20th Garces Holiday Soccer Festival starts today with 176 teams at 15 sites
| Thursday, Dec 17 2009 09:07 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Dec 17 2009 09:47 PM
Garces Holiday Soccer Festival
Boys Elite-8 Division
Today's quarterfinals
Fresno-Central at Golden Valley, 5
Fresno-SJ Memorial at Bakersfield, 5
Clovis-Buchanan at Stockdale, 6
Tulare Western at Liberty, 6
Winners and losers continue to play Saturday at Kern County Soccer Park.
Girls Elite-8 Division
Today's quarterfinals
Clovis-Buchanan at Golden Valley, 3
Lancaster-Desert Christian at Bakersfield, 3
Fresno-Edison at Liberty, 4
Clovis West at Stockdale, 4
Winners and losers continue to play Saturday at Kern County Soccer Park.
Other boys teams
Premier Division: Newhall-Hart, Mira Monte, Centennial, Arvin, Clovis, San Luis Obispo, Visalia-El Diamante, Frontier, Visalia-Redwood, Nipomo, Fresno-Hoover, Highland, Fresno-Edison, Wasco, Clovis East, West.
Gold Division: Gridley, East, Tollhouse-Sierra, Fresno-McLane, Madera Ranchos-Liberty, Independence, Atascadero, Clovis North, Ridgeview, Madera South, Sanger, Foothill, Garces, Farmersville, North, Cesar Chavez.
Silver Division: Shafter, Sutter, SLO-Mission Prep, McFarland, Stockdale JV, Kennedy, Tehachapi, Lancaster-Desert Christian, South, Mammoth Lakes, Burroughs, Bakersfield Christian, Taft, Lancaster-Antelope Valley, Visalia-Central Valley Christian, Frazier Mountain.
Bronze Division: Kern Valley, Golden Valley JV, Cambria-Coast Union, Fresno Christian, Santa Maria-St. Joseph.
Other girls teams
Premier Division: Garces, Atascadero, Tulare Union, Clovis North, Arroyo Grande, Visalia-Golden West, HIghland, Belmont-Notre Dame, Visalia-Redwood, Ridgeview, Visalia-Central Valley Christian, Centennial, Sutter, San Luis Obispo, Madera South, Frontier.
Gold Division: Huntington Beach-Ocean View, Nipomo, Tehachapi, Fresno-Central, Bakersfield Christian, Paso Robles, Clovis East, SLO-Mission Prep, Independence, Madera, Tulare Western, Santa Maria-Righetti, Frazier Mountain, Mira Monte, Madera Ranchos-Liberty, Selma.
Silver Division: Taft, Santa Maria, Fresno-McLane, West, Morro Bay, Mendota, East, Fresno-Bullard JV, Mammoth Lakes, Foothill, San Jose-Harker, North, Lancaster-Antelope Valley, Garces JV, Anza-Hamilton, Bishop Union.
Bronze Division: Wasco, Santa Maria-Righetti JV, Liberty JV, Cesar Chavez, Kennedy, Arvin, Farmersville, Fresno Christian, Mojave, Shafter, Rosamond, Centennial JV, Desert, Stockdale JV, South, Kern Valley.
For complete brackets and schedule of all divisions, visit www.garces.org.
Boys basketball Garces Holiday Hoops Challenge
All games at Garces (times p.m. unless noted)
Today's games
Taft vs. Liberty, 6
Independence vs. Frontier, 8
Saturday's games
Delano vs. Centennial, 8 a.m.
Arvin vs. Golden Valley, 9:25 a.m.
Fresno-McLane vs. Garces, 10:50 a.m.
Bakersfield Christian vs. Ridgeview, 12:15
Stockdale vs. Kennedy, 1:40
Duarte vs. Fresno-Memorial, 3:05
Arvin-GV winner vs. Chavez, 4:30
Taft-Liberty winner vs. West, 5:55
Centennial-Delano winner vs. East, 7:20
McLane-Garces winner vs. North, 8:45
Tournament continues Monday, with semifinals Tuesday and championship Wednesday.
Images
Casey Christie / The Californian Stockdale's Johnny Valenzuela (8) battles for ball control with Nipomo Titan Alan Leyva (18) during the 2008 opening day of the Garces Holiday Soccer Festival at Kern County Soccer Park.
By all accounts, Santa Claus is a pretty prepared guy -- making his list, checking it twice, making next year's toys when this Christmas is over, et cetera, et cetera.
But the honorable Mr. Claus has nothing on Garces assistant athletic director Vince Fanucchi.
The brainchild of the Garces Holiday Soccer Festival for the past 20 years already has made a list for next year's version of the biggest high school soccer tournament in the country -- before the 2009 version has even started.
"I've got two pages of notes," Fanucchi said.
This year's event is the 20th and includes a new record of 176 boys and girls varsity and JV teams from five different CIF sections that have been placed into five different divisions for each gender based on playoff performance from last year. Play kicks off today at 2 p.m. at 15 different sites, though the action in the higher divisions all shifts to the Kern County Soccer Park by Saturday.
Those times could change, though, if the Kern High School District calls for a fog delay this morning. Fanucchi already has sent out a new schedule to coaches in case that happens.
"It's kind of fun trying to anticipate all the things that come up," Fanucchi said.
This year's December will be especially hectic, considering that the Garces Holiday Hoops Challenge, a boys basketball that usually starts the week after the soccer Fest, was pushed up because Christmas falls on a Friday.
This year, the basketball begins today as well, with two games tonight pitting Liberty against Taft and Frontier against Independence, both at Garces. Fanucchi doesn't have reindeer, but he does have the school's boys hoops coach, Gino Lacava, who generally takes charge of that tournament anyway.
Then, the week after Christmas, the school hosts its girls basketball tournament.
"Once we get into December, it gets kind of crazy," Fanucchi said.
Fanucchi started the tournament in 1990 at a meeting of county athletic directors.
"Somebody asked if there was anybody interested in doing a holiday soccer tournament so teams didn't have to travel," he said. "By the time I walked out of the room, I already had 30 boys and girls teams signed up."
There were 58 teams that year, mostly from Kern County and a few from here to Fresno. But as the years rolled along, word got out about how well-run the tourney was.
"Vince works his butt off all year long, and then you get down to these two days and it just flows so well," Bakersfield High boys coach Archie Parks said. "Nothing ever goes wrong. It's an amazing thing. Some tournaments, you have to meet at a pizza parlor or something just to find out who you're playing that night. This one is so smooth."
After a few years, schools across the state were asking in. By the new century, it had become a spectacle, and Fanucchi never once had to advertise. Instead, he takes requests from teams for as long as he can and fits them all in to the event.
"I never imagined it would grow to what it has," Fanucchi said.
And by Thursday, he was ready for year No. 20, with a big hat tip to the Kern County Officials Assocation and parent and teacher volunteers.
"The day before is when I get real calm," Fanucchi said. "It's all kind of momentum from here on. The key is just to have it hyper-organized."
Sounds like a certain big man in a red suit we all know. There's just one more problem for Fanucchi: Christmas is coming up, too.
"This tournament always ends, and then I look up and figure out how many days until Christmas," he said. "Because then, I'm finally able to worry about that."
