Sports briefs: Tennis playoffs get underway

DOWNEY - The Downey High School girls' tennis team completed their regular season last week with an 11-7 win against Paramount at home on Oct. 21 and a 12-6 win at Gahr the following day.The Lady Vikings ended their regular season with an overall record of 11-5 and a league record of 9-3. They finished in second place behind cross-town rival Warren, which finished with an overall record of 14-4 and a league record of 11-1. The three league matches Downey played against Warren were all nailbiters. The first match at Warren saw the Bears come away with a 10-8 win on Sept. 24. The Lady Vikings won the second match at Downey on Oct. 4 with a 9-9 win that went to criteria. The third match saw the Bears come back with a win at home on a 9-9 criteria decision on Oct. 17. Needless to say, there is a chance these two teams could face each other for a fourth time in the Division 3 playoffs. San Gabriel Valley League finals concluded last week at Warren and the Lady Vikings had a strong showing. Erin Freeman of Downey earned singles league champion honors. Jessica Angell and Elizabeth Aceves won league champion doubles honors. Lauren Martinez and Tara Kazimi won second place doubles honors. Coach Diego is extremely proud of her team's effort and is looking forward to making a nice run in the playoffs. Downey traveled to Marlborough in their first round match on Wednesday (score unavailable at press time), while Warren hosted the wildcard winner from Tuesday's Alhambra and Temecula Valley match. San Gabriel Valley League wildcard entry Paramount (11-8, 7-5) traveled to the Archer School for Girls to face the Panthers. ** The Warren High School football team lost a nailbiter last Friday night to Lynwood at Justice Stadium, 49-41. With the loss, the Bears are now 0-9 overall and 0-4 in San Gabriel Valley League play. The Knights improved to 3-6 overall and 1-3 in league play. Warren will host Paramount (6-3, 3-1) tonight in their season finale. The Bears were led on offense by quarterback Mike Vega's 13/23 passing for 221 yards. Vega had one touchdown pass and an interception. Zaahid Summerville was 1/2 passing for 15 yards. The Bear rushing attack was led by Albert Molina's 19 carries for 144 yards and a touchdown, Simon Figueroa's 14 carries for 43 yards and a toucdown, Angel Chavez's seven carries for 66 yards, Eric Rivera's four carries for 31 yards and two touchdowns and Edward Chorro's three carries for 21 yards and a touchdown. The Bear ground game rushed 52 times for 308 yards. The Bear receiving corps were led by Zaahid's Summerville's five catches for 117 yards and one touchdown, Joaquin Guerrero's three catches for 65 yards, Albert Molina's two catches for 18 yards, David Escobedo's two catches for 11 yards, Eduardo Sanabria's one catch for 15 yards and Simon Figueroa's one catch for 10 yards. The Bears had 14 receptions for 236 yards. The Bear offense accounted for 66 plays and 544 total yards. Senior kicker Jonathan Haik converted 5/6 PAT attempts and had five points. ** The Downey High School football team lost a tough game to Paramount at Allen Layne Stadium last Friday night, 20-19. With the loss, the Vikings fell to 5-4 overall and 3-1 in San Gabriel Valley League play. Downey will travel to Dominguez (7-2, 4-0) tonight for a showdown against the only undefeated team left in league play. With a Downey win and a Paramount win against Warren, the Vikings can force a three-way tie for the league title and a coin flip to determine who gets the S.G.V.L. number one, two and three seeds, respectively. The top San Gabriel Valley League seed will also have the best seed in the C.I.F. Southeast Division playoff bracket. If Downey wants to make another run at a C.I.F. title, a win against Dominguez would be huge tonight. In the Downey-Paramount game, the Vikings were led on offense by Jorge Reyna's 4/20 passing for 73 yards. Reyna did not throw a touchdown pass but had one interception. The Viking ground game was led by Justin Huff's 18 carries for 143 yards and two touchdowns, Reyna's 12 carries for 68 yards and a touchdown, Eric Carrillo's seven carries for 39 yards and Josh Flores' six carries for 79 yards. The Viking ground game rushed 43 times for 329 yards. The Downey receiving corps were led by Conor Hill's one catch for 26 yards, Tristan Esparza's one catch for 21 yards, Trevor Hill's one catch for 17 yards and Remy Harvey's one catch for nine yards. Kicker Mario Galvan was 1/3 on PAT attempts for one point. Galvan did not attempt a field goal. The Viking defense was led by Jacob Cook's four solo and seven assisted tackles, Manny Ramirez's three solo and six assisted tackles, Tristan Esparza's two solo and five assisted tackles, Nick Robles' two solo and four assisted tackles, Patrick Smith's one solo and five assisted tackles and Juwan Pleze's five assisted tackles. ** The Downey Calvary Chapel football team traveled to Sage Hill of Newport Beach last Friday night and lost 35-8. With the loss, the Grizzlies are now 2-5 overall and 0-3 in Academy League play. DCC will travel to St. Margaret's (8-1, 3-0) of San Juan Capistrano and play the Tartans in their season finale tonight. The Grizzlies were led on offense by junior quarterback Daniel Castro's 5/8 passing for 17 yards. Castro did not throw a touchdown pass but did have an interception. The Grizzly ground game was led by Castro's 12 carries for 68 yards, junior Sam Arcalas' 11 carries for 41 yards and a touchdown and senior Matthew Sanchez's 10 carries for 28 yards. The DCC receiving corps were led by junior Jeremy Hernandez's two catches for five yards and sophomore Jared Welch's one catch for ten yards. Sam Arcalas also had one catch for two yards. The DCC defense was led by Matthew Sanchez's ten solo tackles, Brian Holm's four solo tackles, Jeremy Hernandez's three solo tackles, and two solo tackles each from Tristan Verduzco, Daniel Castro, Sam Arcalas, Christian Corona and Jared Welch. Byron Smith and Joseph Santillan each added one tackle each. Santillan also had one interception and two fumble recoveries. The Grizzlies will try to end their season on a winning note and start preparing for next season.

********** Published: Nov. 7, 2013 - Volume 12 - Issue 30