Agape League Standings 2004-2005
Note: All statistics are unofficial!
 Apple Valley Christian this year will be anchored by senior Justin Nunes and senior Peter Kudrle. Wes Watts rounds out the returnees. Graduation loss of both Drew Mercer and Todd Kinnard will certainly weaken this team as they will have no one to replace these outstanding players. If Nunes and Watts and Kudrle can step up their game and not foul out, they should be able to tie for first place. Justin needs to play hard and stay away from refs. Peter needs to pick up his shooting a little more and Wes needs to consistently shoot the 20 some points he is capable of scoring every night. But these three must score a minimum of 65 points a night between them to have any chance of winning. Antelope Valley Christian tied for the Agape League title last season but loses three seniors in Jeremiah Nurse, Romanique Talton and Josh Doster. Only J'Whon James returns. Aj Armstrong who played two years ago also returns to the team. The Eagles have picked up a 6'8" center, Chawn Johnson, from Antelope Valley High School. They also have two other transfers to help this team, Shawn Walker and Jack Fang. Coach Nurse will have his work cut out for him in putting together as good a team as he did last season. And as always, AVC may have anyone of a number of Far Eastern transfers come in to add to the power of this squad. This team will probably fight Apple Valley Christian for first place and perhaps HCS as well. Joshua Springs normally is in the thick of things and has great success in their home gym. This year they will field their weakest team in years due to major graduation losses. They lose Nathan Rynning, Josh Wagner, Chris Bridenstein and Cameo Adams. They lost in the first round of the CIF playoffs in 2001 and 2002 to Delphi Academy and to Riverside Christian respectively. They did not make playoffs in 2003-2004. This team will be fighting Victor Valley Christian for the basement position. This year they will be smart to play a very weak non-league schedule with almost every game at home. Victor Valley Christian finished last in the league last season and do not look to improve on that this season. They lose seniors Pat Mundell and Ryan Nuestro. Chris Gambill left school leaving them no real veterans. They will depend on Andrew Porter and Tyler Rasmussen to bring them victories. They will fight Joshua Springs for last place. Bethel Christian from Lancaster finished fourth (their best finish ever). Josh Thies, Mark Hicks and John Ustares are their scorers. Hopefully, Ustares will be able to recover from a severe arm break in football to be able to play this year. Rebounding will be this team's Achilles Heel as always. But one has to give this small school credit in that their players never lose heart in any of their competitions. They just don't have the height to really compete for the title in the Agape this year but may well be the third best team in the Agape League this year. Again this year it could be a three way tie for the Agape championship. HCS, Apple Valley Christian and Antelope Valley Christian could all tie for first place. Antelope Valley Christian and HCS have both played tough non conference schedules against very tough teams. Antelope Valley Christian is now 10-5 while HCS is 5-9. Antelope Valley Christian's weaknesses are player attitudes which Coach Nurse will always have to try and keep in check and their lack of depth. HCS' major weakness is jelling as a team and playing with heart. Apple Valley Christian has played a very weak schedule this season with only the 29 Palms game and HCS as tough opponents but they are 9-1 going into Agape play. Their major weakness is lack of depth. Bethel Christian could be the wild card in deciding the Agape champion. They are capable of beating all three of the top teams if they play at the top of their game. For the first time in a long time, they have played a tough pre-conference schedule. Joshua Springs and Victor Valley Christian will have a real fight for last place and that will be decided by the head to head matches, their only league wins this season.
Well, it was a great season and I was close. HCS took the Agape title solely which I believed would happen at the beginning of the season. But I changed to a three way tie in midseason. Kudos to the Patriots for taking the title. HCS peaked at just the right time in getting their first ever Agape League championship. Apple Valley Christian (with their weakest schedule in years)was swept by HCS for the first time in years and split with Antelope Valley Christian. Antelope Valley Christian split with both HCS and AVC causing them to take second place. Victor Valley Christian just imploded on themselves and went 2-8 getting their only two wins from the hapless Joshua Springs. Bethel Christian, on the other hand, fought their way to 4 Agape wins, two versus VVC and two against Joshua Springs. They still are missing a big man but they are young and will play even better next year. Joshua Springs could not recover from the losses they had from graduation. So four Agape teams have moved on to playoffs: HCS, AVC, Antelope Valley Christian and Bethel Christian. Good luck to all four of them as they carry the Agape League's reputation down below in the playoffs. Return Links
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