For Thurday’s boxscores of all sports, click thread
Last season, the Los Altos High School girls soccer team played La Mirada in pool play of the Matadore Cup tournament and stole a 1-0 victory over the defending CIF-Southern Section Division 3 co-champion.
Below: Glendora and Etiwanda tied, 0-0, on Thursday. Glendora’s Chelsea Bell (14) fights for the ball during first-half action. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Keith Birmingham)
“(Vaughns) is their star player, runs well and catches the ball. They’ve got a very balanced offense and they’re big up front so they know how to establish things. We’re faster and quicker, so we’ll have to use that to our advantage.” — Diamond Ranch coach Roddy Layton
By Clay Fowler, Staff Writer
When Roddy Layton was promoted to Diamond Ranch head football coach in 2006, he told his athletic director in the next six years Diamond Ranch would have played in at least two CIF championship games and won one. “So far,” Layton said, “everything I envisioned has come true.” Layton’s next vision is his Panthers prevailing over South Hills in Friday’s CIF-SS Southeast Division semifinal. A win would land Diamond Ranch in its second CIF championship game in as many seasons. To continue, click thread
Continue reading “Is Layton’s crystal ball coming to fruition?” »
After beating Dorsey 65-64 in the first-round of the Pasadena Rose City Classic, the Trojans knocked off Eisenhower, the No. 9-ranked team in the L.A. Times, 77-69, in Wednesday’s quarterfinals. Next up is a semifinal against highly touted Corona Centennial on Friday at 6:30 p.m. Centennial, ranked No. 4 in the Times, beat Sylmar 88-40, then Etiwanda, 67-65.
The Bulletin’s Clay Fowler got a great quote from Rancho Cucamonga quarterback Greg Watson when discussing Saturday Central Division semifinal against rival Los Osos.
“Four words,” Watson said. “We’re going to win.”
By Fred J. Robledo, Staff Writer
There is a common theme among the final four teams in the CIF-Southern Section Southeast Division playoffs, and it all has to do with momentum.
All four semifinalists were undefeated in the month of November, which includes .500 Diamond Ranch (6-6), winners of five games in a row heading into Friday’s semifinal against South Hills (10-2) at Covina District Field. The Huskies bring their own nine-game winning streak to the contest. In Saturday’s other semifinal California (9-2-1), which will be taking on defending champion Charter Oak (11-1), has won eight consecutive games and hasn’t lost since opening the season with back-to-back losses to Rowland and La Mirada. The Chargers have a modest eight-game winning streak, too, and are 24-1-1 since last season.
“You get to this stage by improving over the course of the season,” Charter Oak coach Lou Farrar said. “What you were in September isn’t what you’re today. You can look at the scores, and who beat who, but it doesn’t really tell you anything. If you’re playing football in December, you’re doing something right and you can’t take any game for granted. At this point there are no upsets, just good teams trying to make it to the next round.”
Interview with California coach Jim Arnold after Friday’s win…..
Miguel Melendez said: I got a chance to chat with St. Francis star Dietrich Riley during halftime of the Van Nuys-Pasadena basketball game Tuesday night. If you’re an avid reader of the Los Angeles Times, you’ll notice sportswriters Eric Sondheimer and Austin Knoublauch talked to several Southland high school football coaches to get their thoughts on the UCLA-USC ending last week. I asked Riley the same question and he opined on that and, among other things, gave an update on his recruiting. To Continue Q&A click thread