JSerra boys soccer wins Division 1 title with two goals seconds apart against Sunny Hills

• February 26, 2023

LONG BEACH — JSerra, the No.1-ranked team in the state and the No. 2-ranked team in the nation, played up to expectations in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship game Saturday at Veterans Stadium.

The top-seeded Lions scored two goals, both off set pieces within a 16-second stretch late in the first half, to come away with a 2-0 victory over No. 2 seed Sunny Hills in a contest that was delayed for 45 minutes due to lightning in the area.

JSerra’s set pieces have given been difficult to defend all season, in large part because of a pair of tall sophomores, Angel Reyes and Tanner Casey, who were the goal scorers for the Lions (18-1-1) against the previously unbeaten Lancers (21-1-3).

The first goal was scored immediately after play resumed following the long delay that occurred 30 minutes into the game.

“And I think that was to our advantage,” Lions forward Reagan Heslin said of the delay. “We all kept our heads straight. We were still focused on the job. We took advantage of something that isn’t usually common in the game and that is a big part of our culture. It’s bouncing back from adversity.”

Reyes scored the first goal of the game from inside the box off of a throw-in and seconds later Casey headed the ball into the goal off a corner kick from Nathan Aquino.

JSerra coach Erik Kirsch said last season’s loss to Servite on penalty kicks in the Division 1 final galvanized this year’s team and served as motivation throughout the season.

“Culture is everything to me,” Kirsch said. “You saw them when they came out for the announcements, they were linked up. That is the fiber that has been created by this culture.”

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Because of the long delay, halftime lasted five minutes instead of 10.

Heading into the match, JSerra had scored a total of 15 goals through three playoff games compared to three for Sunny Hills.

“Defensively we knew it was going to be a challenge to defend those set plays because they are so big and tall and they make great runs into the box,” Sunny Hills coach Mike Schade said. “We were a little too nervous and conservative in the first half and that has a lot to do with how good they are.”

​ Orange County Register 

Boys and girls soccer: Scores from Saturday’s CIF-SS finals

• February 26, 2023

Scores from the CIF Southern Section boys and girls soccer championship games Saturday.

CIF-SS SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIPS

Saturday

BOYS SOCCER

Division 1

JSerra 2, Sunny Hills 0

Division 2

San Clemente 2, Long Beach Poly 0

Division 5

Palm Desert 3, Animo Leadership 1

Division 6

Victor Valley at San Gorgonio, ppd. Monday, 5 p.m.

Division 7

St. Genevieve 3, Oxford Academy 1

GIRLS SOCCER

DIVISION 1

Santa Margarita 0, Los Alamitos 0 (Santa Margarita wins on PKs, 2-1)

Division 3

Moorpark 2, Marina 1 (OT)

Division 4

Western Christian 2, El Rancho 1

Division 5

Crean Lutheran 1, Hemet 0

​ Orange County Register 

Fountain Valley wrestler TJ McDonnell wins state title; Marina girls team finishes No. 1 at state meet

• February 26, 2023

Marina’s girls wrestling team and Fountain Valley senior TJ McDonnell were among Orange County’s big winners at the CIF State Championships for boys and girls wrestling Saturday in Bakersfield.

McDonnell was champion at 182 pounds in the boys competition. He is the first individual champion in Fountain Valley’s history.

Two weeks ago McDonnell won his third CIF Southern Section championship.

El Dorado junior Isaiah Quintero, a state champion last season, advanced to the boys final at 120 pounds Saturday but was defeated, 1-0.

The Marina girls team won the state title with 114 points as Walnut finished second with 88 points.

Three seniors for Marina’s girls won individual championships: Carissa Qureshi (126 pounds), Saiheron Preciado-Meza (189) and Destiny Marquez (235).

Newport Harbor junior Duda Rodrigues won by decision in the 150-pound final.

Lilyana Balderas of Anaheim was second at 121 pounds.

Cypress senior Vida Beckel lost in the final in the 160-pound division.

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​ Orange County Register 

Tesoro basketball wins battle with Orange Lutheran to become CIF-SS Division 2AA champs

• February 26, 2023

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Tesoro’s boys basketball team put forth a dominant defensive effort in a 54-35 win over Orange Lutheran in the CIF-SS Division 2AA championship game Saturday at Edison High.

It is the first CIF boys basketball championship for Tesoro since 2009, when current assistant coach Chris Manresa was the team’s captain.

“I just love this group. It sounds so corny but these kids love each other and are committed to each other,” Tesoro coach Steve Garrett said. “Just exceptional kids and they’ve played together since they were in third, fourth and fifth grade.”

Tesoro (29-4) held Orange Lutheran (20-11) to a season-low 35 points, beating the previous mark of 47 points. The Titans held the Lancers to just 25.5 percent shooting Saturday and allowed only 10 points in the second half on 13 percent shooting.

“Their defense was just locked in together,” Garrett said. “Early on we were getting killed on the boards. We told the guys to keep scrapping and gang rebound. Staying connected with our defensive principles.”

