Photos: Top shots from Friday’s Week 5 high school football games

• September 26, 2026

It was another Friday night filled with exciting high school football action across the Southern California region.

Check out the Southern California News Group’s large collection of photos from Week 5’s biggest games Friday, Sept. 25.

​ Orange County Register 

Tarik Skubal looks ready for October as Dodgers beat Giants

• September 26, 2026

SAN FRANCISCO — Having secured a first-round bye, the Dodgers will spend next week playing simulated games and taking live batting practice – or has that already started?

A San Francisco Giants team with no position players or starting pitchers left from their Opening Day roster figures to put up little resistance in the final series of the regular season. They didn’t Friday night, managing just three hits and striking out 10 times against Tarik Skubal in his seven scoreless innings as the Dodgers beat the Giants, 2-0.

“That was the best we’ve seen,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Skubal’s start. “He was on a mission tonight. You could see it. Everything was working. He just went after those guys and did a fantastic job. Pounded the zone. Everything was working tonight.”

Facing the same Giants team a week ago, Skubal was not nearly as good. He allowed four runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out only three in five innings. Bouncing back and putting together such a dominant performance in his final tuneup before the postseason — didn’t matter, he said.

“Yeah, I don’t think it really matters,” Skubal said of carrying the momentum of a good start into the postseason. “I kind of treat every start the same. I’m gonna try and go out there and put our team in a position to win, and that won’t change in a regular season. It’s not like I needed to have a good one to be confident going into October, Once the months change and the playoffs start, nothing matters. It’s just about winning that game, and that’s how I treat every single start. Because I’m just trying to put our team in a position to win a baseball game, and that won’t change from today and whenever my next start is.”

In his final tune-up before the months change, Skubal made the Giants’ lineup look like the Triple-A hitters most of them would be if not for the Giants’ obligation to fill out a major-league roster.

He retired 20 of 23 batters faced, including 13 in a row at one point, and needed just 75 pitches to get through seven innings as the Dodgers recorded their 14th shutout of the season.

“Just executing pitchers over the plate,” Skubal said. “I think at times I’m a little too fine and my changeup command hasn’t been great in two or three starts. I thought a lot of them today were on the plate and that’s what matters. That’s where all the misses, that’s where all the positive results happen, and then it makes my fastball play up too.”

Victor Bericoto singled with two outs in the first inning and was thrown out by center fielder Andy Pages when he tried to stretch it into a double. Scott Bandura singled with one out in the third inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Bandura was the only Giant to touch second base safely against Skubal, who struck out seven of the next nine batters after the sacrifice bunt put him there.

Skubal’s 10 strikeouts included a near-immaculate inning. He struck out the side in the fourth inning on 10 pitches. In all, Giants batters took 43 swings against Skubal’s pitches and missed nearly half of the time (21).

Acquired at the trade deadline more for what he can do in October than anything he did over the final two months of the regular season, Skubal was nonetheless excellent in his 10 starts following the trade. He went 5-2 with a 2.61 ERA, 52 hits and 70 strikeouts in 62 innings as a Dodger.

The Dodgers’ offense looked less playoff-ready. After gaining momentum for most of September, they have managed just five runs over their past three games, going 2 for 23 with runners in scoring position. They minimized that problem on Friday by getting just four at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Instead, their only runs came on two swings by Teoscar Hernandez and Pages in the second inning. Their home runs off Giants starter Yunior Marte stood up as the only scores of the game.

“Obviously we hit two homers tonight,” Roberts said. “I thought Will had a really good night (3 for 4). I thought Mookie still looks fine. Yeah, we’re not putting a bunch of hits together. But I still — I don’t know. It doesn’t seem like the results are there, but I still like our intent in the batter’s box. So trying not to overthink it as far as the production the last few games. Because honestly I like where our offense is at mentally.”

In his third game back from the injured list, Shohei Ohtani went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts but Roberts said he still “loved” what Ohtani has done since returning to the lineup.

“You know, he’s fine,” Roberts said. “I really think that just for me, the swing decisions, the bat speed –  if that’s in place then the results will be there.”

Roki Sasaki made his second relief appearance since he returned from the IL and struck out two of the three batters he faced in a perfect eighth inning. Tanner Scott closed out the three-hit, 14-strikeout shutout by doing the same in the ninth inning.

