It was football media day for six West Valley League teams on Saturday at Granada Hills, and as a unit, the coaches and players are convinced they have a chance to be the best league in the City Section in terms of competition.
While defending league champion Birmingham has an overall 49-game winning streak against City Section opponents, Cleveland, Granada Hills, Chatsworth, Taft and El Camino Real hope to be factors in the playoffs.
Cleveland is making strides to challenge for second place with a group of talented juniors, including two Nigerian-born players, running back Moyosoreoluwa Odebunmi and linebacker Oluwafemi Okeola.
Odebunmi, in his first varsity carry in a scrimmage against Van Nuys on Thursday, ran for a touchdown.
“When I scored, I was like, ‘Oh wow,’” he said. “But I know it’s not going to be easy.”
Birmingham has an offensive line filled with 300 pounders, and when 6-foot-5, 260-pound quarterback Kevin Hawkins plays tight end, the Patriots are truly giants up front. Coach Jim Rose said of Hawkins running the ball: “It’s like tackling a lineman. He’s a huge guy out there.”
Birmingham held a pizza eating contest this past week, and the winner was lineman Pablo Granados, who ate 10 slices in seven minutes. Hawkins was runner-up with seven.
Chatsworth offensive lineman Pablo Escobedo is known for riding his horse in his Chatsworth neighborhood. “It’s pretty cool,” he said.
Chatsworth should have one of the league’s best running backs in junior Devin Del Toro, who has been playing running back and linebacker since his freshman season. Coach Shawn Johnson said he has made “a huge jump.”
There are two players in the league who are outstanding two-sport athletes in football and baseball. That’s Taft quarterback/catcher Nathan Swinson and El Camino Real defensive back/center fielder Shane Bogacz.
Both try to find time to hit the batting cages to stay sharp during football season.
Granada Hills will continue to run the double-wing attack, focusing on running the ball, but the midseason availability of transfer quarterback Taiyo Dorio from Crescenta Valley could cause coach Bucky Brooks to try a pass or two.
Wingback Myles Cross drew laughter when he said, “I caught a pass.”
Brooks offered praise to all coaches and players in the City Section.
“I applaud all those who opted to stay in the neighborhood and play for neighborhood schools,” he said. “I want to salute everyone. I love the competitiveness.”
Addison Moorman could finally breathe. The senior pitcher couldn’t hold her emotions back. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she embraced her teammates on Cal State Northridge’s softball diamond.
A year ago, she struck out 19 batters — only to fall short 1-0 in14 innings. Two years previous, Granada Hills was one run away from City Section glory.
On Saturday in Northridge, so close to home, the City Section Open Division title, the program’s first since 1981, was Moorman’s — and the Highlanders — to celebrate in an 11-2 drubbing of archrival Carson. Moorman put the team on her back, striking out 11 while giving up just four hits and two earned runs across her complete-game performance.
“It feels so good to go out on top, especially against [Carson],” said Moorman, who signed with Lehigh in November. “To finally beat them, overcome that hurdle and then leave as a champion, feels really great.”
Carson held a 1-0 lead early in the game when Atiana Rodriguez and Letu’u Simi combined for back-to-back doubles in the second inning, but from the bottom of the second onward, it was all Granada Hills at the plate.
Addison Moorman delivers a pitch against Carson on Saturday.
(Craig Weston)
The Highlanders capitalized off of two Colts errors in the second inning. Second baseman Lainey Brown and right fielder Elysse Diaz singled home runs, while Giselle Merida tripled to bring home another.
“I’ve been waiting,” said Diaz who went two for four with two RBIs and a double. “It was just boiling and boiling and then here, [the offense] just exploded.”
By the time Moorman returned to the circle for her third inning of work, Granada Hills had scored seven runs on six hits against Carson pitcher Giselle Pantoja — who shut the Highlanders down in 2024 — building a cushion for its star pitcher to go out and do what she’d done all season: dominate.
