Cristhian Macias and Gardena High’s boys’ cross country are headed to Saturday morning’s CIF-Los Angeles City Division II Championship after he and his team won their heat of last Thursday’s prelims at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.
Macias, a junior who won the Marine League individual crown at 16 minutes and 31 seconds a week earlier at Peck Park in San Pedro, won his heat clocking 16:24.06 over second place Michael Alvayea from Manual Arts, who was timed in 16:32.54 in the three-mile course.
Cristhian Macias and Gardena High’s boys’ cross country are headed to Saturday morning’s CIF-Los Angeles City Division II Championship after he and his team won their heat of last Thursday’s prelims at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.
Macias, a junior who won the Marine League individual crown at 16 minutes and 31 seconds a week earlier at Peck Park in San Pedro, won his heat clocking 16:24.06 over second place Michael Alvayea from Manual Arts, who was timed in 16:32.54 in the three-mile course.
In the second heat of Division II, the Panthers were tied with the Toilers at 72, so the tiebreaker went by the result of their sixth best runner in a race where the top five runners score. Gardena’s sixth runner, Frankie Rangel, finished 33rd in the scoring timing 19:05.94 to 45th for Manual Arts’ Christopher Chavez (19:42.46). Gardena will enter the Division II final as the top seed from their heat. Panorama won the first heat over runner-up Sotomayer, 66-71. The top four from each heat advance to the finals.
In the Marine Finals a week earlier, Macias was able to defeat all of the runners from Marine and L.A. City Division I power San Pedro, which still easily won the meet as a team over the second place Panthers, 21-65.
“During the whole week, I was thinking of myself that I was going to win the meet,” Macias said.
Macias was even confident about his win in the league finals.
“Cristhian is a natural runner,” Gardena head coach Martin Mira, who is also the Panthers’ athletic director and head boys’ soccer coach, said. “He trains a lot for the races.”
Gardena’s second finisher was Cristian Guevara who placed 13th in 17:50.77. Other top five Panther finishers in order included Gustavo Vital (17th scoring, 20th overall, 18:28.12), Ronaldo Chicas (18th scoring, 21st overall, 18:31.63) and Martin Zambrano (26th scoring, 30th overall, 18:54.24).
Gardena will compete in the championship at Pierce College beginning at 8 a.m. on Saturday.
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Shorthanded Serra Loses Wild Game to Centennial
By Joe Snyder
Sports Editor
This season has been a wild one for Serra High’s football team as it played in the Mission League of the prestigious CIF-Southern Section PAC Five for the first time.
The Cavaliers ended up finishing in a three-way tie with Encino Crespi and La Puente Bishop Amat in league. The result saw Serra ending up on the short end of the three-way coin flip, forcing the Cavaliers to enter the PAC Five playoffs as a third place team. The Celtics won the flip and the Lancers, who handed Serra its only Mission loss, were second.
The result saw the Cavaliers having to go on the road against the playoffs’ No. 3 seed Centennial High in Corona, which was known for its high octane offense. The Huskies, who are also in the PAC Five for the first time after being an Inland Division powerhouse over the past several seasons and coming off winning the Big VIII League, averaged 47 points per game while its defense gave up an average of 27 per contest in regular season play and have been known for winning numerous high scoring games.
Serra knew what to expect and had the task of having to attempt to contain Centennial without the service of top defensive end Rasheem Green, who suffered a torn meniscus in the Cavaliers’ league ending 56-31 home win over Los Angeles Loyola on Nov. 7.
The Cavaliers, behind option quarterback Khalil Tate, joined with the Huskies for the shootout. After an astounding 15 lead changes, Serra saw its season come to an early end with the 68-64 first round loss to Centennial.
Tate was his usual but stepping things up. He accounted for eight touchdowns. Tate, however, was intercepted four times including the Huskies’ game clinching one by Chacho Ulloa that ended the Cavaliers’ hopes of advancing to the quarterfinals where they would have faced Santa Ana Mater Dei on Friday.
Tate also fumbled the ball twice.
The only TD that Tate didn’t have anything to do with came with 7:07 left in the game when San Jose State University-bound senior running back Malik Roberson gave Serra, which ended its season at 8-3 overall, a 64-61 lead.
