Football Fights for Victory

By Garrison Adomian

On Friday Sep. 12, the El Segundo Football team succeeded in an unheard of event.  A win against West Torrance sets a “W” in the winner’s column. In the beginning of the game the Warriors invaded Eagles territory with a West flag held high to boast of the last two year’s victories.  These past losses for El Segundo have tallied 90 points for West and 0 for El Segundo.  However, with a new start and some determination, the Eagles shut out West with a 3-0 victory that sent West’s flag home in shame.  “We never gave up.   We prepared all summer for this, and our hard work paid off” said Eagles defensive lineman senior Stephen Pliaconis.  The Eagles defense put up a solid resistance to West’s powerful run game.   Although West Torrance had long drives against El Segundo, missed opportunities and a 4th and 1 stop by the Eagles defense proved the adamancy of the team.  The defensive line held strong and drove the Warriors Offensive line back into their quarterback.  Eagle’s linebackers flew across the field to make daring tackles.  The defensive backs played deep coverage excellently to defend from the warriors passing game.  On the other side of the ball, El Segundo found that its offensive game had improved dramatically.  Although no touchdowns were made due to unnecessary penalties, the Eagle offense has become a threat to defenses around the South Bay.  The offense, spear-headed by a strong offensive line, drove the ball down the Warrior’s throats and entered scoring position several times, although they were also thwarted by penalties.  Quarterback Mike Bundy completed nearly 15 passes to receivers Joey Shauffhauser and Kevin Post for big gains.  Running back senior Gage Mortessen, and Kyle Yatabe, as well as juniors Daniel Warren and Nigel Nootbar also gained significant yardage.   Although neither side gained a touchdown, senior kicker Alex Merced won the game with a 27 yard field goal and concluding in a 3-0 victory that changed the South Bay’s opinions of the Eagles football team.
The Eagles came out again Friday Sep.19 against the Cathedral High Phantoms.  A very athletic team exploded out early to score three times against the Eagles and gained significant momentum.  It was not until the Eagles changed the momentum with a defensive interception that they found momentum working for them.  The Eagles by the end of the first half had nearly caught up to the phantoms 21-14.  The start of the second half brought much anticipation to the El Segundo Eagles who now found themselves struggling at 28-21 drove hard down the field close for an Eagle's touchdown.  But, sadly, the Phantoms were able to gain three more touchdowns after breakdowns on both sides of the Eagle game.  The game ended 41-21 with the Phantoms victorious.  But all was not soiled for El Segundo, Coach Shevlin was proud of the team's steadfastness in the bitter fight and their strong will to succeed.  Gage Mortessen rushed for over 70 yards, while Eagles quarterback Mike Bundy threw for over a hundred yards.  Defensively, the Eagles played stubbornly with Matt Rowland making nearly 5 tackles and Grant Palmer 7 tackles.  The defense did well to contain the explosive, USC-bound running back, Randall Carroll.
Last Friday, Sep. 26, marked the Eagles game against Mary Star. In an excellent game, the Eagles achieved victory with a final score of 53-10. Quarterback Michael Bundy was out of the game, and instead Grant Palmer substituted as quarterback. Another admirable performance came from Kyle Yatabe, who rushed for over 150 yards. The offensive line forged a path to victory, and all in all, the Eagles made a resounded recovery from the previous week’s loss. With a current record of 2 wins and 1 loss, ESHS has begun what will definitely be a great season. Our next game is this Friday, against St. Bernard, and will provide the Eagles with another chance to prove their skill. Go Eagles!

