Page 4 October 17, 2019 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
School Spotlight
Sports
Eagles Handle Beverly Hills
One Last Time
By Gregg McMullin
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El Segundo High School football head coach
Steve Shevlin thought before facing Beverly
Hills in a key Ocean League matchup that his
team needed to stay focused. The Eagles after
all were facing a team that has no feeder lowerlevel
squads. It was a team they’d defeated five
consecutive times in Ocean League games and
this would be the final time these two would meet
in league play for the foreseeable future. During
that winning streak, the Eagles outscored the
Normans 260-13. That streak continued when
they dominated once again 41-8 in a game
that seemingly frustrated the coaching staff
because of injuries to two key players. With
the uncertainty of Gerardo Blanco and Jackson
Ross due to injuries, the Eagles will need to
find a way to fill their void if those players are
sidelined against Friday’s opponent Culver City.
As in previous games against Beverly Hills,
the Eagles controlled the game from the start.
Sophomore quarterback Conor Hochberg led
his team on the opening drive of the game 80
yards in 10 plays for a touchdown. Passes to
Scott Melton for 14 yards and 13 yards to Matt
Kusserow highlighted the drive that ended with
a 2-yard touchdown run by Arman Sayson.
The Eagles controlled the first quarter
with another long drive. Melton caught two
consecutive passes for a total of 16 yards,
Sayson rushed four times for 37 yards before
Hochberg followed Sebastian Meza’s block
into the end zone for a 13-0 lead. On the last
play of the first quarter, the Eagles forced a
turnover and took advantage of the Norman’
miscue. Hochberg connected with a wide-open
Matt Kusserow for a 35-yard touchdown pass
to start the second quarter.
El Segundo extended the lead to 27-0 when
James Fraelich’s 31-yard rushing attempt set up
a 19-yard touchdown pass to Cody Simmons
with 3:28 left in the first half. The Eagles
got the ball back once more before halftime.
Kyle Myers caught his first pass good for 15
yards and Fraelich added another nine yards
before Hochberg scrambled 24 yards for a
touchdown with 0:13 remaining for a 34-0 lead.
WUSD
Wiseburn School Board Holds
Lightening Quick Meeting
The Wiseburn Unified School District had
been around in one form or another since 1896,
and veteran observers and participants would
be hard-pressed to remember a briefer meeting
of the Board of Trustees than last Wednesday
evening’s 23-minute gathering. With only three
Board members able attend the meeting due
to conflicts, the meeting had been bumped up
a day from its normal Thursday spot on the
calendar because Superintendent Dr. Blake
Silvers had a prior commitment on Thursday.
The only reason the meeting ran as long as
it did was because Board President JoAnne
Kaneda graciously allowed a passionate member
of the public, identified as Don Burkholder, to
voice his opinions for longer than the norm.
Burkholder spoke for nearly 15 minutes; the
norm is three minutes.
Burkholder, who lives in front of the entrance
to Peter Burnett Elementary School, spoke
regarding the perilous, in his opinion, pick-up
and drop-off conditions at the school, noting
the scofflaw behavior of some drivers during
the pick-up and drop-off time. He was very
adamant about mentioning the daily weekday
logjam that occurs on Isis Avenue, and how
there could be grave consequences involving
the pick-up and drop-off area, including the
lack of pathways for emergency vehicles, and
how those consequences could be dire for the
WUSD and local citizens.
During his time at the podium, Burkholder
also railed against what was, in his opinion, the
inadequate fencing around the Burnett school
site, saying that the fencing was very vulnerable,
and should have upward facing spikes. He spoke
about his longtime observations of the comingsand
goings at the Burnett campus, and his prior
efforts to keep the peace and maintain a safe
environment on and around the campus, concluding
“I need some help on this traffic thing.”
After Burkholder concluded, Kaneda said
“Thank you for alerting us to these issues. It
is a new school year, and we need to refresh
everybody on what the parking rules are.”
She mentioned to Silvers that “I think we
need some actions” to be taken to address
Burkholder’s concerns.
There were no special presentations on the
agenda, so the meeting then proceeded with
Board member and administration reports,
which were very brief.
Silvers spoke of the success of the recent
Hackathon event, as well as the District’s involvement
in the Read-Across-America program.
The Hackathon that Silvers spoke about took
place at R.H. Dana Middle School on Oct. 5
and involved around 150 students from the
WUSD and Hawthorne Unified School District.
Dana science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics guru (STEM) Andy de Seriere
helped guide the efforts of the WUSD students.
The Hackathon competition challenged students
to solve on engineering conundrum involving
building a self-propelled vehicle.
In an email, Silvers said that “overall there
is a lot of opportunity in Wiseburn this year.
Our STEM education is alive and well, as
seen by the tremendous event at Dana. The
Board is committed to providing opportunities
for students to engage in authentic STEM
learning opportunities.”
He said the WUSD is making “a huge push”
to offer opportunities for girls to become immersed
in STEM experiences, and credited
Kaneda for helping lead the charge in tasking
young women to seek leadership roles.
Silvers also gave kudos to Chevron and their
employee Lily Craig, external affairs manager,
for continuing support of District endeavors.
“We would not be able to offer what we offer
here in Wiseburn without the unwavering
support of Lily Craig and Chevron,” he said.
A second successful event that Silvers noted
in his remarks was the Oct. 8 “Read to a Child
Day” that took place at Burnett Elementary.
Los Angeles Rams star running back Todd
Gurley, in tandem with University of Georgia
college teammate Malcolm Mitchell, who
sports a Super Bowl ring from his tenure in
the NFL with the New England Patriots, read
aloud to nearly 500 students, and they passed
out copies of Mitchell’s children’s book, the
Magicians Hat.
Burnett principal Hugo Rios called the
literacy event “a great success.” He said that
when Gurley and Mitchell were introduced,
the venue “exploded with cheers.” He added
that the “students were filled with joy to read
along with two NFL players.”
Prior to the meeting, Silvers said that the
message espoused by Gurley and Mitchell
was “very inspiring. The two of them were
awesome to the kids. The deeper piece of their
visit was the importance of literacy, to be able
Thanh Vo was a big reason the Eagles had a big game against Beverly Hills.
Jackson Ross helped lead the Eagle defense before getting injured.
Antonio Lopez stopped Beverly Hills running back Vernon Tucker for a short gain.
See Eagles, page 8
See Wiseburn, page 10
Burkley Brandlin
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