EL SEGUNDO HERALD July 13, 2017 Page 5 2016 El Segundo High School Fall Sports Revisited By Gregg McMullin This is the time of the year when sports in El Segundo takes a breather other than Little League all-stars playing. So this is an opportunity to look back at sports that occurred over the last school year. With the 2017-18 school year seven weeks away, it means fall sports will be upon us before you know it. This is the time of the year that the athletes playing fall sports are working out in between texting friends, hitting the beach and enjoying summer vacations. Let’s journey back to last season’s fall schedules and reminisce about the ups and downs of our athletes and their teams. Football The football team had another successful season. El Segundo High finished 10-2 overall and was one of the top-ranked teams in the South Bay and the CIF Southern Section Division 7. The Eagles had the stingiest defense in the division, giving up just 12 points per game, and also featured a high-scoring offense that averaged 32 points a game. It was an unconventional offense that featured two quarterbacks with totally different styles. The result was five consecutive wins to start the season. Included was an epic 18-14 win over Mira Costa. It was the first win for the Eagles over the Mustangs since 1993. The two teams haven’t played each other in 22 years. In fact, the last time they faced each other was in Ocean League play in 1994--the year the Mustangs won their first CIF title. Before that, the two teams would face each other regularly with the Mustangs handing the Eagles a loss. The Eagles, however, defeated the Mustangs in 1993. History was made, of sorts, when the Eagles came from behind to defeat the Mustangs 18-14 and tilt the high school football world. With less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter, Jake Palmer found tight end Billy Brasher open good for a 60-yard pass play. It helped set up the go-ahead and winning score. As time ran out, it was bedlam afterwards as Eagle supporters stormed the field. The Eagles would lose their first game in league play to Culver City after being ranked first in their division for the first time in the school’s history. They made up for that loss with a classic 14-7 win over Lawndale that will be talked about at reunions for decades. Mark Binder, Angel Pacheco, Billy Brasher, Duncan Papalii, Adrian Johnson, Gabriel Fernan and Hunter Lynch helped hold Lawndale’s offense, averaging 37 points per game, to a mere seven points. Jake Palmer’s one-yard touchdown plunge on a quarterback sneak behind center Jess Caravello gave the Eagles a 7-0 lead. Lawndale responded with an 80-yard drive to tie Jake Palmer led the Eagles’ potent offense. Don’t Blink, or Else You Could Miss History in the Making By Adam Serrao The Los Angeles Dodgers went into this year’s All-Star break as the hottest team in all of Major League Baseball. The key to the team’s success isn’t Clayton Kershaw. It isn’t Corey Seager or Justin Turner either. The key to the Dodgers being the hottest team in all of baseball is a next-man-up mentality. If one player on the roster isn’t getting the job done, then another assumed unlikely hero seems to step up out of nowhere and lift the team to a victory. The Dodgers are on pace to win well over 100 games this season. That fact alone begs the question: could this be the best Los Angeles Dodgers team Major League Baseball has ever seen? If you ever find yourself smack dab in the middle of watching a Dodgers game this season and L.A. happens to be trailing in the game, don’t change the channel. The Dodgers have the opposition precisely where they want them. This Los Angeles team is one that always believes that it has a chance and never thinks it is out of any game, no matter how big the deficit. That fact couldn’t have been any more evident than it was last Thursday when the Boys in Blue were down 4-1 in the bottom of the ninth inning at Chavez Ravine, but rallied to score four runs and win in walk-off fashion. “That was incredible,” Rich Hill, who started the game for the Dodgers, related. “I saw some people leaving the ballpark. You’ve gotta stay with this team.” The walk-off victory was the Dodgers’ fifth of the sort at just over halfway through the regular season. It was the 22nd come-from-behind victory for a team that truly refuses to quit no matter what day of the week or what point in the season it happens to be. Sure, the Dodgers have won the past four NL West titles, but this season has a much different feel to it. At the All-Star break last year, for instance, Los Angeles was 51-40 and stood in second place in the NL West standings, 6.5 games behind the San Francisco Giants. Not only are the hated Giants the second worst team in all of baseball this season, but the Dodgers are now 32 games over .500 and are the best team in all of baseball at this year’s break. If the comeback victory against the Diamondbacks one week ago wasn’t enough, then the Dodgers did it again last Saturday night to remind you why they eventually got six players onto the All-Star team. Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning, one of those All-Stars, Cody Bellinger, belted a home run to tie the game and later drew a bases-loaded walk to win it. Bellinger had been slumping and was previously on an 11-game homerless streak before he saved the day for the Blue Crew. Despite that slump, he did what every Dodger does when the game is on the line. Not only did the home run leave Bellinger in second place in the National League in home runs (behind only Joey Votto), but he also became the second player in Major League history to hit 25 home runs in 69 or fewer games played. Jose Abreu accomplished the feat in 67 games. Last Saturday’s win at home against the Royals put the Dodgers ahead of the Houston Astros for best record in all of baseball for the first time this season. Since June 1, Los Angeles has won 28 of 36 games to boast a record that’s far and away the best in the Majors. The team’s pitching staff is first in ERA and WHIP and ranks second in strikeouts per nine innings over that span. Their overall team defense is the best in both the National League and American League rankings. The Dodgers have now won 26 of their last 30 games (as well as 18 of their last 19 at home) and 39 straight games in which they have taken a lead. They were the first team to 60 wins this season, reaching the mark before the All-Star break for the first time since 1974. With their win and sweep over the Royals last Sunday, the Dodgers officially put themselves on pace to win 109 games this year. That mark would beat the previous franchise win total held by both the 1962 and 1974 Dodgers (102 wins). It would also become the most games won by a team in the National league since the 1909 Pittsburgh Pirates (110-42). “Every night, it’s somebody different, and that’s the sign of a good team,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained. “It seems like I say depth every single night, but that’s probably been the biggest reason for our success.” The depth that Roberts speaks of has not only given the Dodgers the best record in the best division in baseball, but--together with high-end production from every position on the team—it has given the Dodgers the best record in all of baseball. Whether the team is blasting home runs over the wall, winning with walk-off walks, or scaring opposing pitchers into throwing wild pitches to score five runs, the Dodgers are getting the job done. Now Kershaw, Bellinger, Seager, Turner, Alex Wood and Kenley Jansen will represent the best team in baseball at the All-Star Game. The only thing that could be better for the Dodgers is if their All-Stars, plus every other player on the roster, represented the team at this year’s World Series. The way things are going right now, it certainly looks as if the Dodgers have a leg up on the rest of the competition. In a long baseball season, anything can happen. Bats can cool down, injuries can take place, or players can simply just lose their stuff. 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