Sports Briefs: Bears cross country finishes first in La Mirada Regional

DOWNEY – The Warren High School boys’ cross country team finished first at S.G.V.L. Finals held at La Mirada Regional Park last week. 

The Bears finished with a team score of 23, Paramount finished second with 40, Gahr finished third with 72, Downey finished fourth with 104, Lynwood finished fifth with 142 and Dominguez finished sixth with 180, respectively.

The Bear running attack placed first, third, fifth, sixth and eighth and was led by Daniel Ramos who finished in a time of 15:40.5. Emiliano Rodriguez finished third in a time of 15:49, Alexander Garber finished fifth in a time of 15:59.6, Antonio Munoz finished sixth in a time of 16:04.6 and Adan Castellanos finished eighth in a time of 16:11.1.

Warren will compete at C.I.F. Prelims later this morning in Riverside. The Bears are scheduled to run at 9:00 a.m. in Division One and Heat One.

■ The Warren High School girls’ cross country team finished first at S.G.V.L. Finals held at La Mirada Regional Park last week. The Lady Bears finished with a team score of 30, Downey finished second with 39, Paramount finished third with 88, Gahr finished fourth with 105, Lynwood finished fifth with 144 and Dominguez finished sixth with 149, respectively.

The Lady Bear running attack placed first, second, eighth, ninth and tenth and was led by Trinity Gomez who finished in a time of 18:27.3. Carlota Conant finished second in a time of 18:49.6, Jazlyn Arevala finished eighth in a time of 19:20, Nadine Gomez finished ninth in a time of 19:28.9 and Leann Gonzalez finished tenth in a time of 19:29.6.

The Warren girls’ cross country team will also compete at C.I.F. Prelims this weekend in Division One and Heat Two scheduled to start at 10:16 a.m. 

■ The Downey High School boys’ cross country team finished fourth at S.G.V.L. Finals held at La Mirada Regional Park last week. The Vikings finished with a team score of 104.

Downey finished in 18th, 19th, 21st, 22nd and 24th places respectively and were led by Jaime Quinones who finished in a time of 16:49.1. Juan Luna finished 19th in a time of 16:56.8, Anthony Casillas finished 21st in a time of 17:11.1, Richard Casillas finished 22nd in a time of 17:11.5 and Martin Medina finished 24th in a time of 17:16.8. 

The Downey boys’ cross country team did not qualify for C.I.F. Prelims later this morning in Riverside.

■ The Downey High School girls’ cross country team finished second at S.G.V.L. Finals held at La Mirada Regional Park last week. The Lady Vikings finished with a team score of 39.

The Lady Vikings finished third, sixth, seventh, 11th and 12th places respectively and were led by Laura Velasco who finished in a time of 18:56.4. Brianna Orozco finished sixth in a time of 19:12.4, Adriana Higuera finished seventh in a time of 19:14.6, Morelia Venegas finished 11th in a time of 19:38 and Elsa Delgado finished 12th in a time of 20:02.1.

Downey will compete at C.I.F. Prelims later this morning in Riverside. The Lady Vikings are scheduled to run at 10:28 a.m. in Division One and Heat Three. Paramount will also be competing in the same race. 

■ The Downey High School football team defeated Paramount at Paramount last Friday night, 28-14. 

With the win, the Vikings improved to 9-1 overall and 5-0 in S.G.V.L. play. With the loss, the Pirates fell to 7-3 overall and 4-1 in league play. 

Downey is the 2016 S.G.V.L. champion and was the only S.G.V.L. team to earn a C.I.F. Division 4 playoff birth. Downey will host Damien of La Verne later tonight. The Spartans finished their regular season with a record of 6-4 and a Baseline League record of 2-3.

In the Paramount game, the Vikings scored a touchdown and extra point in the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead. Downey scored another touchdown and extra point in the second quarter and led 14-0 going into the locker room at halftime. 

Downey and Paramount each scored a touchdown and extra point in the third quarter and Downey led 21-7 as the quarter came to an end. Both teams scored a touchdown and converted the extra point in the fourth quarter and Downey came away with the hard fought, 28-14 win.

Downey quarterback Trevor Hill completed 11/19 pass attempts for 182 yards and three touchdowns. 

The Viking ground game accumulated 278 yards on 50 carries. Asfunso Elam had 28 carries for 158 yards, Emari Demercado had seven carries for 51 yards and Baraq Ross had six carries for 36 yards. 

The Viking receiving corps were led by Christopher Atkins’ four catches for 106 yards and two touchdowns, Tony Ramirez’s four catches for 31 yards and Joseph Alex’s two catches for 39 yards and one touchdown.

The Downey defense was led by Michael Cabrera’s nine solo and one assisted tackles, Nicholas Whitney’s six solo and three assisted tackles and Eli Garcia’s six solo and one assisted tackles. 
Coach Williams, his staff and players are looking forward to starting their playoff run later tonight. 

■ The Warren High School football team defeated Lynwood at Lynwood last Friday night, 25-15, improving to 2-7-1 overall and 2-3 in S.G.V.L. play. 

With the loss, the Knights fell to 4-6 overall and 1-4 in league play. 

With two league wins the Bears were hoping for an at-large C.I.F. Division 7 bid. Unfortunately, the Bears did not receive the at-large entry and did not qualify for postseason play. 

In the Lynwood game, the Bears and Knights each scored touchdowns and were both successful on two-point conversions. The score at the end of the first quarter was 8-8. Both teams scored a touchdown and converted extra points in the second quarter. The score was 15-15 going into the locker rooms at halftime. 

The second half belonged to the Bears as they outscored Lynwood 10-0. Warren scored an unanswered touchdown and extra point in the third quarter to take a 21-7 lead. The Bears added an unanswered field goal in the fourth quarter to take a two possession lead and secured the 25-15 win.

Bear quarterback Chris Venegas completed 9/12 pass attempts for 83 yards and one touchdown. Sebestian Valencia led the Bear ground attack with 19 carries for 83 yards. The Warren receiving corps were led by Valencia’s three catches for 28 yards, Robbie Colenzo’s three catches for 38 yards and Jordan Mayes’ two catches for 12 yards.

The Warren defense was led by Donovan Taylor’s nine solo and two assisted tackles, Jorge Valderrama’s seven solo and three assisted tackles, Sirahn Fields’ five solo and three assisted tackles and Nicholas Cid’s three solo and five assisted tackles.

The Bears finished their season on the upswing by winning their last two games. This year’s team was young and looks to rebuild for next season with more experience and skill.