By Joe Snyder
Serra High’s boys’ basketball team began the Camino Real League with success by topping Bosco Tech from Rosemead 61-52 last Friday in Serra’s home opener.
The Cavaliers had to overcome the Techsters’ three-point shooting that gave them an early lead. Serra managed to pull out to a 19-14 lead after the first quarter and led by as many as 19 points, including 51-32 after three periods. Serra was able to breeze to its ninth overall win against seven losses.
“We reached our game plan,” Serra head coach DeJohn Frazier said. “We had good conditioning during the summer leagues.”
The Cavaliers were led by Chinenerem Anyikwa with a game-high 23 points, 15 of those in the second half. Drew Carter added 18 points and Daryl Wasson chipped in 14.
On Saturday, Serra traveled to Eastside High in Lancaster to play against Vasquez in the Jesse Parker Showcase Classic. The Cavaliers came out with a 79-66 win to improve to 10-7 overall.
Wasson led Serra with 37 points, followed by Carter with 17 and Anyikwa with 15.
The Cavaliers resume league at Bishop Amat High in La Puente Friday at 7 p.m. before a CRL rivalry at home against Torrance Bishop Montgomery, which currently displays a 15-2 record, next Wednesday at the same time.
__________
Local prep flag gridders get top honors
Frank Saldana, who guided Carson High’s girls’ flag football team to the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division I championship, was selected as South Bay Coach of the Year by the Daily Breeze.
Saldana guided the Lady Colts to the Division I crown by topping Woodland Hills El Camino Real in the final on Nov. 22 at Garfield High in East L.A. Carson also won the Marine League crown.
The Colts had two other players make all-area in sophomore Kamlyn Blockett and sophomore Soriyah Maulupe.
Narbonne sophomore Faith Ugoye was Defensive Player of the Year. She recorded 79 tackles and 25 interceptions helping the Gauchos advance to the L.A. City Section Division I playoffs.
Also making all-South Bay for the Gauchos was sophomore Hiddyah Meadows.
Other local players landing on all-area included senior Jennah Black, who keyed Torrance to the Pioneer League title, and South Torrance’s Kylie Winster.
Player of the Year went to sophomore quarterback Blair Nolen from Redondo, which won the Bay League and made the CIF-Southern Section Division I playoffs before losing to finalist and nationally-ranked Orange Lutheran in the first round, and San Pedro senior Madison Adrid was Offensive Player of the Year. Adrid rushed for 3,101 yards and scored 42 touchdowns for the Pirates.
No players from Serra nor North Torrance made all-area.
______________
Dodgers World Series repeat Highlight 2025
Los Angeles Dodger fans will remember this year for not just winning the Major League Baseball World Series championship but becoming the first Dodger team to win back-to-back World Series crowns (winning in 2024) for the first time in franchise history and the first in the Major Leagues to do so since the New York Yankees won three consecutive World Series titles from 1998-2000.
With a lot of depth, the Dodgers were able to overcome obstacles of a rash of injuries throughout much of the season that included a few slumps but still pulled out yet another National league Western Division crown with a 93-69 record over the second-place San Diego Padres.
The Dodgers, behind such superstars of Shoji Ohtani, Fred Freeman, Mookie Betts, Clayton Kershaw, Yamamoto and numerous others, had the worst of the National League divisional winners forcing them to play a best-of-three wildcard series against the Cincinnati Reds. The Dodgers handled the Reds in two straight, then won the divisional series over the Eastern Division champion Philadelphia Phillies three games to one, then the National League championship series against the Milwaukee Brewers in a four-game sweep, avenging their regular season series sweep by the Brewers. The Dodgers, then, took on a talented well-disciplined Toronto Bluejay squad, that was seeking its first World Series title since winning back-to-back in the 1992 and 1993 seasons. It appeared that the Bluejays would defeat the Dodgers as they came home to Toronto with a 3-2 series lead. The Dodgers bounced back with a 5-1 win in Game 6 before a dramatic 11-inning 5-4 win over the Bluejays in the decisive Game 7.
