La Habra football comes up short on key drive, loses to Murrieta Mesa in quarterfinals
- November 11, 2023
LA HABRA – The fog from La Habra’s entrance to the field moments before the opening kickoff lingered over the field for a few minutes Friday. But the Highlanders never seemed to get completely out of the fog in a 28-14 loss to Murrieta Mesa in the quarterfinals of the CIF-SS Division 6 playoffs.
Kenneth Saucedo threw for 285 yards and two touchdowns for the Highlanders (7-5), but La Habra could never generate a ground game, finishing with 69 yards.
“I think from the get-go we were out of sorts on offense,” La Habra coach Frank Mazzotta said. “I don’t think we ever got comfortable on offense.”
The Highlanders’ first possession ended with a punt from their 3-yard line. Their first score, which tied the game 7-7 in the secondquarter, came on a busted play.
Saucedo, who was sacked twice, was flushed from the pocket, avoided the pressure and was able to find Daniel Gleason in the end zone without a defender within 10 yards of him, and hit him for a 38-yard touchdown.
“It was a scramble,” Mazzotta said. “The defense sometimes loses a guy, and he did his job and stayed deep.”
The Rams (6-6) answered back by driving 60 yards in nine plays. A 20-yard completion from Julian Silva to Royal Randolph on fourth-and-3 set up a 10-yard scoring run by Derrick Hart with 6:13 left.
Saucedo engineered a response, as a 39-yard completion to Bryce Whitley keyed a 75-yard drive that ended with a 20-yard scoring pass to Sanaa Aguirre.
C.J. Moran, who ran for 94 yards for Murrieta Mesa, put the Rams back on top with his second rushing touchdown, a 2-yard run late in the third quarter.
Saucedo tried once again to rise to the occasion. His 28-yard completion to Aguirre gave the Highlanders first-and-goal at the 7 to start the fourth quarter with Mesa leading 21-14.
An incompletion and a net of minus-3 yards on two runs left La Habra with fourth-and-goal at the 10. Saucedo managed to thread a bullet to Whitley at the goal line, but it was ruled that the ball never crossed the goal line even though his feet were in the end zone when he was stopped inside the 1-yard line.
4 and goal and the call was short by the ref. Mesa leads 21-14 in the 4th. @fjuhsd @SGVNSports @LHHighlanders @LaHabraHS @LHHSAthletics1 @LAHABRA_ASB @OCSportsZone @ocvarsity @ocvarsityguy @SteveFryer @James_Escarcega pic.twitter.com/BoFAzpRj8m
— Steve Garcia (@PrincipalSteveG) November 11, 2023
The vociferous Highlanders were given two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties after their reaction to the ruling. La Habra had 13penalties for 130 yards.
“We just made too many mistakes to win a football game,” Mazzotta said.
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San Juan Hills football rallies past Citrus Valley
- November 11, 2023
REDLANDS — San Juan Hills started the fourth quarter of Friday night’s CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoff game trailing 35-14 on the road against Citrus Valley. Coach Rob Firth told his team they had a great opportunity to write a script.
What the Stallions created overcame adversity to have a happy ending, scoring 24 points in the fourth quarter with Timmy Herr’s 2-yard touchdown run with 21.7 seconds left and giving San Juan Hills a 42-35 victory over Citrus Valley of Redlands.
San Juan Hills scores to take the 42-35 lead over Citrus Valley with 21.7 seconds left in the 4Q. PAT good. pic.twitter.com/XitTwzw9IW
— James H. Williams covers UCLA football (@JHWreporter) November 11, 2023
San Juan Hills won their third consecutive game to improve their record to 11-1. The Stallions will play the winner of the St. Bonaventure-Cajon quarterfinal game next weekend. Citrus Valley, winner of the Citrus Belt League title, finished with an 8-4 record.
“I told them “you gotta believe’ at halftime,” Firth said. He related the story of Marcus Lutrell, who was the inspiration for the movie “Lone Survivor”. “If Marcus Lutrell could crawl seven miles on his hands and forearms to freedom, we can play hard for 48 minutes.”
Citrus Valley took a 35-14 lead with 4:15 remaining in the third quarter when Dawson Martinez connected on a 27-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Bowens. Martinez was effective as a passer and a runner.
