SPORTS BRIEFS: Downey defeats Cathedral, advances to semifinals

DOWNEY – The Downey High School football team defeated Cathedral at Cathedral High School last Friday night 21-18 to advance to the semifinals of the C.I.F. Southeast Division playoffs. With the win, the Vikings are now 9-3. With the loss, the Phantoms’ season comes to an end with a 10-2 record. Cathedral was the number three seed in the Southeast Division playoff bracket. The Vikings will play at large Salesian (6-6) Friday night at Downey. The Mustangs defeated La Mirada 24-18 in their first round game and defeated Burbank 48-27 in their second round game last Friday night. If Downey defeats Salesian, the Vikings will play the winner of the Crescenta Valley/La Serna game for the Southeast Division title.

In the Cathedral game, the Phantoms scored first and led 6-0 at the end of the first quarter. The Vikings bounced back with a touchdown at the 1:13 mark in the second quarter on a Jacob Cook defensive touchdown. Viking kicker Omar Juarez converted the PAT and Downey led 7-6 at halftime. Downey outscored Cathedral 7-6 in the third quarter and led 14-12 at the end of the quarter. The Vikings outscored Cathedral by the same 7-6 score in the fourth quarter and held on for the 21-18 win.

Viking quarterback Trevor Hill completed 6 of 11 passes for 158 yards and ran three times for 18 yards. Daevon Vigilant had 19 carries for 116 yards and one touchdown while fellow running back Justin Huff had 18 carries for 96 yards and one touchdown. The Downey ground game accumulated 234 yards on 41 carries. The Vikings averaged 5.7 yards per rush attempt.

The Viking receiving corps were led by Stacy Chukwumezie’s two catches for 47 yards, Vigilant’s one catch for 63 yards, Jason Thomas’ one catch for 21 yards, Cameron Carr’s one catch for 20 yards, and Eddie Preciado’s one catch for seven yards. Downey amassed 392 yards of total offense.

The Viking defense put on a stout performance: Chris Blanton had 11 solo and three assisted tackles, Manny Ramirez had five solo and three assisted tackles, Cook had four solo and three assisted tackles, Carr had two solo and four assisted tackles and Hinckley Ropati had one solo and five assisted tackles in the winning effort.

Blanton was named overall player of the game and Ramirez earned defensive player of the game honors for his effort.

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The Warren High School boys’ cross country team has qualified for the Division I state final in Fresno. The California cross country championships will be run Saturday at Woodward Park and Warren’s race is scheduled to start at 11:45 a.m. The Bears are the 2013 Division I champion and are looking to add a state title to their resume.

The Bears finished in seventh place last weekend at C.I.F. finals at Mt. San Antonio College. Warren narrowly defeated Crescenta Valley and Arcadia by a single point to earn the final spot for Fresno.

The Burbank Burroughs finished first in a team time of 1:16:57 and 70 points. Dana Hills finished second with 91 points, Great Oak finished third 123 points, Long Beach Poly finished fourth with 174 points, Loyola finished fifth with 180 points, M.L. King finished sixth with 209 points and Warren finished seventh in a team time of 1:19:19 with 215 points. Crescenta Valley and Arcadia finished in eighth and ninth places with 216 points each, respectively.

Results are derived by the order of finish of a school’s top five runners. Warren’s top five runners finished before the top five runners from Crescenta Valley and Arcadia to win. Senior Ricky Pena’s 108th place overall finish (16:48-the fifth Bear to finish) proved to be the difference to advance.

The Bears were led by senior Benjamin Gonzalez. Gonzalez finished eighth overall in a time of 15:13. Pena finished 108th in a time of 16:48, senior Freddy Menendez finished 115th in a time of 17:18 and junior Segio Santana finished 116th in a time of 17:21.

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The Warren High School girls’ cross country team saw their season come to an end at C.I.F. finals held last Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College. The Lady Bears finished ninth in Heat 1 and needed to finish in the top seven in order to advance to the state meet in Fresno this weekend. Great Oak finished first in a team time of 1:28:29 with 20 points. Great Oak’s top five runners finished first, second, fourth, sixth and seventh places overall and narrowly missed a perfect score of 15.

Yucaipa finished second with 98 points, Arcadia finished third with 155 points, Trabuco Hills finished fourth with 170 points, Long Beach Poly finished fifth with 172 points, Vista Murrieta finished sixth with 185 points, Roosevelt finished seventh with 190 points, and Dana Hills finished eighth with 190 points. Warren finished ninth with 223 points.

The Lady Bears were led by senior Marissa Pluma’s 37th place overall finish in 19:00. Junior Samantha Tabares finished 47th in a time of 19:10, junior Janeane Hernandez finished 59th in a time of 19:20, junior Gwendolyn Hurtado finished 63rd in a time of 19:23, senior Lisa Vasquez finished 64th in a time 19:25, sophomore Trinity Gomez finished 68th in a time of 19:32 and senior Sofia Ramos finished 74th in a time of 19:42.

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Middle school athletic teams played their second games of the season in boys’ volleyball and girls’ soccer last Thursday. Griffiths traveled to Doty and Stauffer traveled to Sussman. When classes resume on Tuesday, Doty will play Stauffer and Griffiths will play Sussman.

Doty defeated Griffiths 21-16 and 21-7 in 8th grade boys’ volleyball. Doty defeated Griffiths 21-19 and 21-10 in 7th grade boys’ volleyball and Griffiths narrowly edged Doty 15-21, 21-19 and 18-16 in 6th grade boys’ volleyball. Doty defeated Griffiths 1-0 in 8th grade girls’ soccer and won by the same 1-0 result in 6th-7th grade girls’ soccer.

The Doty 8th grade boys’ volleyball team is 1-1, 7th grade boys’ volleyball team is 2-0 and 6th grade boys’ volleyball team is 1-1. The Doty 8th grade girls’ soccer team is 1-1 and the 6th-7th grade girls’ soccer team is 2-0. The Griffiths 8th grade boys’ volleyball team is 0-2, the 7th grade boys’ volleyball tream is 1-1 and the 6th grade boys’ volleyball team is 2-0. The Griffiths 8th grade girls’ soccer team is 1-1 and the 6th-7th grade girls’ soccer team is 0-2.

Sussman defeated Stauffer 14-21, 21-16 and 15-8 in 8th grade boys’ volleyball. Stauffer defeated Sussman 21-19 and 21-10 in 7th grade boys’ volleyball and 21-17 and 21-18 in 6th grade boys’ volleyball. Stauffer, however, defeated Sussman 4-0 in 8th grade girls’ soccer and also earned a 4-1 result in 6th-7th grade girls’ soccer to win both games.

The Stauffer 8th grade boys’ volleyball team is 1-1, 7th grade boys’ volleyball team is 1-1 and the 6th grade boys’ volleyball team is 0-2. The Stauffer 8th grade girls’ soccer team is 1-1 and the 6th-7th grade girls’ soccer team is 2-0. The Sussman 8th grade boys’ volleyball team is 2-0, the 7th grade boys’ team is 0-2, and the 6th grade boys’ team is 1-1. The Sussman 8th grade girls’ soccer team is 1-1 and the 6th-7th grade girls’ soccer team is 0-2.

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Published: Nov. 27, 2014 - Volume 13 - Issue 33