Morgan Hill’s Oakwood High School is becoming a force to be
reckoned with among small schools in the Central Coast Section. The
young program is off to its best start (10-6 overall, 2-3 Coastal
Conference) this winter and poised to break into the CCS playoffs
for the first time. Under coach Kort Jensen, the senior-less Hawks
have managed to balance success on the court and in the
classroom.
To put it bluntly Oakwood is Morgan Hill’s other, other high school, at least to Live Oak and Sobrato followers.
Oakwood is a tiny K-12 (enrollment: about 388) with an even tinier gym that doubles as a performing-arts center; one that has hosts acclaimed musicals such as “Grease” and “Footloose” at night. Its walls are adorned with colorful signs for each class.
During the afternoon it is crawling with basketball players. At least 50, ranging from sixth to 11th grade, were there for practice Friday, though, it sounded more like than a hundred. Shoes squeaked; basketballs bounced; rims rattled. From a stereo Rihanna could be heard saying she came “to win, to fight, to conquer, to thrive.” In the middle of the crowd stood a professorial 54-year-old with silver hair and a voice like Casey Kasem.
“This is a great place for basketball,” Kort Jensen says.
This is no performing-arts center to Jensen. It is a field house. And his Oakwood Hawks are the Hickory Huskers, the fictional small-school-turned-Indiana-state-championship-boys-basketball team from the 1986 film “Hoosiers.” They even practice with chairs.
“That’s us,” Jensen said. “We are “Hoosiers” right down to it.”
When Jensen took over coaching the high school boys team at Oakwood three years ago he thought, ‘OK, let’s give it a shot. How bad could it be?’ Jensen understood the program was new to the varsity level. What he didn’t know was that most of his players were new to basketball.
“Our first time out, our point guard laid the ball up into the other rim,” Jensen said. “They just didn’t understand.”
Since then the Hawks identity is changing quickly. Jensen has turned Oakwood and that same group of novice freshmen into a cohesive, physical team that is poised to make the Central Coast Section playoffs for the first time. The Hawks took a step toward that with their winning record (8-3) in nonleague play. A .500-or-better finish in the Coastal Athletic League should clinch it.
Oakwood improved to 2-3 in the division Thursday with its 10th win of the season, a 45-42 thriller over Anzar.
“There’s a couple teams we’re going to struggle against, but I think we’ve got it in us,” Jensen said. “The kids didn’t even understand what CCS was until I started explaining it. They don’t know what league they’re in. I told them, ‘Just take care of business, and you’ll do fine.’”
The Hawks have won more games this winter than they did in their previous seasons combined but are perhaps a year away from their zenith. There are no seniors on the team. Oakwood’s starting five, however, exudes confidence and maturity.
There’s sophomore point guard John Angulo, a star in most of the school plays; junior two guard Ryan Salamon, Jensen’s “go-to guy for every position”; 6-foot, 2-inch junior forward Brett Hall, the Jimmy Chitwood of the team who can be found shooting hoops at the Centennial Recreation Center when he’s not at practice or studying; and junior small forward Harsh (pronounced Hersh) Sikka, a former 14-and-under mixed martial arts champion who’s aspiring to join his older brother, Christian, at Stanford in two years.
The youngest starter comes across like he would fit in well under Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. That would be center Justin Mortensen, a 6-foot-7 freshman with great hands, good post moves and a genuine desire to play at the NCAA Division I level.
It is hard to believe Mortensen’s hoops career began two years ago.
“In the summer he got in here and worked and worked and worked,” said Jensen, who in 30 years of coaching at the AAU, high school and junior college levels has groomed plenty of talent, including several NBA prospects. “He’s just a workhorse, like Brett. He dunks the ball with no problem. He can handle it, shoot it. Now he’s just got to learn more.
“I don’t want to overhype him, but I think he can play at the major college level for sure.”
The Hawks play with an intense defense most wouldn’t expect from such a small, unassuming school.
“We’ve very physical,” Mortensen said, breaking into a smile. “Sometimes we get that rep where people think we’re soft. But on the court it’s entirely different.”
Each Oakwood team member has at least a 4.0 grade point average, like most students at Oakwood. Some have missed practice and games, or quit the team, so they can devote more time to studying. They bring bleachers into the gym before games and afterward shake hands with the opposing team, referees and fans.
“They’re all great students and amazing kids,” Jensen said. “I’ve never heard anyone swear. They get along great.
“Kids come to Oakwood for academics, but we’re becoming a basketball program.”
Oakwood is a private school but not of private schools in terms of athletics. It was built in 1998 and went by Charter School of Morgan Hill until 2003, when it expanded to Oakwood Country School through funding by Ted and Michelle Helvey. Its high school enrollment of 58 is by far the smallest in the section, let alone Division V. All courses are college prep and held in the same contemporary two-story building located behind the elementary and middle schools.
You can’t say Oakwood doesn’t recruit.
“I asked every kid in the school to come out for basketball,” Jensen said.
The small class sizes help students connect with teachers and their peers. They also benefit the Hawks.
“When you know everyone it’s easy to stay close and push each other to work hard,” Salamon said.
“There’s really no animosity on the team,” Sikka added. “We’re all players. We’re all equals. We learn from each other’s mistakes and help each other improve.”
The Hawks take pride in representing their close-knit student body against schools 15 to 20 times their size.
“It’s a great school, and we just want to be the first basketball team to make it to CCS and set an example,” Angulo said.
Hall, who had 23 points, seven steals and six rebounds Thursday, has marveled at the team’s progress since his freshman year. He knew the Hawks could achieve greatness under Jensen.
“I could tell he knew what he was doing right away,” Hall said. “I figured if we all got in shape and familiar with each other I knew we could be where we are now in a couple years.
“This is the best season Oakwood’s had, and it’s all due to our coach.”
Jensen wouldn’t change a thing about Oakwood’s perception as an academics-before-athletics institution. He would, however, like to see the gym decorated with more than just those class signs.
Think championship banners.
