Downey, Warren off to slow starts in soccer

DOWNEY — The Downey High School soccer team currently has an overall record of 1-4-3 and will begin San Gabriel Valley League play on January 7th when they travel to Gahr to play the Gladiators.

The Vikings recently competed in the Adidas West Coast Classic December 12-14. Downey finished the tournament with a record of 1-0-3.

The Vikings defeated Ridgeview of Bakersfield 1-0 on December 12th, tied Palos Verdes 1-1 on December 13th, tied Century of Santa Ana 1-1 on December 14th at 9:00 a.m. and tied Bellflower 0-0, also on December 14th, at 5:00 p.m. Downey traveled to Oxnard on December 17th in non-tournament play and was defeated 3-0.

The Vikings are scheduled to compete in the Arizona Showcase this week. Downey is scheduled to play Desert Vista of Phoenix later today and will play other teams based on current tournament results. Downey is scheduled to play Woodbridge of Irvine on January 3rd in a final tune-up before the start of league play.

Downey will open league play against Gahr on January 7, will host Paramount at Downey on January 9th, will host Lynwood on January 16th and will host cross-town rival Warren on January 21st.

Coach Mires, his staff and players are all looking forward to the start of league play, competing for a league title and making a deep run in the C.I.F. Division One playoffs.

Paramount and Warren will once again be the teams to beat in league play.

WARREN BOYS SOCCER: The Warren High School boys’ soccer team currently has an overall record of 1-3-2 and will begin San Gabriel Valley League play on January 9th when they host Lynwood.

Warren recently competed in the Adidas West Coast Showcase Tournament December 12-14 where the Bears finished with a record of 0-3.

Warren was defeated by Hamilton of Chandler, Arizona 3-1 in their first game on December 12th, was defeated by Los Alamitos 2-1 in their second game on December 13th and was defeated by Loyola 2-0 in their third and final game on December 14th.

Warren defeated Mayfair at Mayfair 3-2 on December 20th. The Bears currently have nothing scheduled on their website or on maxpreps.com for Christmas Break but quite possibly may have something scheduled (unavailable at press time).

The Bears are scheduled to begin league play against Lynwood at Warren on January 9th and will travel to play Bell Gardens in a non-league tune-up on January 11th.

Warren will then host Paramount at Warren on January 14th, travel to Gahr to play the Gladiators on January 16th and will travel to cross-town rival Downey for their highly-anticipated game on January 21st.

Coach Miguel Pena, his staff and players are all looking forward to the start of league play.

Cross-town rival Downey and Paramount will once again be the teams to beat in league play. Downey is the 2019 S.G.V.L. champion.

WARREN WRESTLING: The Warren High School wrestling team competed in the Ed Springs Wrestling Tournament December 20-21 and placed 13th overall.

Syracuse finished in first place with 279 points, Centennial finished in second place with 213 points, Servite finished in third place with 193.5 points, Santa Ana Calvary Chapel finished in fourth place with 154 points and Aliso Niguel finished in fifth place with 149.5 points, respectively.

Warren finished with 98 points and had three wrestlers place in the top eight of their respective weight classes. Warren had one first place finisher and two eighth place finishers. Over 40 schools took part in the Ed Springs Wrestling Tournament and some quality teams demonstrated their strong skill levels.

Warren’s Andrew Lopez (106) was the lone Bear to earn tournament champion honors. Lopez defeated Kai Villasenor of Newport Harbor in the championship final. Troy Garza (152) finished in 8th place after he was defeated by Riley Beeson of Ventura in the 7th/8th place match and Isaac Gonzalez (182) also finished in 8th place after he was defeated by Eli Rios of Syracuse in the 7th/8th place match.

Coach Tim Brogden, his staff and wrestlers are all looking forward to the start of the 2020 San Gabriel Valley League wrestling season.

Paramount and cross-town rival Downey will once again be the teams to beat. Warren placed third overall at the Viking Tournament last weekend while Downey finished seventh.

MIDDLE SCHOOLS: The third rotation of middle school sports will begin in January and will feature baseball and softball.

Last season, each middle school produced a junior varsity and varsity baseball team as well as a junior varsity and varsity softball team. This season there is only one baseball team and one softball team for each school. Only two city championships will be determined this rotation.

Games will only be played at Doty and Stauffer Middle Schools due to reconstruction taking place at both Griffiths and Sussman.

The baseball and softball seasons will begin on Wednesday, January 8, when Doty plays Griffiths at Doty and Sussman travels to Stauffer. The Doty/Griffiths game will feature Griffiths as the home team.

The second games will be held on Monday, January 13th when Griffiths travels to Doty again and will feature Doty as the home team. Sussman is scheduled to be the home team in their second game against Stauffer at Stauffer.

The third games of the season will be held on Wednesday, January 15th and will feature Sussman at Griffiths and Doty at Stauffer. The Sussman at Griffiths game will be held at Doty.

The fourth games of the season will be held on Wednesday, January 22nd and will feature Griffiths at Sussman and Stauffer at Doty. The Griffiths at Sussman game will be held at Stauffer.

The fifth games of the season will be held on Monday, January 27th and will feature Griffiths at Stauffer and Sussman at Doty.

The sixth and final games of the season will be held on Wednesday, January 29th and will feature Stauffer at Griffiths at Stauffer and Doty at Sussman at Doty. Coaches and players are looking forward to the start of baseball and softball games.

SportsMark Fetter