“‘Every time a pitcher always feels that burden of carrying the team, and [Moorman] dealt with it well,” said Granada Hills coach Ivan Garcia. “Her character is greater than her talent, the way she handles her teammates, the way she leads by example. I mean, you wouldn’t know that she’s a star pitcher, the way she puts bases away, the way she cleans up.”
Moorman made just one big mistake on Saturday — leaving a pitch over the plate to Colts center fielder Rylee Gardner, who desposited the ball over the center-field wall for a solo home run (her eighth of the year) in the sixth inning.
Otherwise, Moorman kept Carson off balance all game. She set down 13 consecutive batters between the second and sixth innings, striking out her 11th batter of the game as the penultimate at-bat of her high school career.
Giselle Merida slides safety into the base for an RBI triple against Carson in the second inning Saturday.
(Craig Weston)
For Moorman, winning a CIF title just 10 minutes away from Granada Hills High, was a moment worth savoring, she said. For Garcia — who said he was happy to see his team goofing off and having fun at a pregame lunch, loosening up before the biggest game of his coaching career — he is looking forward to the 1981 title no longer lurking around his shoulders.
“Third time’s the charm,” he said.
Earlier in the day in Northridge, Taft won its first City Section title in the softball program’s history with an 8-3 victory over Marquez in the Division II final. Legacy made no doubt of its City Section Division I title triumph later Saturday afternoon, shutting out Port of Los Angeles 5-0.
Many Southland sprinters will bring their own heat to the CIF State track and field championships at Buchanan High in Clovis where 100-plus temperatures are forecast for Friday and Saturday.
The absence of last spring’s 100- and 200-meter dash winner Brandon Arrington, whose leg injury in a league meet May 9 forced him to miss the San Diego Section finals and denies him an opportunity to defend his state titles, opens lanes for the fastest athletes in the City and Southern Sections to take advantage. A junior from Mt. Miguel, Arrington broke the San Diego County record (20.35) in the 200 at Arcadia in April and one week later set a section record (10.21) in the 100 at Mt. SAC.
The favorite in the 100 is Concord De La Salle junior Jaden Jefferson, who enters with the best qualifying time (10.30, three-hundredths of a second better than Arrington’s winning time last year), but challenging him will be Antrell Harris of Birmingham (who clocked 10.92 to win the City title May 22), back-to-back Masters Meet winner Demare Dezeurn of Bishop Alemany (10.35), RJ Sermons of Rancho Cucamonga (10.47) and Servite’s trio of Benjamin Harris (10.44), Robert Gardner (10.59) and Jorden Wells (10.63).
Senior Antrell Harris, center, of Birmingham was first in the 100 and 200 meters at the City Section finals May 22 in Lake Balboa.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
In the 200, Masters champion Sermons (20.97) will be in the first heat along with Temecula Valley’s Jack Stadlman (21.24), Dezeurn (21.04) has the fastest qualifying time in the second heat, Servite’s Jace Wells (21.05) and Newbury Park’s Jaden Griffin (21.36) are in the third heat, and joining Jefferson (21.11) in the last heat are Santa Margarita’s Leo Francis (21.14) and Harris (21.66).
Sermons, who announced the day before the Masters Meet that he will skip his senior year of high school to play football at USC, clocked a career-best 20.88 at the Baseline League finals and will try to beat Arrington’s winning time of 20.55 last year.
Servite freshman Jaelen Hunter (46.91) heads a talented group in the 400, which includes Stadlman (47.91), City champion Justin Hart from Granada Hills (47.45) and City runner-up Nathan Santacruz of Venice (47.48). Servite’s 4×100 relay was first at the Masters in 40.40 followed by Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (40.77), which will be in the same heat Friday as JSerra (41.44) and City champion Granada Hills (41.78), and Murrieta Valley (41.55) will be in Heat 4 with Birmingham (41.80).
