EL SEGUNDO HERALD January 19, 2017 Page 5 Douglass MORTUARY “Our Family Serving Yours Since 1954” B U R I A L - C R E M AT I O N - W O R L DW I D E T R A N S F E R P E T M E M O R I A L P RO D U C T S 500 EAST IMPERIAL AVENUE EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA 90245 Te l e p h o n e ( 3 1 0 ) 6 4 0 - 9 3 2 5 • F a x ( 3 1 0 ) 6 4 0 - 0 7 7 8 • F D 6 5 8 Burkley & Brandlin LLP A T T O R N E Y S A T L A W Living Trusts/Wills, Probate, Employment Law, Personal Injury Trust and Estates Litigation, Business Litigation, Civil Litiga tion 310-540-6000 Lifetime El Segundo Residents *AV Rated (Highest) Martindale - Hubbell / **Certified Specialist Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law, State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization Brian R. Brandlin • Bruce R. Brandlin • Christopher P. Brandlin Eagles Take it On the Chin Story and Photos by Gregg McMullin It’s the first week of the new year and with it the start of the Ocean League schedule for the various El Segundo High School Eagles squads. After the teams played a full nonleague tilt in December, it was time to find out how finely tuned these teams have become. For the first time in recent memory, none of the winter teams are ranked in the CIF Southern Section polls. So the first week didn’t go as hoped other than the boys’ soccer team’s 4-0 win over Beverly Hills. The girls’ basketball program has had five consecutive winning seasons. The team advanced to the CIF Southern Section seven straight years and to the CIF-SS quarterfinals the past two seasons. This is a proud program with one of the top coaches not only in the Ocean League, but perhaps the entire South Bay. Head coach Randy Kiehm has had a lot of head-scratching this season as his youthful and somewhat inexperienced team goes through some growing pains. Still if those growing pains mature, this is a team that could get back on track to extend the program’s streaks. Facing Culver City to open up the Ocean League schedule was a bit of a challenge. The Centaurs were still in revenge mode after the Eagles halted Culver City’s 41-game Ocean League winning streak on the Eagles’ home court a year ago. Culver City, which has won five consecutive league banners, had its way with the Eagles and won convincingly 45-38. The Centaurs used an aggressive style of play that limited the Eagles’ shooting percentage. Malia Hue led the Eagles with 14 points. Tatiana Taylor-Willis had 16 rebounds, including 12 on defense that helped keep the Eagles in the game. Free throw shooting improved, as the team shot a respectable 66 percent. Facing Beverly Hills in the second game of league play was another daunting task. The Normans are ranked third in the CIFSS 4A division. They are a youthful team with just one senior on the roster. But the Eagles were not intimidated and battled their guests for four quarters before the Normans prevailed 39-38. This was as good of a high school game as you’d see with great coaching on both sides. There was intrigue and drama as well as a number of lead changes in the fourth quarter. The Eagles, however, couldn’t hold onto a lead they had for most of the game. Reese Jones sliced her way through the lane for a layup to give the Eagles their first lead of the game in the first quarter. El Segundo would hold that lead until the third quarter. The key to the Normans’ comeback was when the Eagles’ Taylor-Willis was benched after her fourth foul. That opened the door for Beverly Hills to make a run and take the lead before the fourth quarter started. Then the Normans suffered a blow when freshman 6’2” center Chantel Moawad picked up her fourth foul with six minutes remaining. That allowed the Eagles to stay close. Hannah Chang tied the game with two free throws, Willis-Taylor’s layup gave the Eagles a 36-35 lead and Chang sank two more free throws for a 38-35 lead. The Normans scored the last four points, including Moawad’s two free throws with 15 seconds left to lift her team to victory. The Eagles played host to Lawndale last night and are on the road at Hawthorne on Friday night. If there’s one thing about the boys’ basketball team that’s impressive, it’s that they leave it all on the court. Sure they are playing below a winning record, but first-year coach David March has his entire squad involved and playing hard. The Eagles faced Culver City in their Ocean League opener and fell 63-49. It wasn’t for a lack of trying or enthusiasm for the game that each of the 12 players on the roster show each time they’re on the court. In the game against a bigger and more athletic Beverly Hills team, El Segundo was not intimidated by the size inside. The offense limited the turnovers on an aggressive manto man defense, but still came away with a 60-51 loss. The Normans were probably surprised that the upstart Eagles were hanging around with them in the first half when neither team held a lead of more than four points. Justin Ostler drained a three-pointer to give the Normans a 23-22 lead just before hal time. There were seven lead changes in the first half, which may have awoken the Normans in the second half. To open the third quarter, Beverly Hills went on 23-3 run and at one point led by as many as 20 points. Still, the Eagles played their own aggressive style and ended up paying the price. They committed 27 fouls in the game. Three players fouled out and that allowed the Normans to take advantage at the free throw line. The Eagles