Dawson Martinez finds Jayden Bowens for the touchdown. PAT good.
Citrus Valley has all the momentum.
CV leads San Juan Hills 35-14 with 40.5 left in the third quarter. pic.twitter.com/XJmS8GJQcO
— James H. Williams covers UCLA football (@JHWreporter) November 11, 2023
San Juan Hills benefitted from a 15-yard penalty against Citrus Valley, and started their drive from the 50-yard line. Herr completed three passes and ran for a 12-yard gain to move the ball to the Citrus Valley 4. Jaydn Robinson caught two of Herr’s passes, the final one for a 4-yard touchdown reception on the first play of the fourth quarter. Citrus Valley 35, San Juan Hills 21.
The Stallions recovered a fumble at their own 29. Herr completed three straight passes to move the ball to the 4-yard line. The sophomore quarterback ran for a 2-yard touchdown on fourth down. With 5:47 remaining, San Juan Hills cut the Citrus Valley lead to 35-28.
Citrus Valley was forced to punt, and San Juan Hills benefitted from a Cajon pass interference penalty. Herr completed a 30-yard pass to Colton Chase at the Citrus Valley 15. Robinson caught a 6-yard pass, and Herr tied the score at 35 with a 4-yard touchdown run with 2:22 remaining in regulation.
Herr completed 31-of-44 passes for 313 yards, Was his arm tired?
“Every part of me is tired,” he said.
Firth said usually San Juan Hills would run the ball 60 percent of the time, but said Citrus Hills had a very good defense against the run.
Bruich said he apologized to his team after the game.
“When you lose, it’s always the coach’s fault,” Bruich said. After being asked to review the entire season, he said it was Citrus Valley’s first-ever Citrus Belt League championship. “They can’t take that away from us.”
San Juan Hills linebacker Weston Port (2025) talks about the victory over Citrus Valley.@PortWeston is considering UCLA, Michigan, BYU, North Carolina and Oklahoma. pic.twitter.com/LJ3ovxaHDt
— James H. Williams covers UCLA football (@JHWreporter) November 11, 2023
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Simi Valley football stops Crean Lutheran to reach Division 6 semifinals
- November 11, 2023
SIMI VALLEY – Simi Valley football defeated Crean Lutheran 27-7 Friday night to advance to the CIF Southern Section Division 6 semifinals. The win for Simi Valley marks the 300th win for Simi Valley head coach Jim Benkert. With the win, Benkert becomes the 14th head coach in California state history reach the milestone, according to CalHiSports.com.
“I’m just so proud of the way the kids played,” Benkert said. “I think we really came out from the beginning and took the game to them and our defense played lights out all night.”
The Simi Valley defense was tough all night, holding Crean Lutheran to under 150 total yards and not allowing any offensive touchdowns. Simi Valley’s defense was also forced two fumbles and grabbed an interception in the game. The only Saints score of the night came on a punt return for a touchdown by Ben Byzewski at the end of the first half.
Safety Jayden Graham was all over the field for Simi Valley, forcing and recovering a fumble in the first half and also grabbing an interception in the second half.
“It feels great to step up, and not let them score on offense,” Graham said. “Our defense tends to build off each other and we love to make big hits.”
The Simi Valley defense focused on stopping the run with Crean Lutheran running back Justin Dominguez having 977 rushing yards and averaging 6.8 yards a carry heading into this game. The Pioneer defense did a nice job containing Dominguez, holding him to 25 rushing yards on nine carries.
Simi Valley jumped out to a 20-7 lead through two quarters with the defense and special teams being directly involved in each score. Both Pioneer offensive scores in the first half were set up in good field position by the Graham fumble recovery and then a fumble recovery from Seth Knight in the second quarter.
Simi Valley’s first score of the night came on the drive following the Graham fumble recovery when Jesse Sereno found Drayden Rittersdorf on a 10-yard touchdown pass. Simi Valley took a 14-point lead after Carlos Ferreiro blocked a Saints punt and Jayden Clarke picked it up and returned it 18 yards for the scoop and score.
Jack Reed hit a 23-yard field goal after Knight’s fumble recovery set Simi Valley up at the Saint 11-yard line to give Simi Valley a 17-7 lead heading into halftime.
