Football Dominates

By Garrison Dolph Adomian

The El Segundo Eagles have fought through a temporary slump and have fought hard for their position.  After the victory against the Torrance Tartars, the Eagles entered a bizarre game against the Centennial Apaches.  This athletic team hosted an early game that threw the Eagles off their normal biological clocks.  The Eagles were at the mercy of the Apaches' fiery attitudes that took advantage of their unprepared states.  The first half proved negative for El Segundo, the score ended with the Apaches ahead.  With the start of the second half, the Eagles had pulled their act together.  Kicker Alex Merced perhaps saved the game with his numerous field goals.  The offense drove the ball down the throats of the savage Apaches while the defense crushed the last hope they had left.  However, the Apaches gave El Segundo a bloody nose with their stubborn defiance and showed the Eagles the risk of slacking off.  The game ended with a score of 22-19 and drove the Eagles on to the next game against the North Torrance Saxons.

The game against the Saxons is a painful tale of simply unlucky factors.  El Segundo at the time was ranked number 5 in the South Bay with North ranked at number 4.  This was quite possibly the biggest game of the season in the Pioneer League.  The winner of this game would automatically go on to the playoffs and would be in line for league champions.  As the game started, no advantage was pressed on either side.  Mike Bundy was able to complete a pass for a touchdown to Kevin Post.  During the next offensive series Bundy was hit in the knee and was replaced by Grant Palmer.  Palmer did the best he could and had an excellent game, but had not practiced nearly as much as Bundy had.  This limited the Eagle's passing game and put much more pressure on the defense.  Palmer was able to finish a series with another touchdown with a run by Gage Mortessen.  The defense held strong limiting the Saxons to no first downs and intercepting three of Norths's passes.  However, due to breakdowns, North was able to score twice before the end of the half and tied the game.  With the start of the second half, the Eagles began having minor setbacks including line breakdowns and missed reads.  This did not stop the Eagles entirely though, they were able to push on once more almost to the end zone.  But because of a bad snap they were forced to settle for a field goal putting them in the lead by a small margin.  The Eagles' defense remained strong giving up limited yardage.  Unfortunately the referees made less than fair calls benefiting the Saxons and putting them in scoring range.  North was able to score and pulled ahead 21-17 and stalemated the El Segundo offense.  The Daily Breeze titled their article on the game "North Passes the Test".  If this is true then they passed with a C-.  They won due to injuries, penalties, and Eagle mistakes.  The Eagles look forward to meeting the Saxons again in the playoffs and utterly ripping them apart with no mercy given to these marauding barbarians.

After the defeat against North, the Eagles truly created a mindset of iron.  The game against the Lawndale Cardinals would determine if the Eagles could go to the playoffs or not.  Bundy came back from his injury against North and led the offense to victory.  However, the Cardinals were no pushovers, they came out with a strong defense that limited El Segundo's offense and an offense that was a constant threat.  There was no major action in the first half that ended with a score of 14-6 El Segundo.  The second half was the product of a focused and well disciplined team.  Kevin Post, Joey Schaffhauser, Kyle Yatabe, and Gage Mortesen all tallied up El Segundo points.  This opened up doors to all Eagle secondaries.  Schaffhauser came in at quarterback, Santana Camilleri and Stephen Pliaconis paved a way through the defenders running with the ball.  The offensive line was big in this game, the success of the numerous backs was dependent on them.  Eagle defender Nic Kessler, who had an exceptional game stopping Lawndale, stated " I have more respect for the O-Line than anyone else on the team...they are the manliest guys out there and led our team to victory".  Kessler's words inspired his linemen who treat him and other secondaries with great care.  Jimmy Quinones proved his prowess with his forceful returns on special teams that put the Eagles in scoring position each time.  Defensive lineman Jason Karp and secondary Grant Palmer both sustained injuries that will deter El Segundo defenses but will not diminish morale.  The game ended with a score of 42-6 with the Eagle qualified for playoffs. 
The final league game against South Torrance was played November 14. It was a battle for second place in the Pioneer League. 