The Cavavliers’ final advantage lasted just two minutes as Centennial scored what would be its winning TD on a 1-yard run by running back J.J. Taylor.
In the see-saw and back-and-forth contest, Serra had leads of 21-14 after the first quarter, 35-34 at halftime but trailed 54-49 after three periods.
Like the Cavaliers, the Huskies were loaded with highly regarded Major Division I college prospects, including wide receiver Javon McKinley who scored five touchdowns, including four receptions and one kickoff return.
The loss ended Serra’s four-game winning streak and was the second straight in playoff contention, starting with its stunning 38-35 loss in last year’s Southern Section Western Division championship to Mission rival West Hills Chaminade. Prior to that, Serra won 10 consecutive postseason games that included a 2012 California State Division II championship victory.
For Centennial (9-2), it will be its second time facing Mater Dei, which handed the Huskies one of their two losses at 38-18 on Sept. 5. That was Centennial’s season low in scoring. The Monarchs placed third, behind champion and top seed Bellflower St. John Bosco and second place San Juan Capistrano Junipero Serra in the Trinity League, one of the premiere prep football and all-around athletic leagues in the United States. Centennial’s other loss was 43-42 to the nation’s top-ranked team, Las Vegas Bishop O’ Gorman.
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Sports Roundup
Serra, Gardena begin basketball season
By Joe Snyder
Sports Editor
Serra High’s boys’ basketball team begins its 2014-15 season in the highly regarded Redondo Pacific Shores Tournament against Santa Monica in the first round Monday at 7:30 p.m.
Last season, the Cavaliers tied for first place with rival Torrance Bishop Montgomery in the Del Rey League and are expected to be strong contenders this year. A top returner for Serra is Jason Richardson.
The classic is expected to have another strong field that includes the defending tournament champion Sea Hawks, runner-up Lakewood Mayfair, defending Southern Section Division IAA champion Long Beach Poly, last year’s Southern California Regional Open Division runner-up Westchester, nationally ranked Chino Hills, defending CIF-Los Angeles City Division I champion Woodland Hills El Camino Real, along with two other South Bay powers Inglewood and Lawndale.
Gardena begins its season with a non-league game at home against Middle College Prep next Tuesday at 6 p.m.
The Panthers, then, begin the Mira Costa Pacific Shores Tournament against Brentwood on Dec. 3 at 4:30 p.m.
Carson, Narbonne, West advance: Marine League tri-champions San Pedro, Narbonne and Carson advanced to the quarterfinals of the CIF-L.A. City Division I football championships after first round wins last Friday on their home fields.
The Colts downed Taft, 42-14; the Gauchos crushed South Gate South East, 65-0, and the top seed Pirates defeated East L.A. Roosevelt, 28-7.
Jabari Minix scored three touchdowns and Devonte King had an 11-yard TD reception to key Carson over the Toreadors.
The Gauchos had three players each throw for touchdowns in their easy win over South East. Starting quarterback Roman Ale was a perfect 7-for-7 for 138 yards and rushed for a 13-yard scoring run. Freshman Jalen Chatman replaced injured Ale in the second quarter. He threw for 145 yards and one touchdown. Wide receiver Ikenna Ohaera also completed a scoring pass to Sean Riley on a halfback option.
Narbonne hosts Coliseum League runner-up Dorsey and Carson is at home against defending City Division I champion Crenshaw Friday at 7 p.m.
In the CIF-Southern Section Western Division first round, Pioneer League champion West Torrance got past Santa Monica, 34-18, last Friday at West.
Dale Rouse scored three touchdowns on two receptions from quarterback Trevor Mallet and a game finishing 55-yard interception return for the Warriors, who are 11-0 and top seed.
West hosts Calabasas in the quarterfinals Friday at 7 p.m.
Unfortunately, the other three Torrance schools fell in the first round last Friday. The Pioneer’s second place North Torrance was routed by Canyon League champion Simi Valley, 45-19. Third place Torrance led much of the game against host and fourth seed Oxnard before the Yellowjackets scored the winning touchdown with 39 seconds left to pull off a 28-23 win. South Torrance, which played without six key starters who were injured, was humiliated by host and No. 3 seed Ventura, 49-7.