Servite also has one of the faster foursomes in the 4×400 as the Friars figure to challenge for the team title, won last year by Long Beach Poly, which won the Masters race Saturday in 3:10.83. The loaded field also features Cathedral (3:12.20), Mira Costa (3:18.73), Long Beach Wilson (3:14.93), Culver City (3:14.80) and Granada Hills (3:24.15).
For the girls, Redondo Union’s Journey Cole and Chaparral’s Keelan Wright are in separate heats, but should they advance they would go head-to-head in the finals in a rematch of last week’s epic 100-meter showdown (Cole prevailed by five-hundredths of a second in 11.36). However, not to be underestimated are Malia Rainey (11.57) and Marley Scoggins (11.60) from Calabasas (11.57) and Carson’s Christina Gray, who ran 12.05 to win the City title.
Wright (23.21) is the leading qualifier in the 200. Other contenders are Rosary’s Justine Wilson (23.38), Scoggins (23.59) and Gray (24.62).
Long Beach Poly carried the baton around the oval in 45.94 at Masters to avenge its loss to Oaks Christian at last year’s state 4×100 final, and the two schools could match up again Saturday alongside City winner Carson (46.84), which was third in Clovis last year. Long Beach Wilson, the state team champion in 2024, has the top qualifying time (3:43.71) in the 4×400 relay.
In the distance events, Corona Santiago boasts two title contenders — Braelyn Combe in the 1,600 and Rylee Blade in the 3,200. Combe was second to Ventura’s Sadie Englehardt last year and won the Masters four-lapper last week in 4:44.36 (more than two and a half seconds better than her winning time at the Southern Section Division 1 finals), second-best among all qualifiers behind Chiara Dailey (4:43.57) of La Jolla in San Diego.
Blade ran 9:58.46 two weeks ago to break a Southern Section record that had stood since 1996 and cruised to the Masters win in 10:11.38. The Florida State-bound senior was third at state last year in 10:06.26 and she set a meet standard of 15:20.3 at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic in September.
USC-bound RJ Sermons of Rancho Cucamonga will try to double in the 100 and 200 meters at the CIF State Track & Field Championships.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Stanford signee Evan Noonan of Dana Hills, winner of the Southern Section and Masters races the past two weeks, will try to defend his 3,200 state title (he won in 8:43.12 as a junior).
Aliso Niguel’s Jaslene Massey and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame’s Aja Johnson have the first and second best throws in both shotput and discus. Massey swept the events at Masters (49-7.50 shotput; 165-06 discus). Johnson is the defending state discus champion and won the state shotput title in 2023.
In the boys high jump, Mission League rivals Matthew Browner from Chaminade and JJ Harel of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame both achieved 6-10 to finish first and second at Masters. Harel cleared that same height to take second at the state finals last year behind Birmingham’s Deshawn Banks.
Competing in the same stadium he trains at every day, Antrell Harris sought to defend his home turf Thursday at the City Section Track and Field Championships.
And did he ever.
The Birmingham senior won the boys 100 meters and went on to win the 200 meters about 90 minutes later. Harris won the 100 in 10.92 seconds and took the lead on the backstretch to win the 200 in 21.66, holding off Granada Hills’ Justin Hart by nine hundredths of a second.
“I especially wanted to win the 200 because it’s my best race and I had to prove it,” said Harris, who ran his personal best in that event (21.32) at the Simi Valley Invitational. “My goal for state is to make the second day.”
The boys 400 meters, one of the most anticipated races of the meet, proved to be one of the closest. Hart took the lead around the final turn and held off a late kick by Venice’s Nathan Santa Cruz to prevail by three hundredths of a second in 47.45.
“I had to keep pumping my arms and hold my form the last 50 meters,” Hart said. “I knew it would be a tough race. My goals for state would be 46.6 in the 400 and 21.10 or lower for the 200.”
Carson sprinter Christina Gray defended both of her titles in the 100 and 200 meters.
