Story & photos by Jim McCormack
Football:
Lightning can be deadly no matter where it strikes … a forest, a golf course … or a football field.
Friday night it was at Excelsior High in Norwalk where top-seeded Pasadena used its big play ability to topple La Mirada, 41-31, in a CIF Division 7 quarterfinal football game.
One of the difficulties of playing a team that is faster than you is that you can’t duplicate that speed in practice.
Using its speed advantage, Pasadena bolted out to a 20-0 second-quarter lead before La Mirada knew what hit it, then the Bulldogs (10-2) scored enough in the second half to keep the Matadors (7-5) at bay.
Pasadena’s semifinal opponent, and host, is Aquinas of San Bernardino, which edged Leuzinger, 35-34 Friday night.
The Bulldogs’ explosiveness Friday night was its usual culprits, seniors Kaden Taylor and wide out Mekhi Fox.
Fox had an amazing evening. Although he touched the ball only about a half-dozen times, he scored four times, two on passes (21 and 60 yards) from Fox, once on a 58-yard punt return and finally on a 14-yard run on a reverse that sealed the victory with 2:51 to play.
Taylor also embellished his season credentials, running for one touchdown (14 yards for the Bulldogs’ first score) and throwing three TD passes, two to Fox and the third, a 60-yarder, to Jason Sanford Jr. Fox has had a hand in 40 of the Bulldogs’ 63 touchdowns this season (31 passing, nine rushing).
While the Bulldog defense was pushed around a bit by the Matadors it did collect four turnovers (three fumbles and an
interception) and put together a nice early goal line stand that kept La Mirada out of the end zone.
La Mirada’s impressive tight end, Aidan Nasser, scored three of La Mirada’s four touchdowns on receptions from Nehuel Garcvia (2) and Tanner Roberts (1). Roberts scored the fourth TD on a 1-yard run.
In an impressive display of calm, La Mirada kicker Aidan Petruescu kicked three field goals, all were good but only the last one counted as officials stopped play as he kicked on the first two, from 31 yards as time expired in the first half.
Box Score:
PHS: 14-6-14-7-(41)
LM: 0-10-8-13-(31)
Records: Pasadena (9-2); La Mirada (7-5)
Division 7 Quarterfinal Scores:
PHS 41, La Mirada 31
Aquinas 35, Leuzinger 34
Mira Costa 41, Alta Loma 14
St. Pius X 34, Rio Hondo Prep 20
Division 7 Semifinals:
PHS vs Aquinas
Mira Costa vs St. Pius X
To view photo gallery of Jim McCormack, click on the Facebook link here: Facebook
Baseball: Walnut showed its heart and mettle on Thursday. Two days after a disappointing 3-2 loss to visiting South Hills, the Mustangs struck back. WHS secured a 4-0 victory at SHHS. With one week to go in the 2024 regular season, South Hills and Walnut are tied atop the Hacienda League standings with identical 7-1 […]
Baseball: Three days after a 6-5 home loss to South Pasadena, San Marino answered back. The Titans edged their host, 5-3, on Thursday. With two games to play in the 2024 regular season, the Titans and Tigers are tied at 7-3 in the Rio Hondo League penthouse. San Marino has two advantages, though. SMHS won […]
College Baseball: With four games to play, and thanks to a Mt. SAC win, and a Long Beach loss, the Mounties are now just one-game back of the second-place Vikings in the South Coast Conference standings. On Thursday, MSAC hammered LA Harbor, 12-2, and the Mounties seven-game current win streak is an SCC best. They […]
Pictured: Thomas Villanueva, Evan Nahra & Jameson Ferraro College Baseball: No biggie. With their postseason hopes on the line, Pasadena City College entered the final week of their South Coast Conference schedule in a two-way tie for fourth place with El Camino. To make the task even steeper, the Lancers were set to face the […]
Photo of Hayden Geeting courtesy of Amanda Lin Boys Tennis: Thanks to Maranatha tennis for this report: With their hopes for qualifying for the playoffs riding on this match, Maranatha knew what they had to do. It wasn’t impossible. The plan on how to get it done was in place; but to do it, they […]
Baseball: The San Dimas victory tour continued on Wednesday at Northview High School. SDHS claimed a 16-2 Valle Vista League victory in five innings. The Saints out-hit the Vikings, 21-4, and they had a 7-1 advantage in extra-base hits. Through the first seven Valle Vista League games, SDHS has outscored its opponents by a combined […]
Baseball: Pasadena earned its first two-game Pacific League sweep of the 2024 season. After a 2-0 victory on Tuesday, the Bulldogs defeated the Tornados, 4-2, on Wednesday. Adrian Oseguera went the first 1 1/3 innings, and he allowed one run on two hits. Reese Kim did the heavy lifting, going 5 2/3 and he surrendered […]
Baseball: If you saw the Baseline League standings, you might write off Upland as a bottom tier program in 2024. But that would be both inaccurate and unfair. In fact, the Highlanders are just nine runs from being 8-3 instead of 3-8 in league games. And they’re a very young team. After falling 2-1 at […]
Baseball: Damien continues its quest for a Baseline League championship. The Spartans edged Rancho Cucamonga, 2-1, on Wednesday, and they remain one-half a game back of Los Osos with four to play. Nathan Ries went six innings to earn the win. Ries surrendered one unearned run on two hits. He walked one and struck out […]
