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CIF-SS PLAYOFFS
FIRST ROUND RESULTS
Alhambra 20, La Puente 14
Monrovia 24, Pomona 7
San Gabriel 9, Maranatha 0
Pasadena 57, California 43
Arcadia 39, Bonita 13
Muir 39, Santa Fe 7
St. Francis 45, Paramount 28
Rio Hondo Prep 61, Hamilton 0
Bosco Tech at Nordhoff, 7:30 p.m. —
Our Keith Lair will be live from Cypress tonight to cover all the action in the Division 3AA championship match. Check out the paper Saturday for all the coverage.
By Keith Lair, Staff Writer
St. Lucy’s Priory High School swept La Salle in a nonleague volleyball match on Sept. 23.
When the teams meet again tonight, that relatively easy 25-20, 25-18. 25-15 Regents victory will be far from the thoughts of that warm September evening on the Pasadena campus.
“There will be a big difference,” La Salle coach Tiare Tuitama said. “We’re playing a lot better since the last time we played St. Lucy’s, but the big thing is that we have more confidence and have mentally changed.”
A lot more is at stake than a shake of the hands. It will be played in front of hundreds of fans at Cypress College at 7 p.m. The winner will receive a CIF-Southern Section championship trophy and a guaranteed berth in the CIF State playoffs.
“It will absolutely be a different game,” St. Lucy’s coach Sean Douglas said. “Our girls know that. They are not even thinking about that game.”
Based on that match three months ago, it would hardly seem likely that the two teams would be playing for the Division 3AA championship. When they played in September, the Regents were coming off the division title. La Salle was still, surprisingly, smarting from that three-game semifinal loss to St. Lucy’s last year. Plus, they were still adjusting to Tuitama, who has been with the program since July.
“We were still thinking about that semifinal match from last year,” Tuitama said. “We did not have our rotations down yet either.”
Even though St. Lucy’s swept, Douglas said he saw something in the Lancers.
“You could see it in them,” he recalled. “They just hadn’t clicked.”
Two weeks and four matches later, Tuitama said she began seeing the results. It happened at the Hilltop tournament in Chula Vista, which the Lancers won.
“We just began to play mentally the right way,” she said. “They always had it in them physically, but not mentally.”
La Salle then won the Marlborough tournament the following weekend, and went 8-1 the rest of the season, going undefeated to win the Del Rey League title and losing only six games, including a 3-0 nonleague loss to Notre Dame Academy down the stretch.
“We’ve had a surge of confidence,” Tuitama said. “We’ll be ready this time.”
St. Lucy’s has not lost a five-game match in a month and went 8-2 to win the Sierra League title.
“I’ve told the girls it’s about creating a legacy,” Douglas said. “They can win championships and play very good volleyball.”
Both coaches admit they are very similar. The are both tall with powerful middle blockers. They each have go-to players, but can rely on nearly any player on the floor.
“The key will be defense,” Douglas said. “Whoever plays great defense will prevail.”
By Aram Tolegian, Staff Writer
GLENDORA – Badly in need of a knockout punch to get rid of pesky San Marino, the San Dimas High School football team turned to fullback Domonic Jollevet.
He did not disappoint.
Jollevet broke away for a 77-yard touchdown run with just under three minutes to play to turn a three-point San Dimas lead into a 31-21 victory over the Titans in the first round of the Mid-Valley Division playoffs at Citrus College on Thursday night.
“I was very nervous when they cut the lead to three,” said Jollevet, who rushed for 216 yards and two scores. “What I decided to do was run hard, and I saw the hole, saw the goal posts and I said `screw the cutback, I’m gonna take it this way.’
“I told everyone on the team that if you put the team on your back, I’ll put the team on my back and hopefully we’ll pull out with this win and keep going.”
The win improved San Dimas to 9-2. The Saints are the division’s No. 3 seed and will face the winner of the Valley Christian-Azusa game, which will be played tonight at Citrus College. San Marino finished 7-4.
Not many fans outside the prestigious 91108 zip code expected the Titans to push San Dimas to the brink. But the Titans got big performances from quarterback Matt Wofford (214 yards passing) and running back Kwame Do, who ran for 122 yards and three touchdowns.
San Dimas twice had double-digit leads, but San Marino wouldn’t go away. After Dillon Corona hit a 24-yard field goal to put San Dimas up 24-14 late in the third quarter, the Titans made their final surge.
Wofford drove his team 80 yards in just under seven minutes and Do finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to make it 24-21 with 3:36 left.
San Marino didn’t attempt an onside kick, instead kicking short and deciding to play defense with two timeouts remaining. But Jollevet took his 14th carry of the night straight up the middle and into the end zone to seal the win.