The Sasaki-Scott combo to close out a close game also looked October-worthy, though Roberts was not ready to assign any postseason roles for his bullpen.

“I mean, I liked it tonight. They both did a fantastic job,” Roberts said.

“I don’t want you to pigeonhole me into using these guys in certain roles. But yeah, it’s better to have as many guys as you have confidence in in leverage. So it just allows us to deploy guys whenever we need to. … I feel comfortable with a lot of guys at the back end, for sure.”

UP NEXT

Dodgers (LHP Blake Snell, 4-1, 1.86 ERA) at Giants (LHP Matt Wilkinson, 1-3, 3.65 ERA), Saturday, 1:05 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM

​ Orange County Register 

Santa Anita consensus picks for Saturday, September 26, 2026

• September 26, 2026

The consensus box of Santa Anita horse racing picks comes from handicappers Bob Mieszerski, Eddie Wilson, Kevin Modesti and Mark Ratzky. Here are the picks for thoroughbred races on Saturday, September 26, 2026.

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​ Orange County Register 

Angels slug their way to victory in Seattle

• September 26, 2026

SEATTLE — A day after Christian Moore said he was treating every game like “Game 7 of the World Series” because he’s trying to prove he’s an everyday player in the majors, he delivered again.

Moore hit a three-run homer to break open a game the Angels won, 7-5, against the Seattle Mariners on Friday night.

Moore hit a go-ahead two-run double in Thursday night’s victory. He’s still hitting .186 with a .516 OPS, leaving plenty of room for improvement.

Moore had the biggest hit, but Wade Meckler had the most hits, with four. He was a homer shy of the cycle. Zach Neto added two doubles and his career-high 27th homer.

Reid Detmers pitched six scoreless innings, with the help of spectacular defense from center fielder Bryce Teodosio.

With two straight victories in Seattle, the Angels are 62-98, with two games to go.

“We don’t want to lose 100 games,” Neto said before the game. “We know it’s a tough test ahead of us. We know what’s at stake, but we still want to be the only team not to lose 100 games. We’re playing for something. It’s not what we wanted to play for, but we’re playing for our dignity.”

For all of the Angels’ problems this year, they showed they have a few pieces of a winning team, starting with Detmers.

The 27-year-old left-hander completed one of the best seasons by an Angels starter in the past decade, posting a 3.36 ERA in 32 starts. He pitched 185 innings, the first Angels pitcher to pass 180 innings since Andrew Heaney in 2018. He struck out 211.

Detmers hit a rough patch in the middle of the season, but he had a 1.89 ERA in 13 starts after the All-Star break.

On Friday night he did not allow a hit until the fifth inning. He struck out seven and walked two.

The Mariners’ best threats against him were defused by Teodosio.

In the first inning, Teodosio made a leaping catch at the fence, robbing Dominic Canzone of an extra-base hit, at least, and perhaps a homer. In the sixth, the Mariners had a runner at first with two outs when Josh Naylor hit one into the gap in right-center. Teodosio made a sliding catch to end the inning.

Teodosio made another leaping catch at the warning track in the fifth inning.

The offensive star of the night was Meckler. In the first inning, he hit a ball down the right field line and aggressively stretched it into a triple. That got the Angels the first run of the game when he scored on a wild pitch.

Meckler also singled and doubled, when his blooper dropped in shallow center field.

After Moore’s homer put the Angels ahead 5-0 in the fifth, Neto hit a solo shot to make it 6-0.

It was the same situation they were in on Tuesday night in Sacramento, when they blew the lead in a loss to the Athletics. This time, the bullpen got the job done, although not without drama.

José Fermin, who was charged with two runs against the A’s, pitched a perfect seventh. In the eighth, Sam Bachman allowed two runs and was pulled with the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate. Tayler Saucedo struck out Cole Young to preserve the four-run lead.

Neto’s second double of the game drove in a run to restore the lead to five before Luke Murphy pitched the ninth. Murphy gave up three runs, two on a Canzone homer, before recording the final out.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Rehab home where Presley Gerber died target of inquiry by California regulators

• September 26, 2026

State regulators have launched an inquiry into the Santa Monica sober living home where Presley Gerber died Sept. 20 of a suspected overdose.

The California Department of Health Care Services, responding to a complaint from a rehab reform advocate, is reviewing whether the sober home, Resolutions Living, was illegally providing services that required a state license, spokesman Anthony Cava said Friday.

