SPORTS BRIEFS: Vikings rally to beat Dominguez, win league title

DOWNEY – The Downey High School football team defeated Dominguez at home last Friday night, 21-10, to claim the 2014 S.G.V.L. championship outright. The Vikings had shared the league tri-championship for the past three seasons with Dominguez and Paramount.

With the win, Downey finished the regular season with an overall record of 7-3 and a S.G.V.L. record of 5-0. Downey will be the No. 1 entry from the San Gabriel Valley League in the C.I.F. Southeast Division playoffs and will host California High School of Whittier tonight in the first round.

California High (6-4, 3-2) is the No. 3 entry from the Del Rio League. El Rancho (8-2, 5-0) is the 2014 Del Rio League champion and number one entry while last year’s C.I.F. Southeast Division champion, La Serna (8-2, 4-1), finished second and is the second entry.

With the loss, Dominguez finished the regular season with an overall record of 7-3 and a S.G.V.L. record of 4-1. Dominguez will be the No. 2 entry from the San Gabriel Valley League and will travel to La Serna to play the Lancers in their first round matchup.

Paramount finished the regular season with an overall record of 6-4 and a S.G.V.L. record of 3-2. The Pirates will be the third entry from the San Gabriel Valley League. Paramount held off a stubborn Warren team, 42-34, at Paramount last Friday night and will travel to Norwalk and play the Lancers in their first round matchup.

In the Dominguez game, Downey was down 10-0 before the Vikings scored in the second quarter on a Daevon Vigilant rushing touchdown. The Dons led 10-7 at halftime.

Downey added a Vigilant touchdown in the third quarter to take the lead 14-10 and another touchdown in the fourth quarter to make it 21-10.

The Viking ground game was led by Vigilant’s 131 yards and three touchdowns. Vigilant’s last touchdown, from the one-yard-line, was set up by Jacob Cook’s 57-yard interception return in the fourth quarter. Cook’s interception helped seal the win for the Vikings.

Downey quarterback Trevor Hill completed 8/17 passes for 178 yards in the winning effort.

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The Downey High School girls’ volleyball team defeated San Luis Obispo, 3-1, in the first round of the CIF Division 2AA playoffs at Downey.

The Lady Vikings won 25-20, 25-22, 20-25 and 25-22.

Kimberley Schnars had 25 kills, 16 digs, four aces and two blocks. Viking teammates Bela Gamboa had 16 kills, six digs and three aces and Amy Crowell contributed with 35 assists and two aces to pace Downey.

The Lady Vikings have now won 12 games in a row and appear to be playing their best volleyball of the season as the playoffs begin.

Downey is now 26-4 overall and hosted North Torrance yesterday in their second round matchup (scores unavailable at press time). North Torrance came into Thursday’s game with an overall record of 25-6 and 8-2 in Pioneer League play.

The Lady Saxons defeated Royal at North Torrance in their first round game 3-0. The Lady Saxons won 25-10, 25-11 and 25-19 to complete the sweep.

North Torrance was the No. 2 entry from the Pioneer League behind league champion South Torrance. South Torrance was 22-9 overall and 10-0 in league play.

With a win, the Lady Vikings will meet the winner of the Whittier Christian/Brea Olinda match tomorrow in the quarterfinal round. The semifinal round will be next Tuesday and the Division 2AA championship game will be held next Saturday at Cerritos College at 1 p.m.

Coach Sims, her staff and players are looking to make a nice run in the 2AA playoffs.

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The Warren High School football team saw their season come to an end at Paramount last Friday night, 42-34.

The Bears finished their season with an overall record of 5-5 and S.G.V.L. record of 2-3. If the Bears had defeated Paramount last Friday, Warren would have earned the third and final playoff entry from the San Gabriel Valley League.

Warren was behind early against Paramount. The Bears would not go away and forced Paramount to keep turning back Bear efforts. Head coach Raul Lara and his staff made huge strides on offense and defense this season. Those huge strides almost ended in a playoff appearance.

Downey (7-3, 5-0) is the S.G.V.L. champion and Dominguez (7-3, 4-1) is the No. 2 entry from the S.G.V.L. Downey will host Cal High (6-4, 3-2) and Dominguez will travel to Whittier and play last year’s C.I.F. Southeast Division champion La Serna (8-2, 4-1).

Paramount (6-4, 3-2) is the third entry and will travel to Norwalk (7-3, 5-1) tonight to play the Lancers. Norwalk was the No. 2 entry from the Suburban League after they lost to La Mirada 35-21 last Friday.

The Bears have many things to be proud of for this season and to look forward to for next season. Warren had lost 24 games in a row before the start of the season, including 11 league games in a row. That is now over. Warren won four consecutive games this season and at one point were 4-2.

The Bears came back against Lynwood and won 17-14 to keep their playoff chances alive in week nine. The gritty effort against Lynwood set up the Paramount game in week ten.

Coach Lara, his staff and players will look forward to next year. Junior quarterback Jordan Yancy and sophomore running back Jordan Mayes will both return with more experience and skill under their belts to lead the Bears.

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The Warren High School girls’ tennis team lost to the Suburban League champion Cerritos Lady Dons in the second round of the C.I.F. Division 3 playoffs 13-5 last Friday.

The Bears finished their season with an overall record of 18-2 and a San Gabriel Valley League record of 12-1, good enough to be the 2014 San Gabriel Valley League champions.

Warren defeated Lompoc 14-4 in the first round last Wednesday at Warren to advance.

Despite the team loss, several Bear players will move on in C.I.F. competition. Isabella Lopez is the S.G.V.L. individual champion and Bohesa Won took second. Both girls qualified for C.I.F. individual competition with their efforts.

Warren’s top doubles team of Victoria Echevarria and Diana Castrejon placed second and will play in C.I.F. competition as well.

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La Mirada Regional Park hosted the San Gabriel Valley League cross country league finals last Wednesday. The Warren High School girls’ cross country team swept through all three S.G.V.L. cluster meets finishing one-through-seven each time.

According to Coach Jay Waldron, “that has never been done before.”

Marissa Pluma led the Lady Bear attack and was the league champion in a time of 18:59. Janeane Hernandez finished second in a time of 19:28 and Sadie Encinas finished third in the same time of 19:28.

Samantha Tabares was fourth in a time of 19:33, Gwendolyn Hurtado was fifth in a time of 19:39, Lisa Vasquez was sixth in a time of 19:45 and Sofia Ramos was seventh in a time of 19:58 to complete the sweep.

Coach Waldron has Trinity Gomez and Carolta Conant ready to run as well if needed. Waldron further said that “this is the deepest team I’ve ever had” and concluded by saying, “I like our chances, I like where we’re at.”

The first non-Warren runner to finish was Downey’s Erika Garcia in a time of 20:43. The Lady Bears will compete this Saturday at the C.I.F. Prelims at Mt. SAC. Race time is scheduled for 3:45 p.m.

The Warren girls’ cross country team is currently ranked ninth in C.I.F. Division 1.

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Published: Nov. 13, 2014 - Volume 13 - Issue 31