“They are a good football team,” Saints coach Bill Zernickow of San Marino. “So it wasn’t a surprise so much as it was us not executing and turning the ball over two times in the end zone. Believe it or not, I’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss.”
San Dimas helped the Titans stay in the game by twice turning the ball over deep in San Marino territory. In the first half, San Dimas had a pass intercepted in the end zone to kill a drive and in the second half the Saints fumbled the ball into zone to end another. Both plays resulted in touchbacks for San Marino.
“We’re going to do a lot of drills next week to improve that,” Zernickow said. “It’s very uncharacteristic of what we’ve been doing. I can’t remember the last time when we fumbled balls into the end zone and stuff like that.”
San Dimas darted to a 14-0 lead and looked like it may cruise into the second round.
Jake Payton’s 9-yard touchdown started the scoring on San Dimas’ first possession. After getting the ball back, quarterback Shawn Kennedy concluded San Dimas’ second possession by hitting Devante Brown on a 19-yard touchdown pass.
San Marino methodically drove down field and answered with a 2-yard run by Do. The Titans defense held San Dimas on its ensuing possession and the score was soon tied after a 3-yard touchdown by Do.
Jollevet gave San Dimas the lead back for good by taking the third play of the second half 58 yards for a TD and a 21-14 advantage.”Domonic did a great job for us,” Zernickow said. “I think we had 24 plays in the first half for two scores, so we have to get better than that.”
Ok, maybe there are some surprises on this bracket prediction with me picking Maranatha to reach the semifinals where I have the Minutemen losing to San Dimas again. I also think Burroughs will run over Los Altos led by Zander Anding. I don’t see how Azusa and Arroyo with a questionable league schedule (much like Monrovia) could make a deep playoff run not having been tested in their run up to the playoffs. Good luck to all and let’s hope it’s a playoff year without major injuries.
Mid-Valley Division Predictions
Top Half
South El Monte (7-3) at #1 Covina (9-1)
Alhambra (8-2) at La Puente (9-1)
El Monte (7-3) at Whittier Christian (6-4)
Pomona (6-4) at #4 Monrovia (7-3)
Bottom half
San Marino (7-3) at #3 San Dimas (8-2), Thursday at Citrus
Cerritos Valley Christian (4-6) at Azusa (7-3)
Maranatha (8-2) at San Gabriel (6-4)
Sierra Vista (6-4) at #2 Arroyo (9-1)
Second Round Winners
Covina over South El Monte
Alhambra over La Puente
Whittier Christian over El Monte
Monrovia over Pomona
San Dimas over San Marino
Cerritos Valley Christian over Azusa
Maranatha over San Gabriel
Arroyo over Sierra Vista
Quarterfinal winners
Covina over Alhambra
Monrovia over Whittier Christian
San Dimas over Cerritos Valley Chr.
Maranatha over Arroyo
Semifinal winners
Covina over Monrovia
San Dimas over Maranatha
Championship
Covina over San Dimas
It’s time for teams, coaches (especially some coaches) and players to not be so sensitive and/or take these predictions so personal. Predictions from sportswriters are just as good (bad?) as the local weather woman giving us her 10-day forecast, and look at the Pac-12 basketball media writers who predicted UCLA to win the Pac-12 championship. The Bruins right now couldn’t win the Alpha League title the way they’re playing right now, losing so far to (who?) Loyola Marymount and, not kidding, Middle Tennessee University. Motivation? Perhaps, but if you need my predictions or any sportswriters’ predictions to fuel your motivation, well, I don’t know what to tell ya. But here is the Southeast Division bracket I filled out on our PrepXtra Live show. For the most part Aram and I agreed on picks throughout except for Arcadia and Diamond Ranch reaching the finals. However, here’s hoping an area team (Arcadia) does in fact reach the finals.
Southeast Division Predictions
Top Half
Norwalk (3-7) at #1 West Covina (9-1)
Pasadena (5-5) at California (7-3)
Bonita (6-4) at Arcadia (8-2)
Crescenta Valley (6-4) at #4 La Mirada (6-4)
Bottom Half
Los Altos (7-3) at #3 Burbank Burroughs (6-4)
La Serna (7-3) at Mayfair (7-3)
Bellflower (7-3) at Diamond Ranch (5-5)
Muir (6-4) at #2 Santa Fe (6-4)
Second Round winners
West Covina over Norwalk
Pasadena over California
Arcadia over Bonita
La Mirada over Crescenta Valley
Burroughs over Los Altos
Mayfair over La Serna
Diamond Ranch over Bellflower
Santa Fe over Muir
Quarterfinal Winners
West Covina over Pasadena
Arcadia over La Mirada
Mayfair over Burroughs
Diamond Ranch over Santa Fe
Semifinal Winners
Arcadia over West Covina
Diamond Ranch over Mayfair
Championsip
Diamond Ranch over Arcadia