Sports briefs: Royal High ends Warren's soccer season

DOWNEY - The Warren High School soccer team saw their season come to an end Tuesday evening against Royal High School 3-0 in the C.I.F. Division 2 semifinals. Warren finished their season with an overall record of 17-8-3 and a S.G.V.L. record of 7-3. The Bears were San Gabriel Valley League co-champs with Paramount. Warren is the 2013 C.I.F. Division 2 champion.Warren started their playoff run at home against Sunny Hills with a 2-1 win on 2/20. The Bears then defeated Alta Loma at Warren 2-1 on 2/25. Warren then traveled to Centennial of Corona and won 3-2 on 2/27. The Bears traveled to Simi Valley to play Royal (23-3, 14-0) on Tuesday and were defeated 3-0. Royal is the top seed in the Division 2 playoffs and will play Corona for the Division 2 championship tomorrow. Corona (19-7-1) is red hot. Corona defeated Palm Springs 9-2 on 2/20, Fontana 4-3 on 2/25, Simi Valley 8-0 on 2/27 and Esperanza 5-0 on Tuesday. Royal may be the top seed but Corona has scored 26 goals in four games. Warren made the deepest run of San Gabriel Valley League teams in the Division 2 playoffs. Downey defeated Villa Park 3-1 in a wild card game and were defeated by Fullerton 1-0 on penalty kicks in the first round. Lynwood was defeated by Royal 3-2 in the first round. Paramount defeated Newbury Park 2-0 in the first round and were defeated by Colton 2-1 in the second round. Warren coach Miguel Pena is proud of how hard his team has competed and played. As Warren has now won C.I.F. and league titles in successive years, the Bears will once again be the hunted as they reload for next year. ** The Warren High School girls' water polo team saw their season come to an end last Saturday against Riverside Poly 14-10 at the Woolett Aquatics Center in Irvine. Warren finished their season with an overall record 26-11 and a S.G.V.L. record of 10-0. The Lady Bears are the 2014 San Gabriel Valley League champions and C.I.F. Division 5 finalists. The Bears defeated Arlington 14-6 at the Downey Aquatics Center on 2/19, defeated Santa Ynez 20-5 at Santa Ynez on 2/22, defeated Crescenta Valley 16-9 at Whittier College on 2/26 and were defeated by Riverside Poly 14-10 last Saturday. The Lady Bears were the last team swimming in the San Gabriel Valley League. Downey defeated Morro Bay at the Downey Aquatics Center 16-5 in a wild card game on 2/18 and were then defeated by Crescenta Valley 13-3 at Crescenta Valley on 2/19. Cerritos defeated Elsinore at Cerritos Park East 15-3 on 2/19 and were then defeated by Redlands East Valley 8-7 at Cerritos Park East on 2/22. This Lady Bear senior group has reached the semifinal round in all four years as student-athletes at Warren High School. Jocelyn Castro, Justine Castro and Destiny Hernandez have provided solid senior leadership this year. The Lady Bears won C.I.F. titles in 2011 and 2012, were semifinalists last year and lost in the final this year. Coach Cordero is extremely proud of her team and how hard they competed to get back to the final. The Lady Bears will now begin to reload for next season. ** The Downey Calvary Chapel girls' softball team lost their season opener to Division 3 Pioneer 5-1 at Columbus High School on Tuesday. The Lady Grizzlies will be back in action against Bell Gardens next Tuesday at Columbus. DCC scored their only run of the game in the bottom of the first inning and led 1-0 after one inning of play. Pioneer scored one run in the top of the second inning to even the score at one. DCC did not score in their half of the second inning. Neither team scored in the third inning and the score remained tied at one after three innings of play. Pioneer scored three runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 4-1 lead. The Lady Grizzlies did not score in the bottom of the fourth inning. The score at the end of four inninings of play was 4-1 Pioneer. Neither team scored in the fifth inning. The score remained 4-1 Pioneer after five innings of play. Pioneer added one run in the top of the sixth inning. Calvary Chapel did not score in their half of the sixth inning. The score was 5-1 after six innings of play. Neither team scored in the seventh inning and Pioneer held on for the win. Sophomore Marissa Badger pitched 5 1/3 innings and did not allow an earned run. Tiana Rodriguez