By Sue Kim It was time for the Knights to hit the road again as they traveled to the ever so gracious Moreno Valley High School on Saturday night. The Knights had just two short days to recover from the loss against the St. John Bosco High School faculty and gain momentum to try and beat tonight’s opponent: Moreno Valley High School Vikings faculty. With up and coming solo artist Jillian getting plenty of applause, hoots, and hollers from the crowd after her performance of the National Anthem. Dejai, Romeo, Kiko, Arlen, and Josh were on the court, ready to play against the Viking faculty. Arlen and math teacher Mr. Villa were at center court, and it was time to start the game with the tip off. The Knights were off with a strong start tonight as they first gained possession of the ball in the first quarter. Specifically it was Kiko that had the ball for the Knights at the beginning of the game and quickly scored a two point shot to put the Knights up on the board first. Soon thereafter came Romeo for the Knights as he picked up the ball from a wrong pass on behalf of the Vikings and scored another two points for the Knights before the Vikings could even make a name for themselves in this game. But it was definitely too early in the game to underestimate the power of the Vikings. Soon the Vikings faculty caught up to the Knights and actually led for most of this quarter. There was a pass from Andrew to Josh that resulted in the ball going out of bounds. Vikings number two Peter Romero was certainly a valuable player for the Knights in this quarter as he scored a majority of the points this quarter. Estrogen was tossed into the testosterone driven game as assistant girls basketball coaches Hink and Goudeau took the court to go against the men. There was a struggle for the ball between Vikings faculty number one and Andrew at the end of the quarter but as the buzzer sounded, the score was in favor of the Vikings, 18-13. Before the start of the second quarter, both teams regrouped to get ready for the next round. With the faculty with the ball first, Vikings number two Peter Romero made the first shot of the quarter. With Vikings number 22 losing the ball, the ball rolled half court with Kiko after it before it went out of bounds. Early in the quarter Romeo made a two point lay up putting the score at 21-15, Vikings. As Vikings number 34 desperately struggled to make a shot right under the basket, Kiko was right behind him to deter that ball from going anywhere but the basket. The end result was a two point shot on behalf of the Vikings. Josh, Romeo, Kiko, and Arlen are just a couple of the Knights that helped the Knights end the quarter with a two point lead over the Vikings, 36-38. After half time, it was time to finish the last quarters of tonight’s game. The Knights were determined to keep the score in their favor as Arlen made a three point shot early in the quarter while Kiko made a two pointer soon after. It was Vikings faculty number two was in the picture again as he broke the tie of 43-43 and scored a two point shot. Arlen took one for the team and ended up on the floor while going in for a shot that was unsuccessful. He was sent to the free throw line and made both his shots putting the score at a tie once again, 50-50. There was a foul on Viking faculty number one as three Knights, Josh, Kiko, and Arlen surrounded him, as he went in for a shot. Both Romeo and Dejai, aka Tha Goodfellas, had the opportunity to make technical shots in this quarter. But that proved to not be successful as the Knights lost control of their point advantage against the Knights at the end of the third; 64-57, Vikings. Both the Vikings and the Knights certainly did their best to try and win this game in the fourth quarter. Just a few minutes in the quarter Vikings number 44 Sarah Hinks fouled Josh while he was going in for a shot. He made one of his two shots at the free throw line. Vikings faculty number 34 went from behind the backboard to try a couple of more points for his teams but his efforts were fruitless as he missed and got fouled instead. At the end of the quarter a few time outs were called. With less than a minute left in the game, the Vikings were still leading by just a few points and Vikings faculty number one was at the line a couple of times due to fouls. Viking faculty number one was the last to score in tonight’s game, as he made a two point shot to make the final score 79-72, Vikings. The Knights have a little bit of a break before the next game at Channel Islands High School in Oxnard… See you there!

