It started about a decade ago when Rollin was a pitcher and Howell the catcher for the Los Gatos Little League 9-year-old all-star team. The partnership has continued through the 2002 football season when the two helped the Los Gatos Wildcats to a co-championship in the Central Coast Section (CCS) Division 3 playoffs.

And it's going to go on for a lot longer, it seems—because both Rollin and Howell have signed national letters of intent to accept baseball scholarship at UC Berkeley.

The two, who have starred for four years as football and baseball players for the Wildcats, will return to the diamond for one more season for the Cats this spring before heading to Cal in the fall.

Their football days are through, though, and they were impressive indeed.

Howell played three years of varsity football for the Wildcats, helping Gatos win three straight CCS titles and notch a 38-0-1 record. Rollin played on two of those championship teams after playing for two unbeaten frosh-soph teams. Neither Howell nor Rollin played in a losing game in four years of high school football.

The two Bears-to-be joined the Gatos varsity baseball team as freshmen and will return to the varsity for a fourth season this spring. It will mark their ninth year as battery mates.

Their 10th year together would come in 2004—when they'll be playing for the Golden Bears.


Hoard a Twin

Brent Hoard of Los Gatos was recently added to the 40-man roster for the Minnesota Twins. The left-hander was a standout hurler for the New Britain Rock Cats, an AA team in the Eastern League.

Hoard, 26, played locally in the Los Gatos Little League and Pony League before going on to star at Bellarmine Prep and Stanford University. He was drafted by the Twins in the third round of the free agent draft in 1998 while at Stanford.

Last year, the 6-foot-4 and 212-pound Hoard posted an 11-8 mound record with a 3.69 earned run average. He struck out 126 and walked just 55 in 161 innings, and led all New Britain hurlers in wins, games started, inning pitched and strikeouts.


Making their point

Local fencers Dmitri Kirk-Gordon, of Campbell, and Emerson DiNapoli and Josh Lepold, both from Los Gatos, performed well at the North American Cup Tournament held in early November in Greenville, S.C. The tournament was sponsored by the United States Fencing Association.

Kirk-Gordon, 17, won the gold medal in a field of 140 competitors in the men's junior (under 19) foil event. Kirk-Gordon, who is home schooled, is the No. 2-ranked junior foil fencer in the nation.

DiNapoli, 16, finished seventh and Lepold, 15, was ninth in a field of 90 fencers in the men's cadet (under 16) foil event. DiNapoli, a sophomore at Bellarmine, is ranked eighth in the nation in the foil class and Lepold, a sophomore at Los Gatos High, is ranked 16th.


Heisman nominee

He wasn't about to rival USC's Carson Palmer for the Heisman Trophy, but Steven Chang of Los Gatos was one of the handful of local candidates who were nominated for the Heisman—at least at the high school level.

Chang of Mitty, Jonathan Choi and Marcie Cheung of Saratoga High School and Doug Dionne of Willow Glen were among the 49 athletes from the San Francisco Bay Area to be nominated for the 2002 Wendy's High School Heisman Award.

In addition to athletics, nominees must excel in the classroom and be involved in civic activities. Each high school can nominate two athletes (one male, one female) for the national award.


Top 40 hoopster

Bellarmine forward Bryan Schiefelbein of Los Gatos has been named among the top 40 high school basketball players in Northern California, according to NorCalPreps.com.

Schiefelbein, who played locally in the Los Gatos NJB (National Junior Basketball) program, is the only South Bay player on the NorCal list. The 6-foot-4 small forward averaged 12 points and five rebounds a game last season for Bellarmine, and he returns to the Bells this year for his senior season. He was named to the West Catholic Athletic League all-league honorable mention list as a junior.

Last summer, Schiefelbein averaged 15 points a game for the Los Gatos Wildcat club team in the Pump 'N Run tournaments in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.