Simi Valley’s defensive dominance continued in the second half with Graham starting the second half with an interception on Crean Lutheran’s first possession that set up Simi Valley near midfield. Jack Reed took advantage and hit a 40-yard field goal to extend the Simi Valley lead to 20-7.
The final Simi Valley score came on a blocked field goal by Ferreiro that he returned for a touchdown to make the score 27-7 in the third quarter.
“I’m just proud of our team, and it was a team game with everyone doing what they needed to do.” Ferreiro said.
Crean Lutheran struggled to get anything going in the passing game. In the third quarter, Crean Lutheran freshman quarterback Caden Jones was replaced by Jeremiah Finaly, but neither quarterback could get much of anything going with Simi Valley recording six sacks and bringing constant pressure.
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“Hats off to Simi Valley. Coach Benkert and his staff did a great job,” Crean Lutheran coach Rich Curtis said. “Their defense was quicker than we thought and they did a great job of stopping the run game.”
Sereno finished the game 16 of 22 for 161 yards and one touchdown pass. Simi Valley’s Brice Hawkins ran the ball 23 times for 78 yards.
Simi Valley will be at home next week to take on Huntington Beach in the semifinals.
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High school football playoffs: Early scores from Friday’s CIF-SS quarterfinals
- November 11, 2023
An early look at the scores from the CIF-SS high school football games Friday, Nov. 10.
We will have a full list and updated playoff schedule at the end of the night.
CIF-SS Quarterfinals
DIVISION 1
St. John Bosco 35, San Clemente 10
Centennial 63, Orange Lutheran 39
Sierra Canyon 37, Santa Margarita 20
Mater Dei 38, JSerra 0
DIVISION 2
Murrieta Valley 53, Rancho Cucamonga 52 (2OT)
Mission Viejo 39, Oaks Christian 14
Serra 38, Los Alamitos 28
Servite 27, Long Beach Poly 20
DIVISION 3
San Juan Hills 42, Citrus Valley 35
Oak Hills vs. Warren
Chaminade 30, Villa Park 16
DIVISION 4
Yorba Linda 17, Loyola 10
Corona del Mar 24, Santa Barbara 21
Capistrano Valley vs. Culver City
La Serna 50, Trabuco Hills 14
DIVISION 5
Newbury Park 41, Foothill 34
Thousand Oaks 19, Bonita 13
Western 49, Apple Valley 19
DIVISION 6
Huntington Beach 36, Ontario Christian 33
Simi Valley 27, Crean Lutheran 7
Murrieta Mesa 28, La Habra 14
Mira Costa 45, Cypress 27
DIVISION 7
Mayfair 45, Chino 21
Muir 14, Agoura 7
El Dorado 16, Redondo 0
DIVISION 8
Charter Oak 23, Covina 7
St. Anthony vs. St. Pius X-St. Matthias
Aliso Niguel vs. Jurupa Hills
DIVISION 9
Rio Hondo Prep 22, Orange 13
Santa Monica vs. Troy
DIVISION 10
Torrance 21, Redlands 14
West Covina vs. Beckman
Xavier Prep 10, Kennedy 7
DIVISION 11
Cantwell-Sacred Heart vs. Westminster
DIVISION 12
Cerritos vs. Western Christian
Santa Fe 32, Arrowhead Christian 14
Yucca Valley 35, Buena Park 0
DIVISION 13
Walnut 31, Los Amigos 17
Desert Hot Springs vs. Baldwin Park
DIVISION 14
Artesia 21, Santa Rosa Academy 12
Bell Gardens 28, Ocean View 21
Hawthorne 44, El Monte 37
Lynwood 42, Whittier Christian 20
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Photos: Exciting action from Friday’s high school football playoff games
- November 11, 2023
The Southern California News Group has photos from the area’s top high school football games Friday, Nov. 10.
Take a look at the great plays and exciting moments from the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section playoffs.
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Hagan, Torrence lead early qualifying at NHRA Finals in Pomona
- November 11, 2023
POMONA — Form held on the first of two days of qualifying in the Nitro-powered Funny Car and Top Fuel competition on Friday at the In-N-Out NHRA Finals, which conclude on Sunday when national champions will be determined at In-N-Out Pomona Dragstrip.
Funny Car points leader Matt Hagan had the fastest time in his division and Top Fuel points leader Steve Torrence did the same.