also benefitted at the charity stripe by sinking 22 of 28 attempts, or 79 percent. In the fourth quarter the Eagles made it a game by outscoring the Normans 20-14, but it was too little and too late as El Segundo dropped to 0-2 in league play. Mike Lynch led the team with 11 points, Justin Ostler contributed eight and Ben Peterson and Kyle Freeman each added seven to pace the Eagles. Swinney, Tigers Get Their Revenge on ‘Bama By Adam Serrao After four hours and eight minutes of competitive college football, the Clemson Tigers finally got their revenge on Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide. A sellout crowd in Tampa Bay, Florida arrived and paid steep prices to witness a National Championship rematch between Saban’s Crimson Tide and Dabo Swinney’s Tigers. Fans in attendance certainly got their money’s worth after witnessing what was one of the most exciting title games in the history of the sport. College football enthusiasts across the nation rooted against Saban and a perennially dominant Alabama team and in the end got what they wanted. Saban and the Tide wound up crashing to shore as the Tigers pounced and clawed their way to a 35-31 win over Alabama in the College Football National Championship presented by AT&T. Though there is no doubting that Nick Saban is one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, it undoubtedly feels good to everyone who is not an Alabama fan that he wound up on the wrong side of history for a change. Saban was looking for his fifth title in the last eight seasons with the Tide. Clemson’s win at least did its part to add some variety to a championship stage that has recently been dominated by Alabama. Instead of Saban getting more attention, now the focus has shifted to Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson, as it should after his outstanding performance. Watson’s two-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Renfrow with one second remaining in the game capped a wild come-from-behind victory for the Tigers. Watson was 36 of 56 on the night for 420 yards and three scores in his last college game before the quarterback enters the NFL draft. If that’s not a great way to go out, then nothing is. The win sealed Clemson’s first national title since the 1981 season. It also snapped Alabama’s 26-game winning streak and served as retribution for the Tigers’ 45-40 loss at the hands of the Tide one year ago. “Eight years ago, we set out to put Clemson back on top,” Swinney said of his team after the game. “We came up a little short last year, but today on top of the mountain the Clemson flag is flying.” That flag is flying because of the comeback victory led by Watson that didn’t see Clemson take its first lead of the game until the day after the game started. The over-four-hour contest went past midnight in Florida before the Tigers finally won on the last play of the game. “I couldn’t hear the crowd,” Watson said of the last play that ultimately won the game. “I was just at peace.” Despite being down by three points with just over two minutes left in the game, Watson remained poised. Like any great quarterback would do, he milked the rest of the clock--and with his last-second touchdown pass to Renfrow, led his team to victory. As Watson had images of former Texas quarterback Vince Young and his last-second touchdown pass that beat the USC Trojans in the 2006 Rose Bowl, all that the quarterback could say about his performance down the stretch was that “[he] was calm.” Watson wasn’t the only one making ridiculous plays out there on the field either. Starting wide receiver Mike Williams played an integral part in Clemson’s comeback and victory. Watson and Williams connected to start things off in a fourth quarter that saw the Tigers outscore Alabama 21-7. The duo’s fouryard touchdown hookup cut into the Crimson Tide’s lead and made the score 24-21. After another Clemson touchdown to finally give the team its first lead of the night, Alabama starting quarterback Jalen Hurts broke free from the pocket and ran the ball 30 yards for a touchdown to regain the lead at 31-28. Williams came up clutch again and again for the Tigers, though, specifically on the team’s last possession to keep his team’s drive alive on the way to what was ultimately the gamewinning touchdown. The big pro-ready wide receiver climbed the ladder multiple times to high-point the ball and simply outmuscle Alabama’s defense for multiple miraculous catches. Without the receiver’s contribution, it’s safe to say that Clemson may not have won the game. Before its loss to Swinney and Clemson, ‘Bama was 4-0 in national championship games under Saban. It was 96-0 when entering the fourth quarter with a double-digit lead, as it had in this year’s championship game, and 106-6 in games it led at the half. In addition to Watson and Williams, Renfrow came up big with 10 catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winner. Clemson’s offensive explosion destroyed Alabama’s defense that has been so mighty all season long. A true team effort combined with 28 second-half points finally brought the mighty Crimson Tide to its knees. It was the first time in the school’s history that Clemson had beaten a number one team. It certainly couldn’t have come at a better time for Swinney and his Tigers. – asixlion@earthlink.net Nette Saldana gets off a scoring shot against Culver City. See Eagles, page 14
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