Balanced Clippers cruise past struggling Wizards

• January 24, 2025

INGLEWOOD — The Clippers will finish this stretch of games Saturday having played six games in nine days. Then it’s another four road games in seven days. At times, the games begin to look the same, although they don’t all play the same.

There can be intense games against the defending NBA champions and blowouts against the worst team in the league.

“We just got to go out and try to win,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “You just know every day’s a tough game and you’ve got to be prepared to play.”

Some games are tougher than others, and then there are games like Wednesday’s 110-93 victory over the struggling Washington Wizards on the second night of a back-to-back at the Intuit Dome.

After pushing the 2024 champion Boston Celtics to overtime the previous night, the Clippers landed on a soft spot in their congested schedule and produced a less-than-stellar performance despite having six players in double figures.

“Not a good game for us. It was just a win,” Lue said. “We didn’t play particularly well. We didn’t execute and were loose with the basketball. We did some good things as well, but it wasn’t one of our best games, I thought.”

Lue pointed to the Clippers’ 18 turnovers against the team with the worst record in the league as evidence.

“Like last night I thought we played better, but it is a win. We’ll take it. We got to start stacking wins, but we got to start executing the right way. And I don’t think we did a good job with that tonight.”

It was, however, the kind of game they needed after playing three games in the previous four days. The Wizards provided little resistance against a healthy Clippers roster.

The Clippers (24-19) played without six of their top eight rotation players against the Celtics, but the starters were back on Thursday, as was reserve Nico Batum, in time to face the Wizards (a league-worst 6-37). Guard Kris Dunn was still out because of a sore knee and Jordan Miller was out because of illness.

The Clippers’ balanced scoring was too much for the Wizards, with six players finishing in double figures. The victory snapped a two-game losing streak.

Leonard continued to ramp up his game, posting 15 points, seven rebounds and one assist in 23 minutes, 47 seconds, which kept within his minutes limit since returning to the lineup on Jan. 4. He missed the first 34 games of the season because of lingering right knee soreness.

“Over (his) last two games, I thought he’s been really good, just attacking a basket, getting to his spots, playing with a pace,” Lue said before the game. “The first few games, he kind of just eased into it, trying to feel it out and see if he can trust his knee. But now, I think mentally he’s really past that point.”

James Harden posted his 79th career triple-double with 17 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists, surpassing Wilt Chamberlain for the eighth place on the NBA’s career list.

“It means a lot, man, just impacting the game in other ways,” Harden said. “Scoring is one thing, but rebounding basketball, facilitating is another thing and just impacting the game. You don’t got to be the best player on the court by just scoring the basketball every single night.

“Obviously, that helps, but there’s other ways to impact games and you’ve been seeing it throughout the course of the history of the NBA. I’m just happy to be a part of one of those on our list.”

Norman Powell added 22 points, and Derrick Jones Jr., who played 44 minutes against the Celtics the previous night, finished with 19 points and eight rebounds. Center Ivica Zubac, who missed two games after being poked in the eye by Lakers center Anthony Davis on Sunday, had 11 points and nine rebounds. Backup center Mo Bama had 13 points, six rebounds and five blocked shots.

With four of the five starters on the bench, the Wizards chipped away at the lead in the third quarter. They outscored the Clippers 23-13 to whittle what had been a 27-point margin to 17 by the end of the quarter (89-72).

“We just got careless and (started) taking bad shots, not letting the game play out,” Lue said. “You can’t dictate who’s going to get the shots if you’re playing basketball the right way. And so, I don’t think we did that the second half or the third all the way through.”

Lue put the starters, except Leonard, back in midway through the fourth quarter after the Wizards trimmed the lead to 95-83. A layup and 3-pointer by Powell restored a 17-point cushion with 6:56 left in the game.

Jordan Poole scored 24 points and had nine assists for the Wizards. Bilal Coulibaly added 15 points and Alex Star 14 points and 10 rebounds.

​ Orange County Register 

Inside a Pasadena church, a vision for Eaton fire recovery – and a call for equity – forge ahead

• January 24, 2025

It’s a Thursday afternoon inside of the Rev. Dr.  Larry E. Campbell’s First AME Church Pasadena.

And it’s packed inside.

Residents mingle. Leaders talk. There’s clergy from near and far. Young. Old. Congregants who have found solace in a church that has served generations sit and think about the future.

