Downey stays hot, defeats rival Warren, 40-0
Downey High wide receiver Damani Porras, left, and quarterback Oscar Rios. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
DOWNEY – The annual Downey-Warren high school football rivalry took its show on the road to the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson for the first time in school history.
Before a large crowd, however, it was all Downey for the 40-0 Gateway League win over Warren Friday (October. 24).
The win was the fifth in a row for the Vikings.
With the win, the Vikings improved to 8-1 overall and 4-0 in league with one game remaining before the CIF-Southern Section playoffs, which begin next week.
Warren falls to 2-7 overall and 2-2 in the Gateway League.
Downey ends the regular season Thursday (October 24) at Dominguez (6-3, 1-3) for a Gateway League game. (Results not available at press time). Warren travels to Paramount (3-6, 0-4) Friday Oct. 31.
Leading the way for the Vikings was senior quarterback Oscar Rios with a game-high 202 yards (16 for 25) and three touchdowns. He also ran for a score and rushed for 84 yards on seven carries.
Leading the Vikings on the ground was senior running back Gavin Ingram with a game-high 91 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown.
Downey wide receiver Damani Porras had a game-high 88 yards on six catches and a touchdown. The junior also had a 65-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Six senior receivers also combined for 116 yards for the Vikings – Amari Kid (1 catch, 26 yards, TD), Jacob Trevizu (2-25 yds.), Xavier Rivas (3-23 yds.), Gael Flores (3-22 yds., TD), Willie Sotelo (1-16 yds.) and Ingram (1-4 yds.)
On the defensive side, Porras and senior linebacker Oscar Aguilar (4 solo tackles, 6 assts.) each had an interception. Senior linebacker Aiden Gomez led with six solo tackles and two assists, while junior linebacker Gavin Chapman had 4 solo tackles and three assists. As a team, the Vikings held the Bears to 22 yards on the ground.
Leading the way for Warren was junior quarterback Jordan Malikin with 63 yards passing.
Running back Gavin Ingram at practice this week. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
Downey had the first chance to score in the opening quarter on a long drive at the 20-yard line, but Rios mishandled the ball and Warren senior defensive end Aliathus Scaife recovered it on its own 23-yard line to end the threat.
After Warren went out in four plays, the Vikings second possession ended with a punt near midfield and Warren again punted after four plays.
Downey went on a six-play, 49-yard drive near the end of the quarter and scored in the first few seconds of the second quarter.
On the first play of the second quarter at the five-yard line, Rios faked a handoff to Ingram and tossed a short pass to a wide open Flores in the endzone for the first score of the game.
Highlighting the drive, was a pair of runs (11 and 20 yards) by Rios to the Warren 38-yard line, plus a Bears holding penalty.
Ingram ran six yards to the five-yard line setting up the score on third and five.
A 2-point conversion run attempt failed and the Vikings led 6-0.
Midway through the quarter the Bears had their best drive of the half with a seven-play drive starting at their own 37 and stalling at the Vikings 35.
The Bears opened the drive with an 11-yard shovel pass from Malikin to junior running back Keith Jaeckels and two plays later a 14-yard pass to junior wide receiver Ja’Mire Lewis to the Vikings 37.
After a run that didn’t gain a yard and two incomplete passes, the Bears had their third punt of the half.
The Bears defense held Downey deep in its own territory and started a drive near midfield with under two minutes left in the half.
After a 9-yard pass from Malikin to sophomore running back Robert Carter, time ran out on the Bears at the half.
The first half saw Warren only gain five net yards on the ground and 54 yards through the air.
The slow start by the Vikings in the first half all changed in the second.
“We started off slow and couldn’t really pick anything up,” said Porras, of the lack of scoring. “Going into halftime, coach (Jack Williams) really said some touching words that motivated everybody to keep on fighting.
“We came out in the second half and scored the first (touchdown) and it was down from there.”
After both the Downey and Warren bands performed a song together at the intermission, Warren went three and out to start the second half, but Downey took only three plays score its third TD of the game.
Rios threw a short pass to Flores, followed by a 31-yard pass to Porras, who ran down the sidelines to the Warren 20-yard line.
Rios took it in from there on a 20-yard touchdown run untouched on the far sideline at the 8:56 mark to lead 12-0. Rios, who is second on the team with 549 yards on 52 carries, scored his third touchdown on the ground this season.
The two-point conversion was completed on a pass from Rivas to Flores for the 14-0 lead.
After the touchdown, the first pass play went to Carter from Malikin for 10 yards to midfield. That was the only highlight for the Bears for the rest of the quarter.
Downey later went on a drive that ate up the clock that stalled on the Warren 22-yard line.
A 37-yard field goal attempt by Vikings junior kicker Danny Yocupicio was blocked by the Warren defense with less than a minute left in the third quarter.
On the first play of the fourth quarter with a third and 14 from the Warren 16-yard line, Downey sophomore defensive lineman Eliyah Garcia recovered a bad snap on the Bears five-yard line for a first and goal for the Vikings.
The Bears would put the game away in the fourth quarter with 26 unanswered points.
“Like coach said, ‘take the top off and that’s what we did,” Ingram said. “Start scoring and that’s the game, man.”
From there, Ingram ran in the touchdown untouched over the middle and the 20-0 lead. That was Ingram’s 10th rushing score of the season, along with 796 yards on 118 carries this season.
The two-point conversion pass was incomplete for the Vikings.
On the second play by Warren after the Downey TD, Aguilar went over the top of a Bears player to intercept a Malikin pass at the Warren 25-yard line.
After a 20-yard pass from Rios to senior tight end Willie Sotelo at the five-yard line, Rios found Porras on a crossing pattern at the goal line for the score to lead, 26-0.
Porras has 12 receiving touchdowns this season along with 1,023 yards on 51 receptions.
On the ensuing Warren drive, Porras scored his second TD of the game on a 63-yard interception return to give the Vikings a 33-0 lead with 8:22 left.
After a three and out by Warren, the Vikings scored their final TD on a 25-yard pass from Rios to Kid for the 40-0 final. The TD was Rios’ 23rd of the season and he is nearing 2,000 yards passing this season.