“DHCS does not oversee sober living homes, and would only investigate sober living homes to determine if they are operating as an unlicensed treatment facility in violation of state law,” Cava said. He said no further information was available.

As a self-described “recovery residence,” the posh Resolutions Living home on Berkeley Street is not licensed by the DHCS — and would not need one as long as no addiction treatment is occurring at the facility or by staff. Sober living homes are supposed to provide only a place where people recovering from substance abuse disorder can live.

The home where Gerber was admitted is valued at $7.7 million, with seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms.

Resolutions Living has a sister operation, an outpatient treatment center on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica called Resolutions Therapeutic Services. Both were founded by psychologist Reza Nabavi. Resolutions Therapeutic also is not licensed by DHCS and it is unclear whether the operation needs one under state regulations that reformists say are confusing and filled with loopholes.

Nabavi did not return multiple emails and voicemails seeking comment.

The complaint that triggered the probe into Resolutions Living was filed by reform advocate Jennifer Turner, whose daughter was injured at an unrelated mental health treatment center in 2016.

In her complaint, Turner wrote: “A 27-year-old man entered this environment seeking help and was dead the following morning. Regardless of the ultimate cause of death, the circumstances warrant a thorough regulatory investigation into the facility.”

The death of the son of supermodel Cindy Crawford and businessman Rande Gerber has thrown the Resolutions operation under a harsh spotlight and raised questions about whether state regulators are doing enough to protect people suffering from substance abuse who come to the businesses battling addiction.

The Southern California News Group has been investigating fraud, abuse and death in California’s private-pay addiction treatment system for nearly a decade. Numerous laws have changed in the wake of this reporting, but a low bar for expertise in opening a home, poor oversight and a lack of basic medical support have led to fatal overdoses in licensed and unlicensed facilities alike.

Turner’s complaint peppered state officials with questions about Resolutions Living that she said need investigating.

For one thing, she asked whether Gerber required a higher level of care and was accepted into a facility not authorized to provide detoxification, withdrawal management, residential substance-use treatment or other clinical services.

“My concern is that the activities taking place at this location may have crossed the legal boundary between sober housing and licensed residential treatment,” Turner wrote.

She also urged the state to investigate Resolutions Living’s marketing campaign and whether it pitched itself as providing residential addiction recovery or treatment services beyond what is permitted at an unlicensed sober living residence.

“The company’s own website uses terms including ‘mental health recovery residence,’ ‘recovery program,’ ‘individual recovery plans,’ ‘three-phase recovery program,’ ‘addiction and mental health support, ‘ ” the complaint said, adding that it also describes “24/7 onsite staff.”

Angela McMahon, a licensing and accreditation consultant, said the treatment arm of the Resolutions operation, Resolutions Therapeutic Services, also “sits in a gray area” with its advertising. McMahon said the businesses appears to primarily operate as a mental health center, which would not likely require a DHCS license.

“It presents itself as a mental health program … but its website headline is ‘Mental Health, Trauma, and Addiction Treatment,’ ” McMahon said. “It has a dedicated Substance Use Disorder page and advertises relapse prevention. The way SUD treatment is promoted could be argued as treating it as a primary diagnosis,” which could require a DHCS license.

Turner’s complaint argues that if group sessions are being held at Resolutions Living, then the sober home would be subject to regulation.

The complaint also questioned why Gerber would be accepted at Resolutions Living if he was visibly intoxicated or under the influence when he arrived, rather than being referred to an appropriately licensed withdrawal-management, detoxification, emergency medical or residential treatment setting.

Turner asked DHCS to find out what assessment was conducted, who made the decision to admit Gerber, what that person’s qualifications were and what procedures were followed.

“If Mr. Gerber required withdrawal management or detoxification, I ask DHCS to determine whether (Resolutions) was authorized to provide that service and, if not, why he remained there,” Turner wrote.

She also questioned whether staff was monitoring Gerber’s medical condition, monitoring withdrawal, supervising or managing medications, conducting detox-related observations, administering or overseeing medications, or performing any other medical services requiring DHCS approval.

“Was an individual reportedly under the influence admitted to a sober living residence that was not authorized to provide the level of care he required, and was Resolutions Living actually providing regulated addiction treatment, detoxification, clinical monitoring, or recovery services beyond the lawful scope of sober housing?” the complaint asked.

Staff Writer Teri Sforza contributed to this article.