This is no normal time.

Not far away, to the east from the Raymond Avenue church, the charred landscape of the Eaton fire can’t be ignored, nor can its impact on Campbell’s congregation.

Campbell’s parishioners lost 54 homes to the fire, and another 12 structures were deemed not livable. Rental income property owned by the church was lost.

But on Thursday, there was Campbell, senior pastor, at the pulpit.

“This is a very painful but hopeful time for our community, because we know that God has not brought us this far to leave us,” he told those gathered on Thursday.

Even with its losses, the Raymond Avenue church has become a renewed beacon in the aftermath of the fire — a a warm and familiar site, situated in a part of the city known for its vibrant Black community and working-class households. It’s up at the northwest corner of Pasadena, just below Altadena.

This particular Thursday, Jan. 23, was not billed as a religions service.

A delegation making up a large portion of the Council of Bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church was visiting. They were in Southern California for a different engagement but had to divert and visit its hardest hit church.

“I am usually a man with a lot of words. But when I went on this tour, I was just dumbfounded, when I saw the devastation that this fire brought about,” said Wilfred J. Messiah, senior bishop on the council told those gathered.

The visit became a forum of sorts, one where you could see glimpses of how faith communities will play a role in the rebuilding of Pasadena and Altadena.

“We have come to say you are not in it by yourselves,” Messiah said. “We are here to walk this journey with you. We came to make a difference.”

For church leaders, there’s short-term and longer-term plans. In the short term, it’s about using the church as a kind of service center for people in need. There’s financial vouchers, water, educational services for people trying to navigate the the red tape of rebuilding.

Last Sunday,  FEMA was there. Next week, portable laundry services will arrive, and always, this is a place where people can get a lunch, watch some TV, pray and talk one another through the crisis, Campbell said.

There’s a deep awareness about mental health and the need to providing wellness services.

Brandon Lamar, long a community advocate and now president of the NAACP’s Pasadena chapter, said social media has been a blessing in many ways.

But it also makes the bad news impossible to elude — images of devastation that has ravaged the area, around the clock for two weeks now.

“Young people are hurting,” said Lamar, whose boyhood schools, Edison Elementary and Elliot Middle School, were both destroyed.

Longer term, church leaders said that they aim to play pivotal roles in the  rebuild-and-recovery effort that they hope can make Altadena and Pasadena even better. That includes working with trusted local builders contractors, they said.

Drexell Johnson, founder and executive director of the Young Black Contractors Association, said the recovery must include contractors who look like the community they are building in.

“It’s almost impossible for Black contractors to get a fair shake,” he said Thursday, in what became a short question-and-answer session inside the sanctuary.

“I am hoping that FEMA and the various agencies would be a bit more transparent with their selection process as it relates to developers and contractors,” he said.

Bishop Francine A. Brookins said the church “wants to work with developers and contractors that we know and trust.”

Trust is big. And Lamar made the clear, amplifying a frequent refrain about the region’s generational wealth, which goes back decades and which sets the area apart in terms of the larger volume of Black-owned property.

“Altadena is not for sale,” he said from the pulpit. “Pasadena is not for sale. We are making sure the people who want to live here, stay here.”

It was a note of vigilance that has been echoed across the fire-jolted area in recent days. This time, the message came in a church sanctuary, spurring applause.

“We will not accept any vultures in our community,” he said.

Residents have reported that they received calls the morning after the fire started from real estate developers asking if they wanted to sell their property.

“Homes are gone. But these are not just homes. These are generational homes,” Lamar said. “This is generational wealth. And they are gone. We must make sure that every house – and I mean every house – is rebuilt into a capacity that we will be here for generations to come.”

Bishops on Thursday acknowledged that they’d heard President Donald Trump might come to the area on Friday to survey the damage. In recent days, Trump has signaled that federal aid for recovery should be tied to conditions — a signal that local leaders have pushed back on.

“It will be encouraging to these residents for their president to come and encourage, and assure them of the nation’ s support,” the bishops said in a collective statement. “We call on the president to make First AME church one of the places to visit. No community has felt the loss and the hurt like this community and this church.”

L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger echoed the clergy. She was among early leaders who invited the new president.

