By Joe Snyder
North Torrance High’s football program enjoyed some successful seasons.
It had three consecutive Pioneer League championships in the 2022, 2023, and 2024 seasons before settling to finish just fourth in a rather balanced league last season, behind champion Torrance, second-place Redondo, and third-place Santa Monica.
North continues to remain in the Pioneer with Torrance, Santa Monica, Ocean League transfer West Torrance, Bay League transfer Culver City, and Ocean League transfer El Segundo.
The Saxons return just seven starters; four on defense and three on offense, with most of their players being juniors, so, if not this season, they could be looking up for next year.
North returns one all-leaguer in senior defensive back Vince Alemay. Head Saxon coach Todd Croce plans to start Aleman as a wide receiver on offense.
Expected to start at quarterback is junior Israel Sittia, replacing Ethan Edwards, who is now at Utah Tech University. Senior Steven Sarabia will be a key player at left tackle on defense and running back on offense.
One of North’s top returning linemen is senior Tim Riarue, who is expected to start on offense and defense. In fact, most of the Saxon starters are expected to go both ways, so lack of depth could be a concern.
“We’re very young,” North head coach Todd Croce said. “We’re looking to be competitive.”
The Saxons begin the season against a much-improved Orange team at Fred Kelly Stadium on the campus of El Modena High (in Orange) on Aug. 21, beginning at 7 p.m. According to Croce, Orange has a new coach who was a former assistant at top CIF-Southern Section power Mission Viejo and a few transfers from that high school.
The Pioneer League appears to be highly competitive with defending Pioneer champion Torrance and Culver City, most likely, being the top two teams. North’s other three opponents, El Segundo, Santa Monica and West Torrance are also teams to watch as they each return several top players.
__________
Slump puts LA’s series drive on hold
Less than two weeks ago, the Los Angeles Dodgers Major League Baseball team appeared to be breezing to another National League Western Division crown after winning four consecutive series.
Then, the red-hot Boston Red Sox came to town winning 18 of their previous 20 games that included a 15-game winning streak and the show down was on, beginning on July 31.
The Red Sox suddenly brought the Dodgers down with a three-game sweep and they could have thrown L.A. into a major slump. The Dodgers traveled to Wrigley Field in Chicago and the Cubs handed the Dodgers their second straight swept series. Then, the Dodgers had to travel to Phoenix, Ariz. to face the Diamondbacks, a team that swept the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium a couple of weeks earlier. The Diamondbacks extended L.A.’s losing streak to seven games with a come-from-behind 4-3 victory off Dodger ace reliever Edwin Diaz. Last Saturday, Diaz suffered his second straight blown save but L.A. pushed over a run in the top of the 10th inning and made it stand and ended its seven-game losing streak with a 2-1 victory. On Sunday, the Dodgers fell back to losing 4-2.
Currently, the Dodgers arrived home to face the lowly Kansas City Royals hoping to get back onto the winning track before their four-game showdown series against Major League Baseball’s best record team, the Milwaukee Brewers from today through Sunday.
Over the past few seasons, including their back-to-back World Series championships, injuries ravaged the Dodgers but they were able to come through with their World Series titles. They were rolling through but, as of last Monday, the Dodgers have 16 players, including 11 pitchers, on the injured list, so they are short-handed, despite picking up Detroit Tigers star pitcher Tarik Skubal, hoping for better things. Skubal pitched his first game for the Dodgers against the Cubs on Aug. 4. He did well allowing two runs in six innings but L.A. fell to Chicago 5-1. He started against the Royals last Monday.
Currently, the Dodgers are going through a time where their offense is slumping, as their bull pen. They have trouble holding on to leads. A lot of that is also due to the key injuries. Diaz was great with the New York Mets before he came to the Dodgers, and started the season well but an injury sidelined him for more than three months. As of now, he is not up to his potential with the back-to-back blown saves.
Can the Dodgers turn things back around? Playing 162 games a season, even the best teams, every year, go through peaks and valleys. The Dodgers had slumps last year and the year before, but managed to right the ship and play their best baseball at the right time to win those world championships. There is about a month and a half left of the season to get things back and make history by becoming the first National League team to win three straight world crowns. The two franchises that won three straight or more are the New York Yankees (1936-39, 1949-53 and 1998-2000) and the Oakland Athletics (1972-74). Both are in the American League.
They have the talent to do it, again, but they need to get a little healthier and find their groove that they had in the first four months this season.
Pro and college football season is on the horizon. The Los Angeles Rams, who many favor to win the Super Bowl championship in February at their home stadium, So Fi Stadium, visit the Kansas City Chiefs in their preseason opener Saturday at 11 a.m. Their regular season opener is in Sydney, Australia against their rival San Francisco 49’ers on Sept. 10 at 5:35 p.m.
The L.A. Chargers start preseason in Houston against the Texans today at 5 p.m. Their regular season opener is at home against the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 13 at 1:25 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Rams and Chargers will square off at So Fi Stadium on Nov. 1 at 1:05 p.m.
Super Bowl LXI will be at So Fi Stadium on Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14, 2027).
The University of Southern California and UCLA football teams continue to play in the rigorous Big 10 and both teams, particularly the Bruins, are seeking major improvements in what is probably the toughest conference in the NCAA Already top ranked is Ohio State, which recent Serra standout defensive linebacker Khary Wilder is playing for. He’ll be looking for something that eluded him at Serra from last season as the injury ravaged Cavaliers failed to make the CIF-Southern Section playoffs for the first time since 2004. Last season, the national championship was won by another Big 10 school, University of Indiana.
USC begins its season on Aug. 29 against San Jose State University at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum beginning at noon. The Trojans start Big 10 (Big 18 due to 18 colleges in the conference) play at Rutgers in New Jersey on Sept. 19. On Sept. 26, USC will have a home showdown against University of Oregon in their second conference game.
UCLA hopes to improve big time from its 3-9 slate of last year as the Bruins begin at their UC and former PAC 12 rival University of California in Berkeley on Sept. 5 at 7:30 p.m. The Bruins start their Big 10 at the Rose Bowl against Purdue from Indiana on Sept. 19 at 8 p.m. UCLA’s home opener is on Sept. 12 against San Diego State, starting at 4:15 p.m.
_____________
Gardena juniors get 2 wins; Srs. fall short of goal
The Gardena-Rosecrans Park Dodger Dream junior baseball team came to life getting a pair of wins over Compton Early College and Gonzales Park II last week at Gonzales Park in Compton.
On Aug. 5, Gardena rolled over Compton Early College 8-1. Last Friday, Gardena downed Gonzales Park II 7-1, behind a combined one-hitter from twin brother pitchers Eli and Zeke Wilkerson. They combined for eight strikeouts.
Against Compton Early College, pitcher Damicos Gonzalez pitched two hitless innings. A.J. Salazar had a two-run double.
Against Gonzales Park II, Priscila Guerrero went 2-for-2 with three runs batted in. Jorge Guerrero had a run-scoring hit.
Gardena’s seniors lost a nailbiter to South Gate South East 6-5 last Saturday at Gonzales Park.
Juan Castellanos went 3-for-3 with two RBI. Anthony Macias had an RBI sacrifice fly and a double. Diego Romo drove in a run with a hit and scored once. Max Garcia pitched two scoreless innings.
“We played them tough,” Gardena head coach Tom Anderson said.
Earlier this season, Gardena lost to South East 9-2.
Gardena’s juniors, age 15-and-under, played Gonzales Park I on Wednesday. Its seniors (age 16-18) will face Marine League foe Rancho Dominguez Prep from Long Beach on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Gonzales Park.
