DOWNEY – The Downey High School football team defeated cross-town rival Warren at Downey last Friday night, 42-35.

With the win, the Vikings improved to 7-1 overall and 3-0 in S.G.V.L. play while the Bears are now 0-7-1 overall and 0-3 in S.G.V.L. play.

Downey will host Gahr later tonight. The Gladiators come into tonight’s game with an overall record of 7-1 and a S.G.V.L. record of 2-1. Gahr was defeated by Paramount at Gahr 27-7 last Friday night.

In the Downey/Warren game, Downey scored two touchdowns in the first quarter and led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. Both teams scored a touchdown and converted the extra point in the second quarter. Downey led 21-7 going into the locker rooms at halftime.

Warren outscored Downey in the third quarter 7-6 but still trailed 27-14 at the end of the third quarter. The Bears scored three quick touchdowns, with each PAT good, in the fourth quarter and led 35-27 with five minutes to play. Downey answered back with a touchdown and two-point conversion to tie the game at 35. The Viking defense held the Bear offense and scored the final touchdown and PAT with 15 seconds left on the clock to seal the game.

Downey quarterback Trevor Hill completed 17/25 pass attempts for 219 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. The Viking ground game totaled 317 yards on 47 carries and five touchdowns. Hill carried the ball 10 times for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Emari Demercado carried the ball 21 times for 161 yards with two touchdowns and Baraq Ross carried the ball 13 times for 61 yards with one touchdown.

Downey’s receiving corps caught 18 passes for 230 yards and one touchdown. Christopher Atkins had six catches for 52 yards, Tony Ramirez had two catches for 51 yards with one touchdown and Nicholas Whitney had one catch for 37 yards with one touchdown.

The Downey defense was led by Josh Cooper’s 12 solo and three assisted tackles, Daniel Chavez’s four solo and seven assisted tackles, Brennan Fields’ six solo and four assisted tackles, Eli Garcia’s four solo and six assisted tackles and Malcolm Perry’s two solo and eight assisted tackles.

Coach Williams, his staff and players are looking forward to playing a much improved Gahr team at Downey later today.

■ The Downey Calvary Chapel football team was defeated by Chadwick of Rancho Palos Verdes at Chadwick, 43-0, last Saturday afternoon. With the loss, the Grizzlies fell to 5-4 overall and 3-1 in 8-Man Freelance League play.

Before the defeat at Chadwick, the Grizzlies were on a modest two game win streak. DCC defeated Lucerne Valley at Lucerne Valley 22-6 on October 8th and defeated Flintridge Prep of La Canada at Flintridge Prep 38-37 on October 15th.

Coach Mike Nuno and his staff are proud of this year’s team. The DCC roster this season consisted of only 16 players. Of those 16 roster players, four were freshmen, five were sophomores, four were juniors and only three were seniors.

Coach Nuno and DCC should take pride in the fact that they had a winning record with only three seniors and seven total upper classmen. The game against Chadwick was the last regular season game of the season for the Grizzlies.

DCC junior quarterback Jacob Escalante completed 23/76 pass attempts this season for 273 with four touchdowns and five interceptions. The Grizzlies ground game was led by Escalante’s 76 rushes for 554 yards and nine touchdowns. Senior Tony Rangel had 96 rush attempts for 608 yards and eight touchdowns and senior Alejandro Valdez had 48 rush attempts for 238 yards and eight touchdowns, respectively.

The DCC receiving corps were led by Tony Rangel’s seven catches for 91 yards and sophomore Andrew Rangel’s six catches for 61 yards.

The DCC defense was led by a trio of sophomores. Andrew Rangel had 32 solo and 31 assisted tackles, Carlos Fuentes had 44 solo and 15 assisted tackles and Robert Carretta had 33 solo and 20 assisted tackles.

■ The Warren High School girls’ cross country team placed 12th in Race 64 at the Mt. SAC Invitational last Saturday.

The Mt. SAC Invitational is a huge running event which features some of the best cross country teams in the area as well as the state. In fact, it is billed as the “world’s largest cross country competition.”

The Lady Bears finished Race 64 with 270 points. The Race 64 winner was Torrey Pines. Torrey Pines finished with 91 points, West Ranch finished in second place with 122 points and Vacaville finished in third place (on criteria) with 122 points, respectively. In cross country, the lowest score wins because it is based on a runner’s order of finish.

Steele Canyon placed 4th with 142 points, Redondo placed 5th with 145 points, Chino Hills placed 6th with 155 points, Rancho Cucamonga placed 7th with 160 points, Newbury Park placed 8th with 227 points, Glendora placed 9th with 230 points, Palisades placed 10th with 231 points and California placed 11th with 240 points.

Warren senior Trinity Gomez placed 6th with a time of 18:54, senior Carlota Conant placed 26th with a time of 19:32, senior Blanca Robles placed 80th with a time of 20:41, senior Rosie Santana placed 83rd with a time of 20:48, freshman Nadine Gomez placed 84th with a time of 20:54, freshman Leeann Gonzalez placed 89th with a time of 21:01 and freshman Jazlyn Arevalo placed 102nd with a time of 21:25. Warren finished in a team time of 1:40:49.

■ The Downey High School girls’ tennis team are the 2016 San Gabriel Valley League champions. The Lady Vikings finished San Gabriel Valley League play with a league record of 11-1.

The Lady Vikings defeated cross-town rival Warren at Downey 10-8 in their first round meeting on Sepetember 23rd, defeated Warren at Warren in their second round meeting 9-9 (on criteria) on October 6th and suffered their only league defeat of the season against Warren 10-8 at Downey on October 18th. Warren finished league play in second place with an overall record of 14-4 and a league record of 10-2.

The Downey/Warren tennis matches were all exciting and some highly competitive tennis was played on both sides. Downey earned the top league entry for postseason play and Warren claimed the number two league entry.

The Lady Vikings were led in singles play by Leila Hatier, Connie Paik and Maile Chew-Fernandez. The Lady Vikings were led in doubles play competition by Lizbeth Hernandez and Adriana Baltazar, Michelle Kim and Cathy Yun and Vivian Quiroz and Akhila Nallamilli. Other Lady Vikings contributing to the league championship season were Rebecca Medina, Daisy Ramirez and Alyssa Escarega.

Coach Diego and her staff are extremely proud of this year’s team and their entire tennis program. The Downey junior varsity team also claimed a S.G.V.L. championship.

Sports Briefs: Downey holds off Warren comeback to win rivalry game