“My hope is he will see and experience what he needs to,” she said, “to understand the importance of being a partner with us to rebuild. I, for one, don’t care if he talks to me. I want him to talk to the people. Because when you talk to the families that were devastated, I would defy anybody to turn their back.”

Thursday wasn’t a church service. But what’s been happening at the church goes beyond any ceremony.

“It’s more than Sunday workshop,” Campbell said. “This is what a church does.”

​ Orange County Register 

Lauren Betts, UCLA women cruise past Rutgers to remain unbeaten

• January 24, 2025

By DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Lauren Betts is dominating both ends of the court these days, and her play is limiting the stress for the UCLA women’s basketball team.

Betts had 25 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots to help the top-ranked Bruins beat Rutgers, 84-66, on Thursday night.

The 6-foot-7 Betts, who shot 12 for 16 from the field, now has 21 blocks over her last three games for UCLA (19-0 overall, 7-0 Big Ten), which remained one of the two unbeaten teams in the country along with No. 5 LSU (20-0, 5-0 SEC).

The Scarlet Knights (8-12, 0-9) hung around for about 12 minutes before the Bruins asserted themselves behind Betts. UCLA led 21-16 early in the second quarter before scoring nine straight points to start a 20-6 run. Betts had eight points during the spurt.

The Bruins led 45-29 at halftime, and Rutgers never got closer than 14 in the second half.

Londynn Jones added 12 points (all on 3-pointers), Angela Dugalic scored 11 and Kiki Rice had 10 points and tied her season high with 10 assists for UCLA, which outrebounded Rutgers 49-35 and had a 42-30 advantage in points in the paint.

UCLA shot 45.7% from the field (9 for 29 from 3-point range) and finished with 25 assists on its 32 field goals, with most of the baskets that weren’t assisted coming on putbacks.

Destiny Adams had 15 points and 13 rebounds to pace Rutgers, which had not faced the top-ranked team in the nation since 2014, when the Scarlet Knights squared off with Connecticut twice in American Athletic Conference play.

The Scarlet Knights shot 35.3% from the field and never led.

UCLA has been on the East Coast for nearly a week as the Bruins beat No. 25 Baylor in the inaugural Coretta Scott King Classic on Monday.

Because of the wildfires in Los Angeles, UCLA classes have been held remotely over the past few weeks, so the players haven’t missed anything while on the road.

UP NEXT

UCLA visits No. 8 Maryland on Sunday at 11 a.m. PT to finish its East Coast swing.

​ Orange County Register 

Wind torments golfers during second round of Farmers Insurance Open; Lanto Griffin, Ludvig Aberg share clubhouse lead

• January 24, 2025

The wind whipped up and took the scores with it on Thursday in the second round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.

Wind gusts reached more than 35 mph — enough to move balls on the green and force an 86-minute suspension of play that prevented the round from being completed.

With 29 golfers still on the course when darkness came, the clubhouse leaders were Ludvig Aberg and Lanto Griffin. Both were at 6-under midway through the tournament.

First-round co-leader Aberg shot a 3-over 75 on the South Course, allowing Griffin to draw even with an even-par 72 on the South.

“Throw the score out the window — a normal day 72’s good on this golf course and today was just head-down grind,” Griffin said. “The goal on the back — I didn’t make a birdie on the front — the goal on the back nine was just to make a birdie, get some momentum going.”

Griffin called the conditions “brutal” when winds gusted to an estimated 35 mph as he walked to the tee box on the 614-yard 13th hole.

“So it was kind of hang on for dear life, try and save pars on the majority of the holes and sprinkle in a birdie or two,” he said.

Danny Walker was a stroke behind the leaders following a 2-over 74 on the North.

“A crazy day, for sure,” Walker said. “One of those days where you can’t even think about what you’re shooting, just got to do your best to hit every shot and just accept whatever happens. So much of where the ball’s going to go is just out of your control. Did my best to just keep a level head and just take it one shot at a time. It’s all you could do.”

Three other players — Hayden Springer, Chris Gotterup and Sungjae Im — are two strokes behind he leaders.

Gotterup moved into contention by posting one of the low rounds of the day, a 3-under 69 on the North. Jason Day (tied for 26th, five strokes back) also had a 69 on the North. No one else could make such a claim.

The best score on the South also was a 3-under 69, carded by Jackson Suber, who was tied for 14th at 2-under for the tournament.

