Talent-loaded Callan tourney Talent-loaded Callan tourney

This year’s Brett Callan Memorial Tournament, opening Thursday in the Coach Ed Iacopi Gymnasium on the Casa Grande High School campus, features one of the strongest lineups in the nine-year history of the tournament.

The tournament is held annually in honor of former Casa Grande standout player Brett Callan, who died at age 16 in a traffic accident.

The tournament features local teams Petaluma High School and host Casa Grande. Neither gets a break in Thursday’s first round.

Petaluma opens the tournament at 3:30 p.m. against Windsor. As of last week, Petaluma was 2-5, but had played several close games, including an overtime loss to San Rafael last Saturday.

Windsor comes into the tournament with a team that is expected to be in the mix for the North Bay League title battle. The Jaguars were 3-1 going into this week’s play.

Casa Grande, just 1-2 after its first three games, is another team with NBL title hopes as it opens its own tournament at 8 p.m. against defending Sonoma County League champion Analy. The Tigers are a deceiving 1-3 after last week’s play, but are among the Sonoma County League title favorites.

The other two first-round games figure to be equally competitive with Cardinal Newman playing Fairfield at 5 p.m. and Washington from San Francisco going against Miramonte at 6:30 p.m.

Cardinal Newman may be the favorite to win the NBL championship. The Cardinals are off to a 3-0 start to their season. Fairfield is the defending tournament champion. It brings a 2-3 record into the tournament.

The 6:30 p.m. game matches two teams with impressive early season records.

Washington is 5-1 and Miramonte 4-1 going into this week’s games.

The tournament continues with games at 3:30, 5, 6:30 and 8 p.m. Friday and concludes with the game for seventh place at 1:30 p.m., the consolation championship at 3 p.m., the match for third place at 4:30 p,m. and the championship game at 6 p.m. on Saturday.