SPORTS BRIEFS: Middle school sports make triumphant return

DOWNEY – After four years of no after-school sports in the Downey Unified School District, middle school sports are back. Sports officially came back last June with the all-city track meet held at Downey High School. The 2014-15 school year marks the first full year of sports’ return.

Wednesday marked the first games of the first sports for the fall season. The Stauffer Spartan football team defeated Sussman at Stauffer 28-13 on Wednesday. Carlos Estrada threw three touchdown passes. Desmond Carnes, Rey Barragan and Alex De la Rosa each caught one of Estrada’s touchdown passes. Rey Barragan also had an interception that he returned for a touchdown. With the win, Stauffer stands at 1-0. With the loss, Sussman stands at 0-1.

The Sussman girl varsity volleyball team defeated Stauffer in two sets 25-13 and 25-14. The Sussman girl junior varsity team defeated Stauffer 25-14 and 25-21. With their respective wins, the Sussman girls varsity and junior varsity teams are 1-0. With their defeats, the Stauffer girls varsity and junior varsity teams are 0-1.

Doty will travel to Sussman on Monday while Stauffer and Griffiths will also meet. Stauffer will host Doty on Wednesday while Griffiths and Sussman will compete at the same time.

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The Griffiths Indians traveled to Doty Middle School to play the Knights in football and girls’ volleyball on Wednesday. This marked the season opener for both schools and the official return of full middle school sports.

It was absolutely awesome to see so many people at the games on Wednesday at Doty. There were a ton of students who came over from Griffiths to watch their teams play. There were also many high school students from the past several years in attendance who never got to participate in after school sports in attendance. Parents took time off of work to watch their kids compete and were genuinely entertained by the quality of play.

The Knight football team defeated the Indians 32-6. Robbie Colenzo, Noah Skobis, Eddie Martinez and Brian Barajas all made key plays for the Knights. Brian Barajas intercepted an Indian pass late in the game and returned it for a touchdown. With the win, the Knights are now 1-0. With the loss, the Indians are now 0-1.

The Doty varsity girls’ volleyball team defeated the Lady Indians in two games, 25-12 and 25-14, while the Doty junior varsity team collected a 25-19 and 25-17 win. With the win, the Lady Knights varsity and junior varsity teams are 1-0. With their defeats, the Lady Indian varsity and junior varsity teams are now 0-1.

Doty will travel to Sussman on Monday while Griffiths and Stauffer will compete. Stauffer will host Doty next Wednesday while Griffiths and West will compete at the same time across town. All middle school games start at 2:15 p.m. at their scheduled school sites. Come to a school site and watch a game. They are great.

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The Warren High School football team improved to 2-2 last Friday night with a 52-6 win against Western at home. The Bears have now won two games in a row.

With the loss, Western fell to 1-3. Warren will now travel to Gardena High this evening to play a Panther squad that is currently 0-4. The Bears have an excellent opportunity to conclude their preseason schedule with a victory and a 3-2 record.

Warren will open San Gabriel Valley League play against Gahr at Warren next Friday. The Gladiators are currently 3-2 and are coming off a disappointing 41-33 loss against Fullerton at Fullerton. Gahr’s two losses this season have been by a combined ten points. The other Gladiator loss was to Mayfair at Gahr 33-31 in week two.

In the Western game, quarterback Jordan Yancy led the Bear offense by completing 5/12 passes for 95 yards and two touchdowns. Yancy also carried the ball five times for 27 yards. The Bear rushing attack was sparked by Fredrick Reed’s 12 carries for 29 yards, Eduardo Figueroa’s six carries for 58 yards, Jordan Mayes’ four carries for 59 yards, Darnay Harris’ three carries for 81 yards, Harvey Castillo’s three carries for 31 yards and Brian Castro’s three carries for 17 yards.

The Bear receiving corps were led by Joaquin Guerrero’s five receptions for 58 yards, Ulises Cota’s one reception for 47 yards and Mayes’ one reception for 21 yards. Guerrero scored three touchdowns, while Yancy, Figueroa and Mayes scored one touchdown each. Head coach Raul Lara and his staff have the Bear football team scoring more points and playing better defense.

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The Downey High School football team lost to Huntington Beach 38-13 at Huntington Beach last Friday night. With the loss, the Vikings fell to 2-3 on the season and have now concluded their preseason schedule. With the win, Huntington Beach earned their first win of the season and are now 1-4.

Downey has a bye tonight as they prepare for the start of San Gabriel Valley League play next Friday against Lynwood at Lynwood. Lynwood is currently 4-0 after defeating Calvary Chapel of Santa Ana 55-7 last Friday.

In the Huntington Beach game, Downey quarterback Rafeeq Rahim led the Downey offense by completing 11/23 passes for 165 yards. Rahim had one rush for 11 yards, had one touchdown and threw one interception. The Viking rushing attack was led by Daevon Vigilant’s 16 carries for 152 yards, Justin Huff’s 12 carries for 81 yards and Hinckley Ropati’s four carries for 169 yards. The Downey ground game accumulated 313 yards on 33 carries.

The Downey receiving corps were led by Cameron Carr’s three receptions for 37 yards, Jason Thomas’ two receptions for 53 yards, Jalen Thompson’s two receptions for 38 yards, Darrian Franklin’s two receptions for 21 yards, Stacy Chukwumezie’s one reception for 10 yards and Albert Padilla’s one reception for six yards. Viking kicker Omar Juarez was 1/1 on PAT attempts.

The Viking defense was led by Cameron Carr’s four solo and six assisted tackles, Kiefer Enslin’s three solo and four unassisted tackles and Eddie Preciado’s four solo and two assisted tackles. Sam Kentros, Ryan Collins and Chris Blanton all contributed five tackles as well. Twenty different Vikings players had tackles last Friday night.

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Published: Oct. 2, 2014 - Volume 13 - Issue 25