Amateur Luke Clanton, a Florida State junior, played himself onto the leaderboard by shooting 1-under through 16 holes on the South. That placed him with six others at 3 under, though Clanton and Will Gordon still have to finish their rounds.

Clanton has a chance at the Farmers to earn his PGA Tour card through the tour’s Accelerated program, which allows top college players to earn tour cards based on what they do in amateur, college and pro golf events. A top-five finish in the Farmers would get Clanton three points, getting him to the 20 points needed to receive his card.

The second round was scheduled to be completed Friday morning at 7:30. The third round will begin moments thereafter for the 65 players (and ties) who survive the cut that is projected at plus-1. The final two rounds are played on the South Course.

Defending champion Matthieu Pavon will not be among them after shooting a second-day 80 (North) that put him at 9-over for the tournament. Max Homa, the 2023 Farmers champion, withdrew during the wind delay with three holes to play. Homa was 4-over for the day and 9-over for the tournament when he withdrew.

​ Orange County Register 

Bryce Miller: Wind-whipped Torrey Pines leads to delay, consternation at Farmers Insurance Open

• January 24, 2025

There’s nice Torrey Pines and naughty Torrey Pines.

The nice version involves clear skies, hang gliders lazily dotting the horizon and a whisper of wind. It’s a living, breathing postcard hugging the cliffside above the deep blue Pacific Ocean.

The naughty version pours sugar into your gas tank and rats you out to the IRS.

Torrey came out with a back-alley scowl Thursday in the wind-whipped second round of the Farmers Insurance Open that was delayed at one point for 1 hour and 25 minutes.

It was diplomatically rude to all, from the long hitters to short putts.

Flagsticks leaned like willows, straining to hold their ground. A large tree limb fell on the South Course’s 18th hole, barely missing fans. Drives resembled those in disc golf.

There was so much of the blustery stuff that a course employee with a leaf blower zig-zagged between players on the putting green during the delay in a valiant effort to clear debris.

Welcome to Torrey Pines and golf in a blender.

“Just a crazy day, for sure,” said Danny Walker, who survived the flipped script on the normally behaved North Course with a 2-over to stand in third place at 5-under. “One of those days where you can’t even think about what you’re shooting, just got to do your best to hit every shot and just accept whatever happens.

“So much of where the ball’s going to go is just out of your control.”

Gusts pushed past 35 mph on a day that tested club and anger control equally.

A day earlier 86 players finished under par. On Thursday in 2024, 99 did the same. When darkness left 29 players on the course this lap, the number plummeted.

To 13.

First-round leader Ludvig Aberg, who is tied halfway through at 6-under with Lanto Griffin, watched a round of 3-over thin his early lead.

“I don’t remember the last time it was that hard to get close to the pins,” Aberg said.

Wild and wooly as Santa Ana winds uncorked the full arsenal. Asked to gauge it against other experiences in his club-swinging lifetime, Walker could not contain it to the United States.

“The only thing I can compare it to is maybe playing in the Bahamas,” he said.

The day even threw a curveball at the weather guy.

Tour meteorologist Kyle Koval said the conditions pestering players Thursday have only been recorded one or two other times in the last 20 years at the Farmers.

The winds raced in from the east, rather than the normal inland approach off the ocean.

The scorecard-scrambling result: The normally tame North Course, exposed most to the wind at a higher elevation than the technically tougher South Course, showed teeth of its own.

“Easterly winds reaching the ocean is very uncommon,” Koval said. “A lot of times you will see these winds stay about 15 to 20 miles farther east. So it takes a very unique pattern for them to reach the coast.

“To see anything over 20 (mph) coming off the land is very uncommon.”

Also uncommon?

Seeing a player with the chops of Hideki Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion with 11 Tour wins, ranked No. 4 in the world, tossed about like a rag doll on the North Course.

On Wednesday, Matsuyama shot 68 on the South to sit at 4-under. On Thursday: 75.

You wondered if the day might scar 19-year-old amateur Jackson Koivun and spur golf nightmares. Koivun shot a 76 on the North, then was asked how the conditions compared to the most difficult he’s faced.

“It’s pretty far up there,” he said.

Well, it didn’t snow. There were no locusts. Beyond that, silver linings seemed as rare as finding penguins in Death Valley.

