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November 6, 2024
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
It’s always a dream for high school football players to practice on Thanksgiving because that means they will be playing in a championship game the day after, or two days after. For four area teams, that dream is still alive as Artesia High, Cerritos High, Gahr High and Norwalk High have advanced to the CIF-Southern Section divisional playoffs. Two other teams, La Mirada High and Valley Christian High lost last Friday in their respective third place games that would have sent them into the postseason. All games are at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
DIVISION 9
Cerritos (8-2 overall, 3-0 in the 605 League) @ #1 Highland High (6-4, 6-1 in the Golden League)-Last season, Cerritos was sitting at 2-5, then won seven straight games, including a 19-13 overtime win over Yucca Valley High to capture the Division 12 title. This season, the Dons have moved up three divisions and are riding a five-game winning streak.
“It’s an honor to get chosen for Division 9,” said Cerritos head coach Demel Franklin. “That’s a huge jump from 12. Going into the season, I figured we were a Division 9 team, or maybe a high [Division] 10. So, this is about where I thought we would be. I didn’t think we would be a #16 seed, but hey, it is what it is. We’re playing the number one seed, and we get to see the best right out of the gate.”
Cerritos defeated Artesia 36-7 last Friday to win the program’s fifth straight league title and 15th straight 605 League game. senior wide receiver Dikshanta Adhikari caught a pair of touchdown passes from junior quarterback Justin Sagun, who added a five-yard touchdown run himself.
Adhikari leads the Dons in the rushing department with 681 yards and 10 touchdowns while senior running back Josiah Ungos, who caught an eight-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Alexander Laurin, is second in rushing with 366 yards and five touchdowns while Sagun gained 207 yards and scored five touchdowns in the regular season.
Sagun has completed 112 passes in 167 attempts for 1,263 yards and 15 touchdowns with senior wide receiver Ruben Castro his favorite target with 60 receptions, 772 yards and eight touchdowns. The second target is Adhikari, who caught 28 passes for 320 yards and a touchdown.
“We just have to make sure we’re still holding onto the football,” said Franklin. “We’ve been pretty fortunate not having turned the football over fumbling-wise. Maybe we go a little faster so they get more touches because it’s been shown it doesn’t matter which one I give the ball to, they’re going to produce.”
Those four players, and others, helped the Dons score 335 points with seven games over 30 points. But most of the season has been centered around the defense, which has allowed 135 points with three shutouts and two other games a touchdown each. Leaders of the defense this season have been senior linebacker Nathaniel Crawford (51 tackles), and juniors Jacob Hoosac (58 tackles) and Tyler Ky (68 tackles).
Junior lineman Makai Ortiz has half of the team’s eight sacks while senior defensive back Marnell Smith and junior safety Michael Quibrantar each have three interceptions, which combined is half the teams’ interceptions.
Highland began the season with three straight losses, one of them a 63-6 defeat to Mission Viejo High. But the Bulldogs bounced back to win the next five contests with three straight shutouts included in that stretch. Highland cruised past Palmdale High 40-22 last Friday and of its four losses, two have been by a combined eight points while the other two were by a combined 89 points.
This is a team that has played teams from the Antelope Valley, Apple Valley, Santa Clarita Valley and southern Riverside County (Liberty High) besides Mission Viejo, and has scored 38 more points than Cerritos.
“I know they’re used to scoring a lot of points,” said Franklin. “Their defense doesn’t seem to give up a lot of points in league, but when you go to their non-league, there’s only a 10-point difference. I like our chances.”
Justin Wyatt has passed for 1,869 yards and 31 touchdowns opposite three interceptions with Andrew Garner catching 36 passes for 635 yards and 12 touchdowns and Le’Bron Green hauling in 24 passes for 340 yards and half a dozen scores. On the ground, Roderick Erwin (468 yards, five touchdowns) and Wyatt (328 yards, four touchdowns) are the players to stop while on defense, the Bulldogs have sacked opposing quarterbacks 33 times with Jayden Carrillo and Jamarieh Hector each with eight sacks.
But Cerritos will have to travel for the first round against a ranked team, just like it did last season when the black and gold drew fourth-ranked Fillmore High on the road. The Dons also beat top-seeded Coachella Valley High in the semifinals and second-ranked Yucca Valley. So, Franklin knows he and his team are not intimidated with facing Highland in the first round.
“We don’t look at [who’s ranked],” he said. “I know who we’ve played and how we’ve trained, and I’ll take my team versus anybody.”
The Dons went 5-1 against teams that qualified for the playoffs, falling to West Torrance High 41-21 on Sept. 20. West Torrance is the top-ranked team in Division 7. Cerritos defeated the top-ranked team in Division 11, Don Lugo High, 31-24 and Pioneer High 70-14, which is the second-ranked team in Division 14.
If Cerritos wins, it will either host Monrovia High or travel to Burbank High for the quarterfinals.