In fact, the Top Fuel drivers in second and third place in the standings, Doug Kalitta and Leah Pruett, had the second- and third-fastest qualifying times on Friday. The fourth-fastest was by Steve Torrence’s father, Billy Torrence.
Paul Lee, a 66-year-old from Orange who is better known for skydiving than drag racing, threw a monkey wrench into the Funny Car qualifying. He had the second-fastest qualifying time, while Bob Tasca III and Robert Hight, who are 2-3 in the standings, ran 3-4 in Friday’s qualifying.
Lee covered the 1,000-foot course in 3.875 seconds with a top speed of 322.51 mph. But don’t think he was unnerved by those numbers. This is a man who has made more than 1,500 jumps from an airplane. So apparently jumping into the thick of things at the NHRA Finals is no big thing even though he has no career wins and no final-round appearances in Funny Car’s top division.
Another Southern Californian who stood out Friday was pro stock motorcycle racer Gaige Herrera, a 30-year-old who grew up in La Mirada and now lives in De Motte, Indiana. Herrera, a fourth-generation motorcycle racer, will clinch the national title Saturday on the strength of 10 wins during his record-setting season, only his second at this level. He had Friday’s top qualifying time with a run of 6.721 seconds and a top speed of 200.59 mph on his Suzuki.
Herrera’s father Augustine, who is also his crew chief, bought his son a kiddie motorcycle when he was only 3 years old. Asked how fast that one went, Herrera said, “I have no idea.”
Hagan, a 40-year-old veteran on the NHRA circuit and an avid weightlifter, looks more like an NFL linebacker than a drag racer. It is not uncommon for people who don’t know Hagan to ask him if he is a football player.
“I get that a lot,” he said. When asked about his weight on Friday, the 6-footer initially responded, with a smile, that he was 195 pounds. “Nah, around 250,” he quickly added.
“People wonder how it is that I am a drag racer, but weight doesn’t matter, not in the cars we drive,” he said, referring to the 11,000-horsepower dragsters.
Qualifying continues Saturday, beginning at noon for Pro Stock cars and motorcycles followed an hour or later by the Nitro Top Fuel and Funny Car drivers.
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Lakers get healthier, shake up starting lineup in Phoenix
- November 11, 2023
PHOENIX — The Lakers welcomed a couple of players back into the lineup while also shaking up their starting unit against the Phoenix Suns on Friday night.
Anthony Davis and Jaxson Hayes were available after missing the last one and two games, respectively, further bolstering the Lakers’ frontcourt depth one game after Rui Hachimura also made his return to the floor.
Coach Darvin Ham also decided to swap Austin Reaves out for Cam Reddish in the starting unit, with Reddish opening alongside Davis, LeBron James, D’Angelo Russell and Taurean Prince.
It was the first time Reaves, who signed a four-year, $54 million contract during the offseason to return to the Lakers, had been used in a reserve role since March 19. He started 34 consecutive games (regular season and playoffs) entering Friday.
The starting lineup wasn’t revealed until after Ham spoke before the game, but the change might have been made for defensive matchup purposes.
Prince started the game guarding Kevin Durant while Reddish opened on Bradley Beal, who wasn’t available when the Lakers beat the Suns on Oct. 26 in Los Angeles.
Beal, who was acquired by Phoenix during the offseason after spending the first 11 seasons of his career with the Washington Wizards, made his season debut in the Suns’ victory over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.
“That dude is a nightmare,” Ham said of Beal. “Great, great kid. Phenomenal basketball player. Multifaceted. A winner. Just a guy that really blends in well with his teammates but also has an elite, elite talent level. And he’s just getting out there, getting his legs, game legs up under him.
“I was happy for him and sad at the same time when I heard he was coming to Phoenix. I love him to death, man. One of those kids that circumstances will work out, you just hope you could coach at some point. I got a lot of favorites around the league like that. That dude is, he’s special. They’ve got a special player and an even more special human being.”
LeBRON MUSEUM
The LeBron James Family Foundation announced that it will open the first and only official museum dedicated to the journey and milestones of James, with the museum named “LeBron James’ Home Court”. It will be located at House Three Thirty in Akron, Ohio.
The multimedia museum will take visitors through several big moments of James’ life, including the 2003 NBA draft, his championship runs in Cleveland, Miami and Los Angeles and the gold-medal-winning Olympic years.