S.H. Kim, a three-time Tour runner-up, double-bogeyed No. 3 South before bogeying four of the next five holes on the way to an 84. Martin Laird, a four-time Tour winner from wind-savvy Scotland, posted an 81.

Pain did not discriminate.

“The way the wind was blowing,” said Carson Young, after a dizzying 6-over Thursday, “it was almost impossible to hit it close.”

Koval, the weather guy, said Friday will be a return to Wednesday’s civilized conditions.

No penguins, either.

​ Orange County Register 

Thorpedo Anna, Californians shine at Eclipse Awards

• January 24, 2025

The road to thoroughbred racing’s Eclipse Awards ceremony in Florida on Thursday night went through California.

Thorpedo Anna, named Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old filly for 2024, led the usual long list of honorees who capped their seasons with definitive victories at the Breeders’ Cup, which was held at Del Mar last November.

Champion older male on dirt National Treasure, male sprinter Straight No Chaser and 2-year-old male Citizen Bull made up an unusually long list of divisional Eclipse winners who were trained at Santa Anita and Del Mar.

The results announced at a dinner televised from Palm Beach, Florida, made 2024 a bounce-back season for California’s best racehorses even though it was a hard year for the state’s racing industry.

In 2023, California horses had failed to win an Eclipse in any of the 11 flat-racing equine categories, represented the end of a steep decline from the five California horses honored in 2018 (when Triple Crown winner Justify was Horse of the Year), from the three in 2020 (when Authentic was Horse of the Year) and 2021, and even from the one in 2022 (when Flightline took the top prize).

So California racing people were relieved and hopeful when the early-January announcement of Eclipse finalists – top-three vote-getters in each category – showed horses based here having a chance at as many as four championships.

“It’s good to have California horses in the discussion,” Santa Anita director of racing Jason Egan said last Saturday.

Of the four, only male-on-turf championship contender Johannes came up short, finishing second to globetrotting Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Rebel’s Romance, 89 first-place votes to 81 in the closest balloting of the year by racing journalists and executives.

The others romped in the voting, Bob Baffert-trained National Treasure getting 148 first-place votes to fellow Californian Full Serrano’s 19 in the older-males division, Baffert-trained Citizen Bull getting 204 to Chancer McPatrick’s two for 2-year-old male, and Dan Blacker-trained Straight No Chaser getting 125 to Cogburn’s 38 and California-bred star The Chosen Vron’s 23 for male sprinter.

California can also take partial credit for Flavien Prat winning his first Eclipse Award as outstanding jockey, since Prat calls Southern California home and began his year at Santa Anita as usual in 2024 before conquering the nation with records for graded stakes wins (56) and overall stakes wins (82).

The two Breeders’ Cup winners Prat rode at Del Mar on Nov. 2 both won Eclipse Awards, Breeders’ Cup Classic winner for Sierra Leone voted champion 3-year-old male and Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Moira voted champion female on turf.

Sierra Leone helped Chad Brown win the Eclipse for outstanding trainer for the fifth time, Brown receiving 101 first-place votes to Ken McPeek’s 88.

“I finally beat Kenny McPeek in a photo,” Brown said in accepting the trophy Thursday.

But McPeek was on stage for the biggest prize of the night, as part of the group accepting the Horse of the Year title for Thorpedo Anna, who joined Rachel Alexandra (2009) as the only 3-year-old fillies to win the overall championship. Thorpedo Anna outpointed Sierra Leone 193-10 in first-place votes, and Fierceness was next with five.

McPeek, the trainer, had Judy Hicks, the breeder, address the dinner crowd.

“It’s the culmination of so many things,” said Hicks, who began Thorpedo Anna’s unlikely rise by breeding the Uncle Mo mare Sataves to the stallion Fast Anna.

More a celebration than a culmination. McPeek drew cheers by reminding the audience that Thorpedo Anna will race in 2025.

As for the California-based champions, National Treasure has been retired, but 6-year-old Straight No Chaser returned to workouts in December and 2-year-old Citizen Bull is getting ready to hit the Kentucky Derby trail.

