SPORTS BRIEFS: Downey hangs on to beat Dominguez

DOWNEY – The Downey High School football team was leading Dominguez 13-0 at halftime last Friday night when the lights went out at Dominguez High School. 

The game was resumed Wednesday afternoon at Dominguez, and the Vikings held on for a 27-14 win.

Downey will host Lynwood (4-2, 0-1) this evening and Dominguez will travel to Paramount (3-3, 0-1) to face the Pirates.

The Downey-Dominguez game was bizarre to say the least. The game was called shortly after halftime due to falty lights. The lights at Dominguez High School could not stay on for the duration of the game and the game was called shortly after halftime when the officials were told that the generator controlling the lights was not coming back on. As a result, the game was rescheduled for Wednesday.

Downey scored all 13 points in the second quarter. The first touchdown came on a Jalen Thompson 105 yard interception return and the second touchdown was scored on a Hinckley Ropati 62 yard touchdown run. Viking quarterbacks Trevor Hill and Rafeeq Rahim II combined to complete 1/9 pass attempts for nine yards. The one completed pass was completed to Daevon Vigilant.

The Downey rushing attack was led by Ropati’s one carry for 62 yards, Vigilant’s nine carries for 61 yards, Emari Demercado’s three carries for 11 yards and Rahim’s one carry for eight yards. Downey carried the ball 14 times for 142 yards in the “no lights” shortened game (part 1).

The Viking defense was led by Michael Vital’s six solo and three assisted tackles, Michael Cabrera’s two solo and seven assisted tackles and Kiefer Enslin’s two solo and six assisted tackles. Coach Williams, his staff and players must refocus and finish the Dominguez game before they can turn their attention to Lynwood later today. 

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The Warren High School boys’ water polo team currently has an overall record of 9-5 and are 2-0 in San Gabriel Valley League play.

Warren defeated Santa Fe at Warren 22-7 on 9/8, were defeated by Kennedy at Kennedy 9-8 on 9/10 and defeated California at California 15-11 on 9/15.

The Bears defeated Los Amigos of Fountain Valley at Downey 10-7 on 9/17. Warren then participated in the Newport Rib Company Classic Tournament on September 19. The Bears defeated Santa Ana Valley 14-2 at 8:20 a.m., were defeated by Ramona 7-6 at 2:00 p.m. and won by forfeit 5-0 against Tustin at 4:20 p.m. Warren finished 2-1 in the N.R.C.C. Tournament.

Warren was defeated by St. John Bosco 14-3 at Bosco on 9/22, was defeated by Whittier 9-8 at Downey on 9/24 and defeated El Rancho at home 20-6 on 9/29. Warren was defeated by Millikan 19-8 at Millikan on 10/1 and opened S.G.V.L. play with a 19-3 win against Paramount at Paramount on 10/6.

The Bears defeated Garden Grove at Warren 9-8 on 10/8 and defeated Gahr at Gahr 17-9 on Tuesday in their league game against the Gladiators.

Warren will travel to cross-town rival Downey next Tuesday, will travel to Cerritos to play the Dons on 10/27 and will host Whitney of Cerritos on 11/3 to close out their regular season schedule. Coach Nichols, his staff and players are looking forward to finishing league play strong and making a nice run in the C.I.F. Division 4 playoffs. 

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The Downey High School girls’ tennis team currently has an overall record of 8-3 and are 6-2 in San Gabriel Valley League play.

The Lady Vikings defeated Santa Fe at Santa Fe 11-7 on 9/3, were defeated by Millikan at Downey 11-7 on 9/10 and defeated El Rancho at El Rancho 13-5 on 9/21. Downey opened S.G.V.L. play with a 12-6 win against Lynwood at Downey on 9/24, were defeated by cross-town rival Warren at Warren 13-5 on 9/25 and defeated Gahr at Downey 16-2 on 9/29.
Downey defeated Paramount at Paramount 17-1 on 10/1, defeated Lynwood at Lynwood 14-4 on 10/6 and were defeated by Warren at Downey 13-5 on 10/8. The Lady Vikings defeated Gahr at Downey 17-1 on 10/9 and traveled to Paramount on Tuesday and defeated the Lady Pirates by the same 17-1 score.

The Lady Vikings will close out league play by hosting Lynwood later today, traveling to cross-town rival Warren next Tuesday, hosting Gahr next Thursday and finishing up against Paramount at Downey on 10/23.

Coach Diego, her staff and players are looking forward to finishing the tennis season strong. The Lady Vikings are looking to play well at league finals and making a nice run in the C.I.F. team playoffs. Last season the Lady Vikings advanced to the second round of playoff competition by defeating John Glenn 14-4 in the first round before falling to Valenicia by the same 14-4 score in the second round.

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The Warren High School football team improved to 5-1 overall and 1-0 in San Gabriel Valley League play with a 30-27 win against Paramount at Warren last Friday night. 

With the loss, Paramount fell to 3-3 overall and 0-1 in league play. Warren will travel to Gahr (3-3, 0-1)later today to play the Gladiators. Gahr is coming off a 21-6 win against Lynwood at Lynwood last Friday night.

In the Paramount game, Bear quarterback Jordan Yancy completed 12/24 pass attempts for 245 yards. Yancy threw two touchdown passes and had one interception. Yancy also had seven carries for 20 yards.

The Warren ground game was led by Marquise Lowe’s 18 carries for 76 yards, Edward Chorro’s five carries for 12 yards, Darnay Harris’ two carries for seven yards and Domonique Picken’s one carry for two yards.  The Bear running backs combined for 33 carries and had 117 rushing yards.

The Bear receiving corps were led by Jordan Mayes’ 6 catches for 97 yards and one touchdown, Darnay Harris’ three catches for 80 yards and a touchdown, Ulises Cota’s two catches for 33 yards, Mason Marquez’s two catches for 24 yards and Marquise Lowe’s one catch for 11 yards. Warren’s receivers caught twelve passes for 245 yards and had two touchdowns.

Coach Lara, his staff and players are looking forward to playing Gahr this evening and improving to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in S.G.V.L. play. Warren will host cross-town rival Downey next Friday. Warren Athletic Director Russ Heicke mentioned that two endzone bleachers will be made available for the game providing an additional 2,000 seats.