, I know,” said Trevor when he realized he picked the same girl. As the game was winding down to its final minutes, DJ J Boogie arranged an arm-wrestling match between two students, and the lucky winner would obtain a new skateboard. Mike “The Miz” looked on at the two students and was inspired to participate as well. “Who in here can beat me in arm-wrestling – I want to know?” asked Mike in “The Miz” mode. As a result, Mike faced off a student only known as “Big John” by DJ J Boogie and if he won over The Miz, he would secure the skateboard as a prize. Unfortunately, Mike won but “Big John” still kept the board, but that didn’t keep HK security guard Bert Baker from wanting in on the action against The Miz. “Should I let the security guard take on The Miz?” asked Mike once again – Bert won. Back on the courts, however, Arlen continued to play exceptionally well. As a result, referee Stoney Jackson decided to help out the faculty and guard Arlen. The faculty slowly crept up to the Knights, but with three seconds remaining in the game, Trevor was fouled and his free throws would secure the Knights a win for the night. Finally, Arlen rebounded the ball after one of Trevor’s misses at the two-second point and the Knights won over the Canyon High faculty 81-83. Jennifer Park, Sophomore, said this about the whole night, “The whole thing was just phenomenal. It was just great!” One on One How’s the album going along? Jillian: It’s going good. We’re changing music, changing songs, trying to get up to date with a new sound. What is it like working with Randy Jackson? Jillian: He’s a cool guy. I’m really close to him; it’s like my dad. Describe the back history of Evolution? Evolution: It actually came about from people that wanted to sing. A weaving process from many different groups, it ended up being an evolving process, and it became an evolution. Describe your guys’ sound? Evolution: We like to call ourselves “world music.” We like to portray our music so that everyone could feel it, because we're from different parts of the globe, we all have different religions and beliefs and it’s good to put that in our music to have people feel what we feel. Nobody’s left out in our spirit…you can call it what you want. You can call it pop, r&b, as long as it sells - but it does come from within. How did you guys sign on with the HK? Evolution: We did a show at the Key Club called “Rising Stars Live” with a couple of amazing artists. Then they said “hey you guys need to jump on the tour” and here we are. A lot of people were impressed with your performance at the last game. What do you think of the new fans? Evolution: We love our fans. We love it. Our fans are the best fans in the world. They are what energize us and more than anything else, they are what motivate us. If we can get them off their behind and listen to the music, we know we did something right. We have just as much fun as they do.

By Sue Kim Wednesday night, the Hollywood Knights / Power 106 tour bus pulled up to Canyon High School filled with the Knights ready to play and raising money for tonight’s worthy cause: the dance team, colorgurad, band, and orchestra. One Knight we hadn’t seen in awhile was DJ E-Man from Power 106. All of tonight’s Knights dawned the gym floor before the start of the game for their introductions with Jillian taking the stage to sing tonight’s National Anthem. After all the pre-game events were out of the way and taken care of, the first quarter was underway. Trevor, The Miz, Dejai, Arlen, and Cylk were out first for the Knights. Arlen took center court for the tip off and Trevor was first to get his hands on the ball. He was eager to get the first shot of the game but was fouled before he could get the chance. At the free throw line he made one of two shots putting the Knights on the board first. After a faculty member missed a shot, Cylk got the rebound and passed to Arlen who passed to Trevor but ended up going out of bounds. Later Trevor got a faculty rebound and sent the ball to Cylk who made a two point shot for the Knights. After Arlen missed his shot, Dejai struggled with a faculty member to get the rebound but the ball went out of bounds and Dejai and the faculty member were left on the floor. Dion, Bryan, and E-Man were rotated in the middle of the first. As a faculty member went to go in to make a shot, the ball ended up getting stuck behind the backboard which Josh helped get down by climbing up and getting the basketball down himself. At the end of the first period, the score was 23-19, faculty. In the second period Arlen, Dejai, The Miz, Trevor, and Cylk were the first to face off the faculty this quarter and try and gain a lead. But the tonight’s faculty was definitely on their toes as they shot the first shot of the period. Trevor was fouled while going on for a shot and made one of two putting the score at 31-26. As Kevin dribbles the ball down court, he fumbles a bit and passes off dribbling duties to fellow Knight Bryan. The faculty were huddled around their basket as they struggled to get a two point shot in which they finally made to make the score 41-38. There was a loose ball on the court which one of the faculty members gained possession of but the ref’s whistle blew due to a foot that was out of the court. The Knights had gained control of the board at the end of the second quarter, leaving the score at 41-44 at the beginning of halftime. After performances by Jillian and Evolution as well as the anticipated autograph session, it was time for the Knights and their opponent to finish tonight’s game. Cylk tried to get the ball to Trevor but instead a faculty member intercepted it. Always having the fans participate, Josh had an adoring fan throw the ball into play and even got to play on the court with the Knights for a few seconds. There was another loose ball in this period and E-Man collided with a faculty member as they both attempted to get the ball. No serious injuries but E-Man did sit out for a few minutes to regain himself. As Kevin guarded a faculty member he tripped over the faculty’s feet; yet again, no injuries. At the end of the third, the score was still in favor of the Knights: 51-63. Before the start of the third quarter Trevor helped out by passing out two raffle prizes, an autographed Hollywood Knights basketball and an autographed Clippers hat. Dion, Cylk, The Miz, Dejai, and Kevin started off the fourth quarter. Dion tried to save a loose ball from going out of bounds but ran into the stands of fans instead. He took the opportunity to sit down and take a breather. The Miz got a little distracted from the game because of an arm wrestling match for a skateboard and joined in. As the ball is thrown in to Bryan, he gets double guarded and ends up losing the ball to the faculty. Stoney helped out the Knights by making a three point shot for them after a pass from Arlen. But being the fair ref that he is, he helped tonight’s faculty out too by blocking Arlen for them. With just two seconds left in the game, Arlen makes a rebound shot and the Knights take tonight’s win with a score of 81-83.

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