Kershaw, who played 18 seasons with the Dodgers, retired but the Dodgers have other talented players as they seek to become the third team ever but first ever in the National League to win three consecutive World Series championships for 2026. The Yankees won three straight from 1998-2000, four consecutive from 1936-39 and five in a row from 1949-53. The Oakland (soon to be in Las Vegas) Athletics won three straight from 1972-74.
The Rams are still in a hunt for the National Football League Western Division title but now tied with their rival San Francisco 49ers for second place, one game behind the front-running Seattle Seahawks after their heartbreaking overtime 38-37 defeat to the Seahawks on Dec. 18 in Seattle. They are still in the playoffs but need to win over the host Atlanta Falcons and their regular season finale at SoFi Stadium against the NFC West cellar-dwelling Arizona Cardinals with some help to pull off the division and a top seed in the playoffs. Last season, the Rams were eliminated by the host Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC semifinals.
In college sports, Cal State Dominguez Hills men’s and women’s basketball teams enjoyed a banner 2024-25 season by sweeping the NCAA Division II Western Regional crowns and both advancing to the finals before they lost. The Toro men, behind former Serra High standout Jeremy Dent-Smith who is now a senior, lost a one-point game at 74-73 to Southeastern from Florida while the women fell to Grand Valley from Michigan.
In prep action, the big highlight was last spring from the Serra High boys’ track and field team who tied for the CIF-Southern Section Division IV title with Calabasas Viewpoint, behind hurdler Otis “Tre” Harrison who won the 110-meter highs and the 300 intermediates. Harrison, however, did not enjoy the success he had a year earlier in the 300, being eliminated in the Southern Section Masters meet.
Serra and North Torrance’s girls’ basketball team advanced to the Southern Section finals and the CIF-Southern California Regionals. The Lady Cavaliers lost in the IVAA finals to Rancho Santa Margarita Tesoro 59-46 and the Saxons lost to Oak Park 68-57. North played in the regional Division I playoffs falling to powerful Windward 62-49 in Mar Vista. Serra traveled about 150 miles to Santa Paula in the Division IV playoffs and fell on the short end of a 44-40 score.
Carson High’s baseball team captured its first CIF-Los Angeles City Division I championship with a 3-1 win over Marine League rival Banning on May 24 at Dodger Stadium.
The Lady Colts track and field team continued to dominate the CIF-L.A. City Section by winning their ninth consecutive crown.
The Colts also had a big fall in football. Carson’s football team went on to capture the CIF-L.A. City Open Division title with a 36-0 shutout win over Crenshaw on Nov. 29 at L.A. Southwest College. Carson’s girls’ flag football team won the City Division I title over El Camino Real last month at Garfield High in East L.A. The Colt boys’ football team lost in the Southern California Regional Division IIIA championship bowl to eventual CIF-State champion Robert F. Kennedy High from Delano 35-33.
Serra High’s football team came into the season with high hopes, behind preseason all-American and Ohio State University-bound Khary Wilder. Instead, a rash of injuries brought the Cavaliers down as they missed the CIF-Southern Section playoffs for the first time since 2004.
Torrance High’s football team ended its regular season at 10-0 and opened the CIF-Southern Section Division V playoffs against Pioneer League rival Redondo as the top-seed. The Tartars already defeated the Sea Hawks, who were shorthanded throughout the preseason due to an injury of star all-around player Bo Ausmus, 34-24, but Redondo turned the table with a 21-14 victory ending the Tartars’ hopes of a second Southern Section crown, the only being two years ago in Division X. The Sea Hawks went on to the finals for the first time since 1942 (Redondo won titles in 1942, 1943 and 1944 but only behind L.A. Times and Herald Examiner polls since there were no playoffs in those latter two seasons due to World War II) but fell to Arcadia Rio Hondo Prep 29-7 on Nov. 29 at Redondo.
Gardena finished third, behind champion Carson and runner-up San Pedro, in the Marine League and advanced to the CIF-L.A. City Section Division I quarterfinals before falling in overtime to host South Gate 32-24, after taking a 24-8 lead into the fourth quarter, on Nov. 14.
El Camino College’s football team finished second, behind champion Mission Viejo Saddleback, College before falling to host Mt. San Antonio College 42-40 in a wild five-overtime game. The Warriors rallied from a three-touchdown deficit to tie it and even had a brief lead before Mt. SAC pulled it off.