scored the Calvary Chapel run. Freshmen Vanessa Sanchez and Bella Veloz played well for the Lady Grizzlies in the losing effort. Coach Al Rodriguez said that "this is a young team. There are no seniors and only three juniors." Seven seniors graduated last year including standout pitcher Larissa Petikoff (Colorado State), catcher Sydney Colenzo (Cal State Fullerton) and shortstop Bridget Castro (Utah). Rodriguez believes the Lady Grizzlies "have a good chance of winning league this year." The Lady Grizzlies now compete in Division 6 and are in the Academy League. Whitney, Crean Lutheran, Oxford Academy and Brethren Christian are DCC's league opponents. ** The Downey High School wrestling team had five wrestlers qualify for the Master's meet two weekends ago in C.I.F. individual competition at Temecula Valley High School. Mark Lopez (106) placed third at C.I.F, Dylan Moreno (152) placed fourth at C.I.F, Juan Soto (170) placed fourth at C.I.F, Stephen Chavez (182) placed fourth at C.I.F. and Anthony Florido (285) placed second at C.I.F. Viking heavyweight Anthony Florido (285) was the lone Viking to qualify for the state meet. Florido placed seventh at the Master's meet held last weekend at the Citizens Bank Arena in Ontario. The top eight wrestlers in each weight class qualified for the state meet at the Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield. Mark Lopez (106) lost his first match to Miguel Juarez of Rowland 9-6 and his second match to Nathan Fier of Santa Margarita 17-2. Lopez was eliminated. Dylan Moreno (152) won his first match by pin against Roland Frank of Foothill. Moreno lost his second match to Ricky Padilla of Northview 16-0. Moreno then defeated Anthony Nguyen of Yucaipa by pin. Moreno lost his fourth match to Kevin Hope of Carter 7-4. Moreno was eliminated. Juan Soto (170) lost his first match to Leangelo White of Western 6-2. Soto won his second match against Rogan Wells of Thousand Oaks 11-5. Soto lost his third match to Mike Marshall of San Clemente 3-0. Soto was eliminated. Stephen Chavez (182) lost his first match to Ryan Blascke of Bishop Amat 7-3 and his second match to Jesus Madrigal of Oak Hills 6-4. Chavez was eliminated. Anthony Florido (285) won his first match against Micheal Hodges of La Sierra by pin and his second match against Josh Paul of Cypress by pin. Florido lost his third match to Jesse Gomez of Buena Park 3-2. Florido won his fourth match against David Apodaca of Charter Oak by pin and narrowly lost his fifth match to Ryan Padilla of Glendora 1-0. For his efforts, Florido placed seventh. Interestingly, Florido lost to Gomez 3-2 and Padilla 1-0. Gomez placed 6th and Padilla placed 5th, respectively. Florido may very well face one or both of these wrestlers in Bakersfield. St. John Bosco High School had five wrestlers qualify for the Master's meet two weekends ago in C.I.F. individual competition at Santiago Canyon College. Four of those wrestlers qualified for the state meet to be held this weekend by placing in the top eight of their repsective weight classes last weekend in the Master's meet at Citizens Bank Arena in Ontario. The state meet will start today and conclude tomorrow at the Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield. California's 32 best wrestlers in each weight class will compete against each other to become a state champion. Bosco's Julian Gendreau (113) placed first at C.I.F. and fourth at the Master's meet. Zahid Valencia (132) placed first at C.I.F. and also placed first at the Master's meet. Joseph Dominguez (138) placed third at C.I.F. and seventh at the Master's meet. Matt Williams (152) placed third at C.I.F. but did not qualify for the state meet. Anthony Valencia (170) placed first at C.I.F. and also placed first at the Master's meet. The Master's meet lower weight M.V.P. was Bosco's Zahid Valencia (132). Valencia had three pins, one default and one major decision. Bosco's Anthony Valencia (170) was selected as the upper weight M.V.P. for three pins, one technical fall and one decision. The Valencia brothers both dominated their competition. ** St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy saw their girls basketball season come to an end with a 54-33 loss at top-ranked Orangewood Academy last Saturday.

********** Published: March 6, 2014 - Volume 12 - Issue 47