Carson’s Christina Gray, center, takes the lead in the 200-meter dash at the City Section Track and Field Championships at Birmingham High School on Thursday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
“I was happy how I ran in both races,” the junior said after she finished in 12.07 in the 100 and 24.62 in the 200 while also running anchor on the Colts’ first-place 4×100 relay team. “Negative wind stopped me from getting PRs, especially in the 200 because it’s longer. I like the state meet and I’ve PR’d up there the last two years so hopefully I can do it again.”
GALA senior DeAuna Louis also repeated as champion in both the 100 hurdles (14.87) and 300 hurdles (46.12) after posting the fastest times in preliminaries.
“I’m definitely faster this year … my PR is 14.46 and I was going for the City record in the 100 but came up short,” said Louis, who is headed to Hampton University in Virginia for academics but plans to walk-on in track. “I was seventh in the 300 and 10th in the 100 at state last spring. My goal is to make the finals in both.”
Granada Hills’ Savannah Williams won the girls 400 in 57.22 and North Hollywood’s Ananya Balaraman won the 1,600 meters in 5 minutes 3.75 seconds and later took the lead in the last 40 meters to win the 800 in 2:16.90.
Santee’s Angeles Feliciano won the girls 3,200 in 11:25.75 and Charles Simon won the boys 3,200 in 9:38.77. Carson took the 4×400 girls race in 4:02.77 and Palisades (3:23.98) barely edged Granada Hills (3:24.15) in the boys’ race.
Venice’s Lawrence Kensinger wins the shot put with a throw of 55 feet on Thursday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Lawrence Kensinger won shot put with a throw of 55 feet on his second attempt. He has high hopes for the state meet in Clovis.
“I quit football to concentrate on shot,” he said. “I love this sport. It’s you versus you. If you make a mistake it’s on you, when you win that’s on you too.”
Kensinger was on the football team in ninth and 10th grade, playing defensive end as a freshman and defensive tackle as a sophomore.
“My goal at state is to make the second day,” added Kensinger, whose best throw was 55-9 at City prelims last year. “Sixty feet for my junior year would be a dream. That’s when you know you’re with the top dogs.”
Marshall’s Oleana Taalman Koch clears the bar at five feet, two inches to win the girls high jump on Thursday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Birmingham’s Mandell Anthony won the boys long jump with a leap of 21 feet, 9¾ inches and Marshall’s Oleana Taalman Koch cleared 5-2 to win the girls high jump.
Granada Hills swept the team titles, the girls ending Carson’s record streak of nine straight.
Longtime race starter Saul Pacheco was honored for working his 43rd City finals meet. A 1956 graduate of Banning, where he was a half-miler, and a 1961 UCLA graduate, he served as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division from 1962-65 and was the track and field and offensive line coach at Carson for 25 years.
Birmingham’s Mandell Anthony wins the high jump on Thursday.
Granada Hills means business in the City Section softball playoffs that began Thursday. Beaten in the championship game the last two seasons, the Highlanders opened action with a 13-0, mercy-rule win over Banning in the Open Division.
Addison Moorman gave up no hits and struck out 11 in five innings. Lainey Brown and Elysse Diaz each had three hits. Granada Hills, seeded No. 1 in the eight-team tournament, will play host to Venice in Wednesday’s semifinals.
Venice 2, El Camino Real 1: In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Gondoliers won it when Abigail Acensio got a walk-off single with the bases loaded. Violet Acensio struck out four with no walks in nine innings. Sophomore Remy Glassman of El Camino Real struck out 12.
San Pedro 6, Kennedy 1: Caroline Baker scattered nine hits, while striking out eight with no walks, for the Pirates, who will have a rematch with Marine League rival Carson in the semifinals on Wednesday. Jenna Ortega had two hits and two RBIs.
Carson 16, Birmingham 5: The Colts picked up a mercy-rule win in the sixth inning. Rylee Gardner hit two home run and drove in six.