Boys' Water Polo Comes Close

By Lena Hedayat

   The Boys’ Varsity Water Polo team performed very well during their season. Earning nothing but straight wins except for their two losses against Santa Monica, the Eagles led a successful path. On October 22, the boys, for the second time, defeated Beverly Hills, ending with a final score of 12-8. They carried out the game very well with seniors Dayne Contarsy and Nicholas Curcio, juniors Max Reynolds, Beau Balcksten, and Morgan Somo all contributing to the goals. The Eagles next game took place on October 27 against Milken. The Eagles slaughtered the opposing team ending 17-2 with goals put in by Reynolds, Contarsy, Curcio, senior James Meyerhoff, Blacksten, and sophomore Jackson Hogoboom. The next two games against Torrance on October 29 and Culver City on November 3 were two more wins to tuck under their Speedos. Senior Alex Richardson commented on the team’s current wins, “Our team has been doing great. We really owe a lot to our superb coaching staff, and our invaluable statisticians.”
Then the final league game took place on November 5 against Santa Monica. Probably one of the biggest turnouts to a water polo game in a very long time, the Varsity boys received a great deal of support from their fellow Eagles, family, and teachers. Despite the fact that the boys lost 6-9, the Eagles still showed great sportsmanship. This performance was very much improved from the previous game against Santa Monica and something the Eagles should not look down on too harshly. Respectfully taking their second place mark, the boys’ Varsity continued on to CIF.
     On Tuesday, November 12, the Eagles achieved an exceptionally good win against Sonora High School during the first round in CIF. Ending the game 14-7, the Eagles made some excellent plays and intelligent passes. Players Curcio, Meyerhoff, Blacksten, Reynolds, Somo, and Hogoboom all added to the supreme score, and Richardson’s juggernaut goal keeping, kept Sonora at Bay with eight saves throughout the game. Having a great success in their first CIF game, the boys headed off to Palm Desert with high hopes. However, the boys faced a a very tough opposing team. The Palm Desert Aztecs possessed noticeable talent, and were able to up the Eagles by five points towards the end of the game. The opposing team had two valuable players who gave their teammates several of the goals. Somo was the leading Eagle scorer chucking in five successful shots. The boys’ Varsity playing strategy worked efficiently through the first part of the game, but exhaustion caused the boys to flail in their skills. This fatigue was due to the instant turnaround the Eagles had to make from playing Sonora the previous day to driving four hours on a bus all the way to Palm Desert.
            Despite this loss, the boys had a great season. Senior and team captain Zack Reed concluded, “It was an awesome season overall. We far exceeded our expectations for the year, reaching the magical 20 wins, and did a little damage in a higher division. Plus we learned a lot, worked hard, and had a plethora of good memories.”

Girls Volleyball Finishes Off Season

By Andrew Gen and Lena Hedayat

With the loss of their first CIF match, the Girls’ Varsity Volleyball team ended their season. However, they played their games very well. Though they lost against South Torrance twice, once on October 22 and again on November 6, the ladies defeated Torrance on October 24 and North Torrance on October 30. These wins enabled the girls to go to CIF. The first South Torrance match was a close loss, the first set ending 15-25: loss, second set 25-23: win, third set 24-26: loss, and fourth set 18-25: loss. The Varsity girls played extremely well despite the downfall. The next match against Torrance resulted in the first set 25-18: win, second set 14-25: loss, third set: 25-18: win, fourth set 15-25: loss, and finishing the fifth set 15-9: win, earning a triumph on the whole match which was excellently played.
Then the girls celebrated another victory against North Torrance winning three out of the five sets. Once again, the girls showed immense talent throughout each set. The first set ended 22-25: loss, the second 25-17: win, the third 25-23: win, the fourth 23-25: loss, and completed the match with winning the fifth set 16-14: win. The Lady Eagles’ final losing match against South Torrance ended with the girls losing the first three sets in the game, the first set ceasing at 19-25, the second 24-26, and the third 19-25; giving the win to their opponents. Sophomore Jessy Hoeschler says, “We are having a great season so far for such a young team. We are all really excited just to have gotten this far. We all played together and with confidence.”

Due to their excellent wins, the varsity went on to CIF. On November 12 the Lady Eagles had their first CIF match against Gelndora. The ladies played well, but unfortunately were not able to win. Yet the girls were still proud to make it that far. Sophomore Shawna Lum comments, “Thanks to the leadership of our favorite senior, our team was able to get second in league. It’s a great season for us!”  The first set ended 19-25, the second 17-25, third 19-25, the Eagles losing all three sets. However, as senior and captain Missy Schaefer wraps up with, “This season was an amazing breakthrough, we worked so hard all season and it paid off. I am proud of my team and next year will be even better.”

 

Tennis: Ending the Season...Kiki goes to CIF!

By Andrew Gen

The girl’s tennis team played their final games with success beating Torrance (11-7) on October 21, but suffered  a loss against North Torrance (7-11) on the 23, a win against South Torrance (12-6) on the 28, a win against Torrance (12-6) on the 30, and a loss against North Torrance (7-11) on November 3.
As the girl’s tennis season came to a close, the Lady Eagles went to finals on November  5. The undefeated Hazuki (Kiki) Onaga, the only player who won every league set for the team, will be representing the Eagles in CIF individuals. Beating number one singles from Torrance (6-0, 6-0), North Torrance (6-0, 6-0), and South Torrance (6-1, 6-0), Kiki got her ticket into the finals of the Pioneer Final’s bracket. Destroying the North Torrance number one player 6-1, 6-0 in finals made Kiki this years league champion and a ticket into CIF. Coach Kirby Onaga commented on Kiki’s performance in the finals, “The last time Kiki played [the number one girl from North], her opponent was up 4-1, but this time Kiki took charge after the first game.”
This season, the Eagles finish their season with a record of 9-10 and a league record of 4-5. Kiki was undefeated in league; this young sophomore is and will continue to lead the girl’s tennis team to many more victories in the next upcoming seasons. And a final goodbye to the futures of seniors Amy Romeo and Suzanne Lipscomb who have ended their high school tennis careers. Good luck Kiki in CIF!