Boys Water Polo Shoots Hard and Scores Big

By Lena Hedayat

On Tuesday, September 16, the El Segundo Varsity water polo team played an effortless game against Arcadia. The Eagles dominated the opposing team with a score of 23-8. With the first game under their Speedos, the team has gained momentum into the season. Although each player got a chance to contribute throughout the game, the bulk of the goals were scored by sophomore Jackson Hogoboom and junior Beau Blacksten. Within the first minute of the game, both boys put in one goal apiece. While Blacksten put in six goals, Hogoboom put in nine. Senior Nicolas Curcio and juniors Max Reynolds, Morgan Somo, and Stephen Lasky, also added to the supreme score. In event of the win and of the upcoming season, senior Alex Richardson said, “It was a good test for our team and it came out pretty well. We hope to have a successful season and things are looking up. We really want to win league.”  This is a though order as this is their first year in Division IV, a very competitive group, indeed.
Following the successful Arcadia game was a varsity tournament in Riverside.  The Eagles won two out of their five next games and, though it was not their best showing, they still played well. Dos Pueblos, Redlands, and Norco were the lucky winners, but El Segundo defeated Great Oak and Chaparrel. Senior Zack Reed commented, “We’re in for a tough season, but we’ve got a smart team, a great coaching staff, and a lot of heart. We’re optimistic.”Junior Max Reynolds also added, “I’m really happy with the way the season’s going and I’m looking forward to continuing to improve and hopefully win league.” The Eagles had their most recent game on September 24, against Crescenta Valley. The team was a division above El Segundo and played a harsh game. They won with a total of thirteen points, leaving the Eagles at eleven. The conference season stands 1-1-0 so far.

Young Volleyball Team Fights Hard

By Andrew Gen and Lena Hedayat

Lady Eagle’s volleyball team starts off their season with a harsh game against the Palos Verdes Sea Kings on September 17. With a scoring of the best three sets out of five, the Eagles were defeated in the first three sets, surrendering every game to the powerful Sea Kings. The Eagles played good defense but with a young team of sophomores and juniors, the team was overpowered. Starting off the first game, sophomore Antoinette Alugbue set the tone for the Eagles to gain momentum, but with the powerful spikes set by the Sea Kings, the Eagles lost three competitive games with the scores 16-25, 14-25 and 17-25.
The ladies next matched against Chadwick. Though hoping to make a comeback, they were unfortunately presented with a loss. The subsequent match against Peninsula was not a victory either. Even though the ladies have faced this early letdown, they still have high hopes for their season.  Junior Keely Stevenson said, “Our season this year has been good. We are practicing very hard and hoping to win our league this year.”
El Segundo’s first opportunity to  win came at the expense of Culver City. The Lady Eagles clawed  out a victory, winning in first three sets. The first set ended 25-2, second 25-17, and the third 25-23 all in the Eagle’s favor. Sophomore Shawna Lum says as a result of these beginning matches, “Our season has started off pretty good. The teams we have played have been pretty tough and they are going to keep coming. If we play each game at the same level of intensity and omit the errors, we have the capability to beat every opponent.”

Girls Tennis Starts off Strong

By Andrew Gen

The girl’s tennis team starts off a strong season against Inglewood on September 11. Creaming the Inglewood team 18-0, number one singles sophomore Hazuki Onaga won all three matches 6-0. Adding to the team’s dominance was number two singles player senior Amy Romeo and sophomores Annie Nguyen and Michelle Liu who all swept the Inglewood team 6-0 in each of their three matches. Number one doubles senior Suzanne Lipscomb and junior Julia Rappaport, won all three of their doubles matches with scores of 6-0, 6-0 and 6-1.
Following the Inglewood game, the team played the Redondo Sea Hawks on the 16th. The Eagles fought a tough match but the experience from the Sea Hawks was overpowering and the Eagles lost 1-17. Onaga supplied the only win with a 6-0 score.  The following Thursday the tennis team played Culver City. The Eagles played well against the Centaurs and won 12-6 with full singles sweeps from Onaga (6-0, 6-0, 6-0), Romeo (6-0, 6-0, 6-1), and Rappaport (6-0, 6-1, 6-3) and two wins from freshman Lauren Villanueva and Liu. The next day the Eagles faced Bishop Montgomery. With sweeps from singles players Onaga and Romeo and number one doubles of Lipscomb and Rappaport gave the Eagles a leg up against the Knights and giving them a win of 11-7.
With three wins under their sleeve, the Eagles head into their 5th game against the West Torrance Tartars. The Eagles played a close game against the Tartars and it came down to the last three doubles matches. With the score at 6-9 the Eagles needed to win all three to tie the match  but was only able to win two ending the game 8-10. Their last game of the first month of the season was against Culver City. With the Centaurs looking for revenge on their last loss the Eagles kept focus and won again 10-8. Mixing up the line up, the Eagles singles of Villanueva and Rappaport swept their games and so did the doubles teams of Onaga and junior Ashley Guzman and Liu and Nguyen.
With their first month’s games under wraps, the Eagles head into October with a 4-2 record. The Eagles look forward to this week’s matches against Chadwick on Thursday and Bishop on Friday. Good luck Eagles. 

Congratulations on a great start to the season!!