Here are all of the champions:

Horse of the Year: Thorpedo Anna

Older male on dirt: National Treasure

Older female on dirt: Idiomatic

3-year-old male: Sierra Leone

3-year-old female: Thorpedo Anna

2-year-old male: Citizen Bull

2-year-old female: Immersive

Male sprinter: Straight No Chaser

Female sprinter: Soul of an Angel

Male on turf: Rebel’s Romance

Female on turf: Moira

Steeplechase horse: Snap Decision

Jockey: Flavien Prat

Apprentice jockey: Erik Asmussen

Trainer: Chad Brown

Owner: Godolphin

Breeder: Godolphin

Kevin Modesti reported from Los Angeles.

​ Orange County Register 

President Trump’s first week of presidency includes a visit to Southern California

• January 24, 2025

President Donald Trump is expected to travel to Southern California on Friday to see firsthand the devastation caused by wildfires that have rippled through Los Angeles County over the past two-and-a-half weeks.

As of Thursday afternoon, details of the president’s visit remain scant. What we do know is that the trip will come during Trump’s first week back in office.

And it appears to be a short trip. Trump will first stop in Asheville, North Carolina, which is still rebounding from the devastation brought by Hurricane Helene in the fall. The president is then expected to head to Southern California before he is slated to travel to Las Vegas later Friday.

Officials in North Carolina estimated that the hurricane left behind at least $53 billion in damages and recovery needs. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper called it the “deadliest and most damaging storm ever” to hit the state.

While campaigning, Trump criticized then-President Joe Biden and his administration’s response to that disaster.

“They’ve let those people suffer unjustly,” Trump once said about the residents of North Carolina. And during his inauguration speech on Monday, Trump referred to the “wonderful people of North Carolina, who’ve been treated so badly.”

It’s unclear whether the Republican president will meet with Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom upon arriving in California.

“I don’t know. I haven’t even thought about it,” Trump said about a potential meeting during an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday.

Newsom said Thursday afternoon that he still had not “had contact with the White House” but planned to be on the tarmac to greet the president when he arrives.

“I’m grateful that he appears to be coming out,” Newsom said.

It’s no secret that Trump and Newsom have frequently feuded. But during the early days of the Southern California wildfires, Newsom invited Trump to visit Los Angeles to witness the devastation and urged the president not to politicize the catastrophe.

Still, Trump has repeatedly criticized both Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass for their handling of the fires.

Zach Seidl, a spokesperson for Bass, said in a statement Thursday that the mayor had spoken with members of Trump’s administration and “is continuing to have conversations with federal partners about how we can work together to mount the most monumental post-disaster recovery effort in American history.”

During his interview with Fox News, Trump suggested once again that the federal government should withhold disaster aid to California unless the state changes its water policy.

“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let water flow down” from the northern part of the state to the south, Trump said.

Before he was reelected, Trump had suggested that if he were president again, he’d withhold federal disaster aid to California in the event of future wildfires if Newsom would not agree to divert more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to farmers in the Central Valley.

The president has also made inaccurate claims about the role that California’s water policy played in firefighters’ ability to put out the wildfires in L.A. County. One of Trump’s first actions after being sworn into office on Monday was to call for routing more water from northern parts of the state to areas further south.

​ Orange County Register 

Buena Park hires alumnus Mauricio Carmona as football coach

• January 24, 2025

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Buena Park has named alumnus Mauricio Carmona as its new football coach, the school recently announced.

Carmona, 33, will be a first-time head coach in the fall after serving last season an an offensive line coach and the head frosh-soph coach.

He has been the Coyotes’ frosh-soph coach the past three seasons and brings 14 years of coaching experience to the post.

Carmona also works as an instructional aid at Buena Park. He graduated from the school in 2010.

“I’m just excited about the opportunity,” said Carmona, who was a two-way lineman for Buena Park after starting his high school career at Sunny Hills. “I just want to bring the culture back. I want to bring structure.”

“Football imitates life in a lot of ways,” he added. “I’m able to relate to the kids.”

Carmona replaces David Prieto as Buena Park’s coach. The school and Prieto agreed to mutually part ways after four seasons.

Carmona counts Prieto, former Buena Park coaches Anthony White and Rob Ryan and former Godinez coach Tom Heathington as coaching mentors.

Carmona served as an assistant coach and offensive coordinator for the frosh-soph at Godinez.

Last season, Buena Park finished 4-6 overall, 2-3 in Omicron league and missed the playoffs.

Please send football news to Dan Albano at dalbano@scng.com or @ocvarsityguy on X and Instagram

​ Orange County Register