Tesoro guard Carson Brown made a strong case for Orange County player of the year with his performance on both sides of the ball. Brown had a game-high 26 points and scored 16 of the team’s first 21 points.

“Coming into the game we thought they were a really big team and knowing in the second half that we could compete with them really got our confidence going,” Brown said. “We hit a few shots and they missed a few and we went on a run from there.”

Tesoro took the lead late in the third quarter and dominated the rest of the game. Nathan Draper made a bank shot at the third quarter buzzer to give Tesoro a 37-33 lead.

After a layup by Orange Lutheran sophomore John Gazzaniga, the Titans went on a 17-0 run to finish the game. Jake Bennett made a corner 3-pointer and on the ensuing possession Carter Johnson got a steal and layup to prompt an Orange Lutheran timeout.

“We had a stretch this season where that kid (Johnson) didn’t play six games but he just kept hanging in there and was a big factor,” Garrett said. “Carson got us settled in and the other guys, when they started double-teaming Carson, they started stepping up in the second half.”

Bennett had 13 points and eight rebounds against Orange Lutheran’s big front court.

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Despite being the smaller team, Tesoro had the edge over Orange Lutheran in rebounds, points in the paint and second-chance points.

Cannon Potter led Orange Lutheran with 16 points and no other Lancers player scored in double-figures. Gazzaniga led the defense with five blocks.

Orange Lutheran was the third-place representative from the Trinity League after tying with Santa Margarita and JSerra in the league standings.

The Lancers beat Aliso Niguel, Edison, Rancho Cucamonga and top-seeded Oxnard to reach the championship game.

​ Orange County Register 

Santa Margarita girls soccer edges Los Alamitos in penalty kicks to claim CIF-SS Division 1 crown

• February 26, 2023

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LONG BEACH — Santa Margarita and Los Alamitos dueled for 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of sudden-death overtime without netting a goal Saturday night in the rain and cold with the CIF-SS Division 1 girls soccer championship at stake.

Scoring didn’t get much easier in the penalty kicks but the Eagles found the winning combination to rekindle their champion ways.

Freshman goalie Peyton Trayer made three saves in penalty kicks and senior Angelina Moschetti and junior Molly MacMillan scored goals as the Eagles won the shootout 2-1 after playing to a scoreless draw at Veterans Stadium.

“It’s surreal,” said the Colorado-bound Moschetti, one of the team’s captains. “It’s very emotional. This team has worked since summer — blood, sweat and tears — for this. We’ve been talking about it since Day 1.

“We could not have done it without our coaches, without God, and honestly, it’s the best feeling.”

It was Eagles’ first section title since 2016 and came in the first season under Craig Bull, a coach from the powerhouse Slammers club.

Seeded second in the 16-team tournament, Santa Margarita (19-2-1) shed four consecutive losses in the second round of the playoffs to win its eighth title in school history. The Eagles edged a Los Alamitos team (18-7-5) that had won two shootouts to reach the final.

“(It’s) everything about the girls,” Bull said. “I knew the girls had the talent to win a CIF title but it takes more than talent to win these tournaments. The grit and determination, togetherness, the sisterhood — everything they’ve done to pull together — they absolutely deserve to win this.”

Santa Margarita took a 2-1 lead after the third set of penalty kicks. Trayer and Los Alamitos freshman goalie Avarie Gonzalez — teammates on the Slammers — each made saves in the fourth round before Trayer dove to her right to make the championship-clinching block in the first attempt of the fifth round.

“In the moment, you read the player, you have to be big, be loud and get in their head,” Trayer said of her strategy in penalty kicks.

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Both teams had scoring chances in regulation. Gonzalez scrambled out from her goal to stop a shot by Santa Margarita freshman forward Jastel David early in the opening half. Los Alamitos defender Victoria Bloch narrowly missed a header on a cross.

The Griffins nearly scored early in the second half but were called offside. Los Alamitos sophomore Viviana Zacarias later blasted a free kick from outside the box that Trayer leaped to knock over the crossbar. “I don’t think any team deserved to lose that game but someone has to win it,” Bull said. “We’re fortunate we have the goalie we do.”

​ Orange County Register 

Fryer: Championship Saturday proved again that basketball is a team sport

• February 26, 2023

Carson Brown played great for Tesoro’s boys basketball team on CIF Southern Section Championship Saturday.

Zack Davidson was outstanding, too, for Mater Deo.

Sage Hill’s Carter Bryant had another exceptional game.

Tesoro senior Jake Bennett’s play and postgame comments provided a reminder about what it takes to win a CIF basketball championship.

“It’s a team sport,” Bennett said.

Brown scored 27 points, half of his team’s total, in the Titans’ 54-35 win over Orange Lutheran in the CIF-SS Division 2AA championship game Saturday night at Edison High.

Bennett scored 13 points with eight rebounds.

Nathan Draper gave his team an emotional lift by making a buzzer-beating bank shot at the end of the third quarter, and he made a crucial 3-pointer in the fourth quarter. Draper also had seven rebounds and Blake Manning had four assists.