Cross Country - Finishing the Season

By Jeffery Liu

The Cross Country Team finishes off their season with two meets at the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational and at the Pioneer League Finals.

While they were competing at the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational on October 24, El Segundo was able to beat Centennial High (they brought their basketball team to compete), but they fell short on attaining a higher place. The fastest runner for the girls’ team was Senior Jenna Rich, who came in at 72nd place out of 122 competitors. Rich was followed by Freshman Darcy Brown who got 78th. Both of their times were below 24 minutes. The boys’ team did not fare as well, but they had more intense competition coming from teams from many schools. The Eagle’s fastest runner in the boys was Junior Chris Reed who came in 116th place out of 133 competitors; he was closely followed by Sophomore Austin Van Biezen who achieved 117th place. Many other teams out ran the Eagle’s, but it is due to months of prior training and practice, which our team, unfortunately, was unable to have.

The second meet was the Pioneer League Finals in Torrance. At this meet, the Eagles competed against Torrance, North Torrance, South Torrance, and Centennial. The top runners for the girls team were Sophomore Maureen O’Hanlon and Captain Rich; they came in at 9th and 10th place respectively. The boys team finished the three mile course very quickly (their times were below 21 minutes); however, they were defeated by the three teams from Torrance, North, and South.

The Captains, Sophomore Garett Lopez-Dominetta and Senior Jenna Rich, believe that this season is just the beginning for the Cross Country team. Lopez-Dominetta considers the season as a good start for future cross country teams. “I have enjoyed the season.  It was the first team in about 20 years so it was quite fun. We were a bit unprepared due to how quickly we tried to organize. Hopefully we may start training over the summer for the next season so we can compete more.  I am also hopeful that next year I'll see some new faces and some people that were on the team this year come out again.” According to Rich, “Overall [the team] improved a lot. It was our first year. I think the practice really paid off; in each race we beat our times I wish that I can come back next year, Good luck to everyone else that is going to do cross country next year.”

Although they were not able to make it to CIF, the El Segundo Cross Country team has returned to the school with a great season. With the determination and hope that the runners have, it is no doubt that they will continue to improve and achieve greater heights next year!

Varsity Players for Fall Season

Football	Boys Water Polo	Girls Tennis	Cross Country	Girls Volleyball
1 - Kevin Post 3 - Brice Savage 6 - Michael Bundy 7 - Grant Palmer 8 - Alex Merced 10 - Joey Shaffhauser 11 - Kyle Yatabe 15 - Nigel Nootbar 17 - Jimmy Quinones 19 - Scott Hendricks 20 - Sean DeRrancesco 21 - Nick Kessler 25 - Daniel Warren 34 - Keanu Garlitos 35 - Santana Camilleri 41 - Brandon Jimenez 42 - Wade Laroushe 44 - Gage Mortesen 46 - Kily Cosby 52 - Richard Seigle 53 - Matt Rowland 54 - Matt Monzo 56 - Dolph Adomian 57 - Trevor Doukakis 59 - Zach Cooper 62 - Stephen Pliaconis 64 - Jordan Orechwa 68 - DDillon Cabezas 71 - Jason Karp 72 - Matt Roach 73 - Matt Booterbaugh 75 - Mike Port 77 - Matt Larsen 87 - Josh Maldonado	1 - Alex Richardson 1a - Christopher Cordobes 4 - Max Reynolds 6 - Robert Cordobes 7 - Dane Contarsy 8 - Nicolas Curcio 10 - James Meyerhoff 11 - Jeffery Allison 13 - Morgan Sommo 15 - Beau Blacksten 16 - Zackery Reed 18 - Jackson Hogoboom 19 - Stephen Lasky	Seniors: Suzanne Lipscomb Amy Romeo Juniors Ashley Guzman Julia Rappaport Sophomores: Christy Crigler Becca Goetz Michelle Liu Hazuki Onaga Annie Nguyen Freshman: Lauren Villanueva	Seniors: Jenna Rich Juniors: Molly McCue Amy Reaser Allison Reaser Chris Reed Jack Riordan Sophomores: Cara de Freitas Bart Maureen O'Hanlon Garett Lopez Dominetta Colin Taylor Michael Moore Austin Van Biezen Freshman: Darcy Brown	Missy Shaefer Shawna Lum Dani Ragan Keeley Stevenson Toni Alugbue Miranda Gomez Allisa Schillinger Nicole Tomura Jesse Hoeshler Katie Roach Erika Wolfvang Allisa Hingley Lindsey Martin Ashleigh Thoman

 

 

Great Job This Month Eagles!

	Football	Tennis	Volleyball	Water Polo	Cross Country
Record	8-2	9-10	7-1	18-8	Individual Placements
Recent Score	South 28-7 Win	North 7-11 Loss	Glendora 0-3 Loss	Palm Desert 7-12 Loss	San Antonio College Invitational
Next Game	Playoffs	Onaga in CIF Tournament	Round 1 CIF Loss	Round 2 CIF Loss	Season Over