Canyon Crest Academy is the 2012 San Diego County Academic League champion, having defeated Olympian High School, 112-42, Thursday night. It is the Ravens’ first county title. Canyon Crest Academy team members are, front row, from left: Coach Brian Shay and Maggie Yang; back row: Raymond Wu, Elijah Granet, Catherine Kang, Michael Chen, Anthony Tokman, Shelief Juarez, and Henry Maltby.Canyon Crest Academy claimed its first San Diego County Academic League championship after dominating Olympian High School, 112-42, in the final match April 26 at the ITV studios.The Canyon Crest Ravens, champions of the North County Academic League, fell behind, 8-0, to Olympian, champions of the Sweetwater League, before going on a 30-point run. The Ravens were hardly threatened the rest of the match, holding a 52-25 advantage midway through the 30-minute match.The second half, Canyon Crest was able to comfortably cruise to its 112-42 championship victory.Things weren’t quite so comfortable for the Ravens in their semifinal match versus the champions of the Grossmont League, West Hills High School. Canyon Crest was generally in the lead for the first half of the match, before pulling out to a 62-43 lead with ten minutes remaining.West Hills closed the gap to 70-69 with 3:30 left. With one minute remaining, and CCA holding a 76-68 lead, the Wolf Pack correctly answered the next toss-up question for three points, going into the bonus question on which a team may earn up to five points. As regulation time ran out, West Hills correctly answered all three parts of the bonus question, resulting in a tie.West Hills aggressively buzzed in mid-question on the first toss-up of overtime, having to spell the name of the long nerve that runs down the back of the leg. The Wolf Pack player chose the wrong nerve to spell. Raven junior Elijah Granet then buzzed in and correctly spelled sciatic, giving the Ravens the win and the chance to play for the championship.
In the evening’s other semifinal match, Olympian handily defeated the Metro League champion, Coronado, 105-52.
Canyon Crest Academy has been coached by math teacher Brian Shay for all eight years of its existence. This is CCA’s first North County and County championships, having finished second in the NCAL the previous two years. Canyon Crest is located in Carmel Valley and is part of the San Dieguito Union High School District.
The Ravens team consists of Michael Chen, Elijah Granet, Sheilef Juarez, Catherine Kang, Henry Maltby, captain Anthony Tokman, Raymond Wu, and Maggie Yang.