Mater Dei forward Zack Davidson, left, gets around Etiwanda Jedidiah Wilfred to score a basket in the CIF-SS Division 1 basketball championship in Anaheim on Saturday, February 25, 2023. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

Davidson scored 27 points with 11 rebounds to lead the Monarchs to a 66-53 win over Etiwanda in the Division 1 final at Honda Center. The Monarchs don’t win that game without their two freshmen, Luke Barnett and Brannon Martinsen, doing their part. Barnett scored 12 points and Martinsen scored nine points with five rebounds.

Bryant did what was expected of him. He scored 22 points with 16 rebounds and four steals.

He needed more support, though, and Sage Hill could not match Long Beach Jordan’s offensive versatility, and the Lightning lost 68-57 in the Division 4A final.

Jordan had three players score 14 or more points.

Sage Hill’s Carter Bryant shoots the ball against Long Beach Jordan in the CIF-SS Division 4A boys basketball championship game at Edison High School in Huntington Beach on Saturday, February 25, 2023. Long Beach Jordan won the game 68-57. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Bryant, Brown and Davidson played like the All-Orange County first-team selections. Brown and Davidson improved their candidacies for Orange County player of the year. Those two and Canyon sophomore Brandon Benjamin are the three finalists for the honor.

All have been great players this season. As great as they have been, Saturday proved again that, like Bennett said, basketball is and always will be a team game.

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​ Orange County Register 

Traffic collision kills 2 people, injures another in Cypress

• February 26, 2023

Two people in a Tesla SUV were killed and a Ford Flex driver suffered severe injuries in a collision on Saturday, Feb. 25 in Cypress, police said.

At approximately 4:26 pm, the Cypress Police Department responded to the crash at the intersection of Walker Street and Orange Avenue.

Officers located a driver and passenger in the Tesla, who were pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the Flex was transported to UCI Medical Center with severe injuries, per a Cypress PD news release.

Further information on the crash wasn’t immediately available.

Any witnesses with information about the collision were encouraged to contact Traffic Investigator Officer B. Lemmon at (714)-229-6603 or [email protected]

​ Orange County Register 

UC Irvine’s loss at Hawaii creates 3-way tie atop Big West

• February 26, 2023

HONOLULU — UC Irvine dropped its second consecutive game on Saturday night, setting up a dramatic final week in the race for the Big West Conference regular-season title.

DJ Davis had 27 points and made six 3-pointers for UCI, but Hawaii outscored the Anteaters 10-5 over the final four minutes to hand them a 72-67 defeat in a nationally televised game played in front of a lively sellout crowd of 10,300 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

With one week left in the regular season, UCI (20-10 overall, 13-5 Big West), UC Santa Barbara (22-7, 13-5) and UC Riverside (20-10, 13-5) are now tied atop the standings, with Hawaii (21-9, 12-6) and Cal State Fullerton (18-12, 12-6) both one game behind. The conference champion earns the top seed for next month’s 10-team Big West Tournament in Henderson, Nevada.

The Anteaters play at UCR on Thursday night before hosting Cal State Bakersfield (10-19, 6-12) in their season finale next Saturday night (March 4). After its game with UCI, UCR closes its season at last-place Cal Poly (7-23, 1-17), while UCSB finishes with games at UC Davis (17-12, 10-7) on Thursday and then at home against Hawaii on Saturday.

Davis was 9 for 20 from the field (6 for 11 from 3-point range) to go with three steals for UCI, while Dawson Baker had 12 points on 4-for-13 shooting. Bent Leuchten had eight points and six rebounds.

Jovon McClanahan had 27 points and seven assists and went 10 for 11 from the free-throw line to lead the Warriors, while 7-foot-1 freshman Mor Seck had 14 points (7-for-11 shooting), 16 rebounds and four blocked shots in his first career start. Samuta Avea had 10 points, and Harry Rouhliadeff added 10 off the bench.

UCI led for much of the second half, opened a 49-40 lead on a Baker 3-pointer with 14:27 left and still held a six-point lead (59-53) with less than eight minutes remaining, but the Warriors started to take control from there.

Hawaii grabbed the lead on the strength of a 9-0 run, moving ahead 62-59 after a 3-pointer by Avea and a short jumper from Noel Coleman with 5:01 left. A long Davis 3-pointer tied the score with 4:15 left, but two free throws and a layup put Hawaii back in front 66-62 with 2:10 left.

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A floater from UCI’s Dean Keeler cut the margin to two points with 1:20 left, but the Warriors responded with four consecutive free throws for a 70-64 lead with 39 seconds left. Davis hit his sixth 3-pointer with a hand in his face to cut the margin in half with 34 seconds left, but McClanahan made two free throws with 10.1 seconds left to ice the win for Hawaii. Davis missed a pair of 3-point attempts in the final seconds.

UCI finished with a narrow edge in points in the paint (28-26), but Hawaii enjoyed a significant advantage in free-throw attempts, especially in the second half. The Anteaters went 7 for 10 from the foul line for the night, while the Warriors were 19 for 24 (15 for 18 after halftime).

UP NEXT

UCI plays at UC Riverside on Thursday at 7 p.m.

​ Orange County Register