By Jeanne Flores Saturday, February 8, 2003 welcomed the Hollywood Knights to Moreno Valley High School to play against the Viking faculty. When the Viking faculty was first introduced, they threw mini yellow basketballs into the stands. Next, Michael Mirisch did the honors to introduce the Knights: Andrew Walker skipped down the line of cheerleaders, Jesse Metcalfe, Josh Henderson flipped his way to his teammates, the Goodfellas, Kiko Ellsworth, Arlen Escarpeta, and performers Jillian and TJ Fantini. Junior, Abby Villalta, accompanied Jillian to open the game when she sang “God Bless America.” Jillian followed Villalta and belted a soulful version of the national anthem. Next up were the Moreno Valley High School performance dancers whom did a salsa number to a mix of songs by Gloria Estefan. Finally the game was on its way, and Arlen celebrated after winning the tip off against the Vikings. Accompanied by Romeo, Dejai, Kiko, and Josh, the Knights hustled at both ends of the courts due to the numerous turnovers. The student body cheered when returning 2002 graduates Gemaysa Goudeau and Sarah Hinck took the court. “It’s fun,” said Sarah about being one of only two girls playing tonight, “the gym is kind of a different thing. I haven’t played with any of the staff before or anything. It’s ok. They’re a little ball hogs, but it’s ok, it’s fine.” While the game went back and forth, raffle tickets were being sold for prizes that included Chili’s gift certificates and a chance to attend the after party. Between the first and second quarter, there was some miscommunication when the Mo Val cheerleaders took the court and thought they were going to perform. The girls were accompanied by Josh, waiting for the music to cue. The second quarter had Mr. Wil Martin, Viking faculty, accidentally running into the stands after trying to get back onto defense. Fans were excited to see Jesse intercept the ball and make his lay-up after more turnovers. By the end of the half, the Knights were ahead of the Vikings, but would they still play strong in the second half? Half time included performances by the Mo Val cheerleaders, Jillian, and TJ Fantini. First, the cheerleaders danced to Pink’s “Get the Party Started” and Trick Daddy’s “Take It to the House.” Up and coming singer Jillian was next and sang a very blues and soulful song entitled “I Know.” Her second song was called “722” and the crowd went wild! Erick Cabaya, age 15, said this about Jillian, “She was really good. It’s like nothing I’ve ever heard before.” Finally TJ performed two of his songs off his album, “Classified.” During his first performance, the mic went out again. “Was that song a little too funky?” asked Fantini. TJ didn’t let that technical difficulty stop him. During his second performance, TJ tried to dance with a girl who really enjoyed his performance, but ran away every time he got near. Even though TJ ran away the girl, Marie Vaughn, age 20, thought differently about him. “I think he’s pretty cool. I’m glad he’s doing this for the high schools.” After the autograph session, Power DJ’s kept the crowd hyped by giving away more t-shirts and the new album by 50 cent during the second half. Between the third and forth quarter the cheerleaders took the floor, again, and performed to Janet Jackson’s “Black Cat.” The Knights looked on and danced to the beat, especially when it turned into fast paced music. During the fourth quarter, Josh ushered Melanie Villarreal, age 10, to inbound the ball for the Knights and play for several seconds. After Villarreal hurried off the court, the Knights played man on man defense in hopes to prevent the Vikings from scoring. While one of the Viking faculty members was on the free throw line, Dejai jokingly held back Mr. Martin at the other end of the court because he was all over the court. Finally, the game was over, but the Knights failed to break their loosing streak ending in 79-72 Vikings. The Vikings and Knights ended the night by shaking hands and hugging each other for a job well done, and the fans left very satisfied because of the very intense game. “The game … it was fun,” began Jameal Jempson, Junior, “A lot of environment here. It was great. It was fun. Celebrities came out; Mo Val whooped all them though. The entertainment was cool. The lady [Jillian], she can sing, we had our person sing. I had a good time.” One on One Is there an album that is in the works? Jillian: Yes, it’s probably going to be called ‘722.’ When can fans expect its release? Jillian: Hopefully, really really soon. I’m not sure, we’re working on it. Describe the sound of this album. Jillian: It’s going to be something really different. Hopefully with a pop, rock, and r&b kind of feel. What do you think about the outcome of the game? Arlen Escarpeta: We played a pretty good game. The team we played did a very good job, and they actually deserve to win. They were making their shots, played really good defense, it was fun though. What do you think the team needs to do next game in order to win? Kiko: Try harder! Quote of the Knight: “I just got dissed by a two year old” – TJ Fantini when trying to dance with a little girl who was dancing on the court during his performance

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