Prediction: Cerritos 38, Highland 28
St. Genevieve High (8-1, 5-0 in the Camino Real League) @ Norwalk (8-2, 4-1 in the Mid-Cities League)-The scoring machine that is Norwalk rolls into the playoffs winners of six of its last seven games. After losing to Paramount High 28-7 two weeks ago, the Lancers bounced back to defeat Lynwood High 33-15 last Thursday. Junior running back Diego Cerritos carried the ball 16 times for 90 yards and scored four touchdowns while senior running back Ezra Meuller rushed for 166 yards and scored once. Those two are the heart and soul of the double wing offense with Meuller rushing for 1,839 yards and scoring 25 touchdowns while Cerritos has gained 1,148 yards with 19 touchdowns. If those two are slowed down, look for junior running back Derek Sandoval (470 yards, seven touchdowns) to pick up the slack.
When senior quarterback Nicolas Barrera has to throw the ball, which isn’t much, he’ll most likely target Meuller, who has four receptions for 69 yards and a touchdown.
The offense has scored over 40 points seven times but in the two losses, Norwalk scored a combined 19 points. Just as impressive is the defense, which yielded 186 points and did not allow anyone to score more than 35 points. Meuller leads everyone with 65 tackles while senior linebacker Joel Espinoza and sophomore linebacker David Ibarra each have 54 tackles. Espinoza also has seven sacks and Cerritos another five sacks, accounting for nearly half the sacks.
After losing the second game of the season to Burbank 29-26, St. Genevieve enters the playoffs on a seven-game winning streak, including a forfeit win over Verbum Dei Jesuit High on Oct. 11 and a 51-0 win over Bosco Tech High last Thursday. The Valiants out of Panorama City have reached the 40-point mark five times and have scored 342 points this season.
Quarterback Michael Wynn has completed 97 of 147 passes for 1,617 yards and 21 touchdowns with no interceptions with Jayden Lepley (23 receptions, 353 yards, four touchdowns) and Ramario Rivas (21 catches, 504 yards, seven touchdowns) his favorite receivers. On the ground, Jaylin Burt has gained 1,011 yards on 87 carries with 15 touchdowns while Wynn has added another 263 yards on 23 touches and half a dozen touchdowns.
St. Genevieve is strong on defense, sacking opposing quarterbacks 20 times with Leonidas Vargas getting eight of them while collecting 13 interceptions, five coming from Brady Escobar. The Lancers have faced six playoff teams, including CIF-San Diego Section’s Scripps Ranch High. Santa Fe High is the second-ranked team in Division 11 and Lynwood is the third-ranked team in Division 13. If Norwalk wins, it will travel to Coachella Valley or second-ranked Great Oak High.
Prediction: Norwalk 42, St. Genevieve 28
GAME OF THE WEEK
DIVISION 13
La Puente High (9-1, 4-1 in the Miramonte League) @ #1 Gahr (5-5, 3-2 in the Mid-Cities League)-Gahr may be the division’s top-ranked team, but the Gladiators are limping into the postseason with a .500 record after last Friday’s 36-0 loss to Paramount. Last season, Gahr faced Quartz Hill High, the top team in Division 11, and lost 28-7. Longtime head coach Grag Marshall said there’s not much difference between being a #1 seed and playing a #1 seed because last season, the Gladiators were a spot away from being the top seed in Division 12.
But this season, it will take a lot to upset La Puente because the Gladiators have been plagued all season with injuries to impact players.
“I told the kids it can happen either way because the way [the new system] breaks down, it can happen,” said Marshall. “That’s the way it works.”
Junior quarterback Roman Acosta and senior all-utility player Markell Slaughter have shared quarterbacking duties, combining for over 1,100 yards and nine touchdowns. Slaughter is also the team’s leading rusher and second leading receiver but is one of the injured players and will not play on Friday.
Throughout the season, the Gladiators have seen Slaughter, senior running back Ja’shon Wallace and junior running back Malachi Williams go down with injuries. Because of the injuries, the Gladiators have had somewhat of a roller coaster season, losing their first two games, then winning their next two games, before losing two of their next three and finally wrapping up the season by winning two of their last three contests. Slaughter is still injured and would not be back until at least the semifinals, should Gahr get that far.
“After the first game, [senior middle linebacker’ Isaiah [Portillo] is out and our other middle linebacker is out,” said Marshall. “Then we went into the Cerritos game with no linebackers, and I was like, okay. Then our quarterback goes out, so we went to a running quarterback thing. We’ve been going back and forth. Then we get to the Norwalk game and Ja’shon goes out after the fourth play.”
Defensively, Williams and senior Evan Lucena each have 61 tackles, followed by senior linebacker Dylan Richburg and Portillo with 51 and 48 tackles, respectively. Lucena and Richburg also had three and a half sacks each and Portillo had three sacks.
Gahr has allowed five more points than it has scored and are 1-3 against teams that advanced to the playoffs. The Gladiators will be tested by a La Puente team that lost its only game last Friday to Duarte High, 28-27. The Warriors began the season with a forfeit win over Sotomayor High, then posted two straight shutouts by a combined 98-0 score. They scored over 30 points in seven straight games before edging Garey High 28-27.