​ Orange County Register 

Trump administration blasts ACLU in LA over alleged misuse of full-body restraints

• September 26, 2026

By FRED SHUSTER

The Trump administration on Friday blasted the American Civil Liberties Union, which is suing ICE in Los Angeles to obtain records concerning the use of the WRAP, a controversial full-body restraint device the civil rights organization alleges is used to punish individuals in immigration custody and on deportation flights.

Sometimes referred to as “the burrito” or “the bag,” the WRAP is intended for short-term use only but has been used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on detainees for extended periods of time, and has been known to cause physical harm and even death, according to the ACLU of Southern California.

“Another day, another false allegation,” a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to City News Service. “The ACLU should just change its name. It’s clear they only care about illegal aliens — not Americans.”

In February, Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (D-Illinois) joined the League of United Latin American Citizens, National Immigration Law Center and other advocacy groups to introduce the Full Body Restraint Prohibition Act, pending legislation that would prohibit the use of funds for DHS’s acquisition and utilization of the WRAP.

“Individuals subjected to the device have reported difficulty breathing, chest pressure, loss of sensation and serious injuries, while medical and use-of-force experts have warned that prolonged or improper use of full-body restraints can create significant risks of positional asphyxia, circulatory distress and death,” the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court states.

The ACLU alleges that reports suggest ICE personnel have used the WRAP as punishment for undocumented individuals who protested their deportations or sought to communicate with attorneys.

The reports “are particularly troubling given longstanding questions about the policies and safeguards” governing ICE’s use of the device, according to the complaint.

An ICE spokesperson stated in an email to CNS that the suits “are only used on flights with combative or potentially self-harming detainees. To further clarify, when they are used, it is only on our planes and not on commercial flights. The individuals that put the wrap on detainees must also possess necessary training to ensure it is used correctly. While these wraps are used, it is very rare.”

The ICE representative said the devices are never used in ICE detention centers.

In November 2024, in its annual report to Congress, the DHS civil rights office opened a complaint alleging ICE “inappropriately” used the WRAP and did not operate the device in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions, “which caused breathing difficulty and pain, failed to consider medical and psychological conditions prior to use and lacked sufficient monitoring,” according to the 21-page lawsuit filed Thursday.

The ACLU also contends that ICE’s current Air Operations Handbook “provides little substantive guidance concerning when, how or under what safeguards the device may be deployed.”

The Freedom of Information Act request seeks ICE records to determine the extent and manner of the agency’s use of the WRAP, the policies and criteria governing its deployment and the agency’s oversight of its safety and compliance with legal requirements, according to the suit.

“The requested records are necessary to evaluate whether ICE’s practices comport with constitutional requirements, medically accepted standards and the agency’s own policies and obligations,” the ACLU stated.

When used during deportations, individuals were immobilized for extended periods in positions posing elevated risk of breathing impairment and circulatory distress, according to the lawsuit, which says medical experts have cautioned that prolonged immobilization in seated or bent-forward positions increases the danger of asphyxia, especially for people with respiratory or cardiac vulnerabilities.

“Individuals described an inability to breathe, chest pressure and loss of sensation while restrained,” the suit says.

The complaint cites an October 2025 article in which Associated Press identified a dozen fatal cases in the last decade “where local police or jailers around the U.S. used the WRAP and autopsies determined ‘restraint’ played a role in the death.”

​ Orange County Register 

Road-weary LAFC takes depleted roster into showdown with FC Dallas

• September 26, 2026

Discounting the three own-goals they received through 27 MLS regular-season matches this year, the Los Angeles Football Club has hit paydirt 40 times.

Visiting FC Dallas on Saturday for a fifth road game in 29 days, LAFC, middle of the pack among MLS teams in scoring under head coach Marc Dos Santos, must score without the players responsible for doing that most often.

Eight of the 13 names on the LAFC roster with at least one goal in 2026 cannot be called on in a crucial Western Conference showdown against fourth-place Dallas (12-6-8, 44 points) on Saturday night at Toyota Stadium.

A few of them are no longer options following a confluence of outbound transfers and expired loans. Add injuries and six international call-ups during a 16-day FIFA window that began on Monday and LAFC (11-8-8, 41 points) will step on the field with a statistically anemic attack.

The quintet who scored and should be in uniform a half hour north of Dallas includes Mark Delgado (2), Tyler Boyd (1), Armindo Sieb (1), Sergi Palencia (1) and Ryan Hollingshead (1).