“My dream was always to put Akron on the map, so to have a place in my hometown that allows me to share my journey with my fans from all over the world means a lot to me,” James said in a statement. “I’ve been known to hang on to a lot of things over the years, and I always knew there would be a time and place to bring them out. I’m so proud that place is House Three Thirty, a space my Foundation created to serve my I Promise families and the entire community.”
In addition to a recreation of the apartment where James and his mother lived, other items on display will include the all-white suit James wore to the 2003 NBA draft, his jersey from the McDonald’s All-American Game and an original backboard and rim from St. Vincent-St. Mary High School.
Reservations for LeBron James’ Home Court are available for presale, with the first public tours beginning on Nov. 25. General admission tickets are $23.
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Clippers torched by Luka Doncic (44 points), Mavericks in tourney opener
- November 11, 2023
DALLAS — The Clippers’ star-laden lineup is still searching for its first win together.
Luka Doncic scored 44 points and the Dallas Mavericks routed the Clippers, 144-126, on Friday night in an NBA In-Season Tournament game, the Clippers’ third straight loss since James Harden joined the lineup.
Doncic shot 17 for 21 from the field, going 6 for 9 from 3-point range. Kyrie Irving added 27 points, going 5 for 8 from behind the arc, to help Dallas improve to 1-1 in the tournament after an opening loss at Denver.
Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers with 26 points in their tournament opener. Harden, who joined the team last week following the Nov. 1 trade from Philadelphia, had 14 points – all in the first quarter. Russell Westbrook also had 14.
“First quarter, felt really good on both ends of the ball,” Harden said. “From there, it just went downhill. Trying to find a balance of not trying to step on anyone’s toes but just trying to, like, still be aggressive myself.”
Harden stressed that it’s still early in his transition to the Clippers and he’s still trying to figure out “everything.”
“I didn’t have a training camp. I didn’t have a preseason,” Harden said. “Everything is still moving fast speed for me. Need about a 10-game window, then kind of see where I am.”
The Mavericks took control with a 47-18 second period and a 33-4 run in the first half that included 17 consecutive points, eight to finish the first quarter and nine to begin the second quarter. Their largest lead was 32 points early in the third period. They reached 100 points with 4½ minutes in the third and finished with their highest point total of the season.
“I keep saying, it’s not just us two,” Doncic said about himself and Irving. “We get stops. Everybody contributes. So, it’s not just two of us. Everybody helps us.”
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said a key to Harden’s success will involve keeping a big man on the court with him. The Clippers currently use more smaller lineups than usual with backup center Mason Plumlee lost for a period of months with an MCL sprain.
“Because of the way he runs pick-and-rolls,” Lue said. “He can get downhill and make every play.”
The Clippers’ Paul George was held to eight points, including his first scoreless first half since he joined the team in summer 2019. Leonard, Westbrook, Harden and George all sat out the fourth period.
The Clippers scored the first eight points and led 31-19 before the Mavericks took over. Dallas led 77-51 at the half, 10 points more than its previous highest-scoring first half.
The Mavericks came off their first home loss of the season, 127-116 to Toronto on Wednesday.
“I think it was a great bounce-back game,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. “Luka set the tone, Kai, those two set the tone tonight, and the guys followed.”
COURT ISSUE
The Mavericks had to play their first In-Season Tournament game on their regular court – not the special-edition tournament court.
The NBA said “a manufacturing issue” kept the Mavericks from having a ready-for-tournament-play court delivered in time for Friday’s game, so Dallas’ regular home court was installed for the matchup instead.
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The Mavericks’ tournament court was supposed to be mostly silver, with a darker gray stripe down the center of the floor with three images of the NBA Cup – one at midcourt, the others in each of the foul lanes – displayed as well. All home courts for tournament games follow that design pattern, though the color schemes are wildly different in each city.
Some players have voiced concerns about the courts and their footing on the painted surface. Indiana players Myles Turner and Tyrese Haliburton both said they felt like they were slipping on the Pacers’ tournament floor when it debuted last week.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the court would be ready for Dallas’ next scheduled home game in the tournament, Nov. 28 against Houston. The tournament runs through Dec. 9.
UP NEXT
The Clippers host Memphis on Sunday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena.
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