A Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From pro football’s Super Bowl to baseball’s World Series, from dynamic soccer’s World Cup to golf’s and tennis’ U.S. Open, major auto racing, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, more major tennis like Wimbledon, tiny connections to that NBA and a little NHL, major college football, Kentucky Derby, aquatics and Olympic Games, that sparkling little city sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10. Imagine a straight shot down that I-10 from Alta Loma High to take on Redlands in a huge soccer playoff matchup that witnessed a pair of eventual Team USA mates. – Obrey Brown
Landon Donovan, an Olympian and World Cup soccer player, not to mention a multiple-winning Honda Player of the Year in Major Soccer League play, was on the field during an unforgettable CIF-Southern Section high school playoff match back in 1996.
Donovan was a freshman midfield sensation who would eventually be named his league’s Most Valuable Player. On this March afternoon, in a match played on the school’s JV football field – corner of Citrus and University – Alta Loma High School was the visiting side.
The place was packed. People everywhere. Spectators lined up around the field six or seven deep. Parking was impossible. Assigned to cover the match, I could barely get a place to view the match myself. I needed a perfect viewing position. Unobstructed. When I did manage to find a spot, I met an excited Alta Loma player’s mother.
Her name was Kelly. Nice lady. Alta Loma had won a CIF Southern Section football championship a few months earlier. Plenty of kids on this Braves’ soccer team played on that team. As Kelly’s mom, this match against Redlands would be no contest.
“Alta Loma,” she told me, “will win this game.” It was a straight-out prediction I’ll never forget. Kelly’s son, Carlos Bocanegra. Imagine that!
There was no doubt in mom’s mind. “A lot of the players on this soccer team were part of Alta Loma’s football team … that won the CIF Division IV championship.” Her son, Carlos incidentally, was Brave of the Year off that 1996 squad.
This soccer matchup in Redlands was totally different.
Donovan. Bocanegra. On that same soccer field. Opposite sides. Two players who would eventually play together for both America’s Olympic and World Cup teams. Bocanegra, like Donovan, was a future big-time player in his own right.
That high school match itself was a classic. It was like a mini-World Cup match. This highly-played matchup was attended by a huge following, notably on a field that was not a stadium. People stood around this field, perhaps, a dozen deep throughout. Traffic passing by that corner stadium at University Avenue and Citrus Street had to wondering, “what is going on there?”
Redlands won, eventually, on penalty kicks. Terrier goalkeeper Jerad Bailey, who had a future great career at Loyola Marymount University, emerged a hero, having stopped some critical shot attempts by the visiting Braves, including during the penalty kick phase of the match.
The following year, Donovan wound up at Redlands East Valley High School, its first year of existence. Midway through his sophomore season, though, the 16-year-old signed a professional contract to play in Europe.
A pro soccer career was underway.
FOOTBALL NOTE: Alta Loma’s football championship game, a 26-16 win over Corona Centennial, was played a short hop from the site of this soccer playoff – at the University of Redlands Stadium. Interesting that Bocanegra returned a 66-yard interception to the four-yard-line to set up a touchdown in that game.