“Look, they’re really good,” said Marshall. “Their quarterback went out two games ago and their running back went out last game. But they’re like us. You lose your quarterback and you’re running back and all of a sudden, you look a little bit different.”
Quarterback Ezekeil Zamora, who was absent in the last game of the regular season, rarely has missed, completing 125 of 188 passes for 1,818 yards and 25 touchdowns while Aaron Silva (986 yards, 16 touchdowns) leads a rushing attack that has amassed 1,969 yards. Zamora likes to go to Ivan Lopez (50 receptions, 795 yards, eight touchdowns) and Junior Preyer (28 receptions, 445 yards, seven touchdowns) the most.
“You always have to stop the run because especially, if the quarterback’s not in…if the quarterback is a running quarterback, and he can pass, you have to stop the run to force him to throw,” said Marshall.
Defensively, La Puente has allowed 102 points, meaning if Gahr wants to pull off the upset, it needs to score north of 30 points, which it did five times.
A Gahr win means it will host Desert Hot Springs High or visit ABC Unified School District rival Artesia next Friday.
“I told them it’s a motivating factor [to beat La Puente] because I told them yesterday, we could play Artesia,” said Marshall. “They said [they wanted] to play Artesia and I said, ‘okay, if you want to play Artesia, that means you have to go through La Puente.”
Prediction: La Puente 35, Gahr 21
Artesia (8-2, 2-1 in the 605 League) @ Desert Hot Springs (6-4, 2-1 in the Sun Valley League)-Artesia had one if its best regular seasons in recent memory, winning the first five games before falling to Estancia High 30-21 on Sept. 27. After that, the Pioneers scored at least 35 points in three straight games before last Friday’s season-low seven points against Cerritos. The last time Artesia went 8-2 in the regular season was in 2005 and six seasons ago, the Pioneers advanced to the Division 12 finals in a 10-win season.
“It’s about what I expected,” said Artesia head coach Connor Crook of the bracket. “I knew we were going to be in [Division] 13. It is what it is, and I knew at some point, you have to travel far in the playoffs. We did it last year, so we’re traveling far this week in round one and we’re going to ready for it. We have a lot of kids who remember what it felt like last year, so I think we’ll be okay.”
Artesia’s bread and butter has been, and continues to be senior quarterback Charlie Lopez, who has accounted for 1,875 total yards, coming two yards shy of 1,000 on the ground. As a team, the Pioneers have just over 3,200 yards. Lopez also has a hand in 25 of Artesia’s 42 touchdowns.
Senior running back Julius Padilla (374 yards, two touchdowns) and junior running backs Josue Flores (159 yards, four touchdowns) and Joe Thomas Jr. (193 yards, three touchdowns) are also threats in the backfield while Lopez’ favorite wide receiver is senior Ahkil Sampson, who has caught 22 passes for 442 yards and seven touchdowns.
Senior linebacker DeAngelo Tucker leads the team with 39 tackles while junior lineman Maximus Garcia is two behind that total and sophomore linebacker Robert Garcia at 36 tackles. Maximus Garcia also leads the team with three sacks while five players all have a pair of interceptions.
Desert Hot Springs began the season with three straight wins before losing three straight contests. The Golden Eagles have a pair of one-possession victories and a shutout on their resume but have been whitewashed three times.
Quarterbacks Seth Silva and Jaylen Turner have combined to complete 76 passes for 1,142 yards and 10 touchdowns with seven interceptions. Donevin Thorton is the leading rusher with 550 yards and eight touchdowns with Silva adding another 205 yards and three scores while Thornton has 24 receptions for 297 yards.
On defense, Jaire Broach has 125 tackles and Jaymere Broach 107 while Isaiah Flenor has seven sacks.
“They have a couple of good skill players,” said Crook. “They have a couple of twin brothers, who are seniors that play linebacker and do some stuff on offense. They have a good receiver, and their running back is pretty shifty. So, they have good skill players that we need to watch out for, and a couple of big linemen, too. I’m just worried about containing those guys; containing their best players, and we’ll add a few wrinkles of our own this week to our stuff.”
Crook added that the keys to advancing to next Friday’s quarterfinals is making sure everyone is on the same page and focused up front on offense; making sure the lineman block their guys. on defense, the Pioneers need to stop the pass because since Crook took over the varsity team, they have been successful on run defense.
Artesia’s two losses came to teams that advanced to the playoffs, but the combined record of the 10 opponents is 34-63, the worst of the area’s four playoff teams. Artesia and Desert Hot Springs have not played each other since Sept. 27, 2002, a Pioneers victory and if they win, they will either host Gahr or travel to La Puente.
“The motivation [to play Gahr] would be just to get to round two no matter who we’re playing,” said Crook. “We’re going to be focused on this week and obviously preparing to beat Desert Hot Springs. Our ultimate goal is to win the whole thing, so of course we want to get to round two and we’ll be prepared for whoever we play in round two as well. If it’s Gahr, I’m sure our kids will be a little extra fired up because they know their kids and their kids know our kids. But I don’t want to look past anyone.”
Prediction: Artesia 42, Desert Hot Springs 21
Last week’s predictions: 4-2
Season to date: 47-15