Since none of them are Denis Bouanga (14) or Son Heung-min (6), who combined for half of the team total, Dos Santos hopes that what he saw in practice from the players available to him this week can translate into a successful final stop on a tough stretch of matches away from L.A.

LAFC is winless on the road in league play (0-2-4) since beating the Galaxy on July 17, and 3-5-6 away from BMO Stadium in the regular season.

Despite an 8-4-3 record in all competitions against Dallas, LAFC is 1-4-2 on the road in Frisco, where it last won in 2021 and nabbed a 1-1 draw last season on Sonny’s MLS Goal of the Year. Dallas is 5-2-5 at home in 2026.

When Bouanga and Son share the lineup this year, as they usually do, goals can still feel like rare commodities, especially since the start of August. Following last weekend’s 2-2 tie against San Jose at Levi’s Stadium, when both players scored in a heart-filled 10-man effort that was spoiled in the final moment, LAFC has notched eight goals in its last nine MLS games.

As Son scored for South Korea and Bouanga played 90 minutes in Gabon’s 2-0 loss at Morocco this week, their remaining teammates trained ahead of what is the club’s last match until Oct. 10.

Midfielder Jude Terry and his two goals were off with the U.S. U-21 men’s national team.

Finnish attacker Leo Walta, who suited up against San Jose but did not make his first appearance for LAFC, is in Europe.

Mathieu Choinière and forward Jacob Shaffelburg, goalless in his time with LAFC, rejoined the Canadian national team.

For the first time this year Dos Santos can’t call on Choinière. The midfielder is the only LAFC player to appear in each regular-season game to this point, including 19 starts, and has a pair of goals and five assists.

With Timothy Tillman still out because of a hamstring injury, Igor Jesus should play despite missing last weekend due to unspecified personal reasons.

Also for the first time this year, Dos Santos can use Ecuadorian midfielder Sergio Vásquez. The U22 Initiative summer signing arrived in L.A. last Friday, trained in full this week and said he is fit to play for approximately one hour.

“Since I got here, since that first training I felt really good,” Vásquez said.

The newcomer won’t debut against Dallas and share the pitch with center back and captain Aaron Long, who is serving a one-match ban for the straight red card that forced LAFC to play a man down for more than an hour against San Jose.

Considering all of that, a limited roster is not solely an LAFC problem this weekend.

For nearly every MLS team, the first international window since the FIFA World Cup will demand changes on the field.

“We’re in the same boat,” Dos Santos said.

Dallas has three players on international duty, plus starting Brazilian midfielder Ramiro is suspended due to yellow card accumulation.

Headlined in neon lights, Croatian center forward Petar Musa, who has scored 18 of the team’s 48 goals, two behind Lionel Messi in the Golden Boot chase, is the main man missing for Dallas.

Musa showed out during the World Cup and rejoined his countryman this week as “probably the best 9” in MLS, said LAFC center back Nkosi Tafari, a mainstay of Dallas lineups for four seasons before joining the Black & Gold in 2025.

Generally operating alongside Musa, 24-year-old American forward Logan Farrington (nine goals, five assists) should be the focal point of the Dallas attack.

LAFC AT FC DALLAS

When: Saturday, 5:30 p.m. PT

Where: Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas

TV/Radio: Apple TV/710 AM, 980 AM, 1230 AM

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County scores and player stats for Friday, Sept. 25

• September 26, 2026

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Scores and stats from Orange County games on Friday, Sept. 25

Click here for details about sending your team’s scores and stats to the Register.

The deadline for submitting information is 10:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 p.m. Saturday.

BOYS WATER POLO

SADDLEBACK TOURNAMENT

Kennedy 9, Estancia 5

Sonora 20, Los Amigos 6

Brea Olinda 12, Segerstrom 6

Villa Park 13, Tesoro 4

Irvine 14, Ocean View 5

Sage Hill 11, Pasadena Poly 6

CHINO VALLEY FALL CLASSIC

Canyon 7, Walnut 6

S&R ELITE 12 TOURNAMENT

Redwood 24, Crean Lutheran 4

NONLEAGUE

La Habra 15, Los Alamitos 13

Ayala 12, Garden Grove 4

Huntington Beach 10, Davis Sr. 8

Edgewood 15, Santa Ana Valley 9

​ Orange County Register