KELSEYVILLE — Mountain Vista Middle School’s annual eighth-grade boys basketball tournament, a qualifier for the annual Jaycees Crescent City Championship, has a new name, and a familiar one.
As of this year’s tournament, the Road to Crescent City runs through John Berry’s old stomping grounds. Renamed in honor of Mountain Vista’s longtime principal and boys basketball coach, John Berry’s Road to Crescent City debuted Friday and Saturday with Pomolita Middle School of Ukiah beating Crescent Elk (Crescent City) 52-37 in the championship game.
A dedication ceremony took place Saturday prior to the tournament’s shooting contest. Berry, who is also Kelseyville High School’s longtime golf coach as well as the co-founder of the long-running Lake County Amateur Golf Circuit, was introduced to the crowd and delivered a short speech with wife Julie, daughter Liz and granddaughters Delaney and Riley Spain looking on.
“When you coach on that level, your real success is seen when the varsity plays well four years later (at the high school level),” Berry said of coaching middle school ball. “It was a thoughtful gesture on the part of Scott (Conrad)and Gus (Schillinger) to name the tournament in my honor.”
Conrad is Mountain Vista Middle School’s principal and the former varsity boys basketball coach at Kelseyville High School where he also served as the athletic director. As a player, Conrad starred for Kelseyville in the late 1980s and still holds the Lake County record for most career points scored by a boy.
Schillinger, the eighth-grade boys basketball coach at Mountain Vista Middle School, also addressed the crowd, recounting some of his memories of Berry down through the years and describing what Berry meant to the school and its basketball program. Several of Berry’s former players also were present.
The winner of the tournament earns an automatic berth into the Jaycess Crescent City Championships, with the 54th annual edition taking place March 3-4. Many of the top middle school teams in the state take part in the event, which is divided into several divisions.
Bidwell Junior High School beat Sunny Brae of Arcata 48-27 in the third-place game while Middletown defeated Kelseyville 27-25 for the consolation championship. Petaluma defeated Terrace Middle School of Lakeport 57-24 in the seventh-place game.
All-Tournament awards went to Carmine Guevara, named the MVP, and Ty Arrington and Devonte Guevara of Pomolita; to Damian Escalera and Justin Gooey of Crescent Elk; Kurt Wilson of Bidwell; Alison Perez of Sunny Brae; Harrison Brown of Middletown; Joey Watson of Kelseyville; Max Comma of Petaluma; and Ayden Moreno of Terrace.
Shooting contest winners were Escalera of Crescent Elk (first), Brown of Middletown (second) and Alison Perez of Sunny Brae.
