Page 6 October 28, 2021 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
Eagles from page 5
The Eagles picked up 17 yards on a pass play
to Conrad Bernstein. But a potential 43-yard
touchdown pass was negated with a penalty
on the Eagles when a receiver went out of
bounds only to be the first to touch the ball
after going out of bounds. The Eagles were
forced to punt after the offense failed to get
Leo Menendez tossed three touchdown passes, including one with 58 seconds remaining in the game. Brett Abitante makes a second-quarter interception halting West Torrance’s drive.
a first down. The snap was low, and Tucker
Stevens was tackled at the El Segundo 34-
yard line. The Eagle’s defense was asked
to turn back the Warriors again, and that
passed the test.
The Warriors used their solid ground game
to eat up the clock with a 12-play drive to get
down to the El Segundo 1-yard line. Kamren
Juarez was stopped at the goal line on fourth
down, and the Eagles took over. Unfortunately,
the Eagles couldn’t move the ball and were
caught for a safety on the second play giving
the Warriors a 22-20 lead. With a great
return on the ensuing kickoff, the Warriors
took over at El Segundo’s 38-yard line. Seven
plays later, and Noah Meyer’s 23-yard run
into the end zone gave his team a 29-20 lead
with 2:29 remaining in the game.
The Eagles never-give-up attitude showed
when they took their possession 63 yards in
six plays to score their final points at home
of the 2021 season. Menendez found Bucher
open for a 7-yard gain and found Wilson open
for 25 more yards. Conrad Bernstein’s 18-
yard reception got the Eagles closer. With 58
seconds remaining, Menendez found Wilson
open for a 16-yard touchdown and a final
score of 29-27 before the Warriors recovered
the on-sides kick to end the game.
The Eagles play what is anticipated to be
their final game of the season, Friday night
when they travel to Lawndale to take on the
Cardinals at 7 p.m.
Girls Volleyball
The Eagles returned to the CIF playoffs after
a hiatus from a canceled 2020 season. They
went into the CIF Southern Section Division
4 playoffs with an impressive 14-5 record.
Four of their losses were two league defeats,
each to Torrance and South Torrance. So facing
Vistamar, the Coastal League champions
gave the team a little extra incentive in the
first round. The Vikings swept the Eagles in
the first round of the 2019 CIF playoffs. This
time around, the Eagles returned the favor by
sweeping the Vikings 25-12, 25-21, 25-21.
In the first game, Marley Smith and Kaia
Breeden took control with their thunderous
hits. Bridgett Dorr’s and Bella Pascual’s
serves confused their hosts.
Lauren Neely put away a point on a block
to make it 23-11 before the El Segundo
closed out the game.
Dorr continued her puzzling serves to start
the second game. Vistamar’s Ryann Goldberg
kept her team close with an ace to cut the
deficit to 4-3. Ari Carranza kept the Vikings
within striking distance, and her ace cut El
Segundo’s lead to 22-20. The Eagles finished
off the Vistamar with Smith’s hit and won
25-21. The third game was another close one
but with Dorr and Breeden’s service aces and
the play of Marley Smith’s hits and Annika
Klishevich’s net play the Eagles held on for
the 25-21 win.
The win propelled the Eagles into the
second round against the University Trojans
from Irvine. In front of a loud and boisterous
enthusiastic crowd, the Eagles were stretched
to five games before winning 25-10, 25-16,
14-25, 16-26, 15-8.
The Eagles dominated the first two games
with powerful hits by Marley Smith and Kaia
Breeden while Tula McGill’s ace ended the
first game 25-10. The second game was much
the same as the Eagles continued their aggressive
offense with great passing and timely
digs. The Trojans had difficulty returning
serves, and the Eagles took advantage by
scoring five points off service aces and won
game two 25-16.
A different University squad showed up
for games three and four. After the Eagles
leaped to a 6-2 advantage, the Trojans turned
a switch and continued to peck away at the
deficit with their defense and blocks at the
net. Lauren Neely’s strike was blocked, and
Marley Smith’s hit went wide, and the Trojans
to a 10-8 lead. Katrina Soto and Kate Biagan
delivered aces to extend their team’s lead to
17-12 before Soto’s ace to end the third game
25-14. In the fourth game, El Segundo fell
behind 11-6 and got as close as 12-9, but
University won easily 25-16.
In the deciding fifth game, the teams traded
leads before Marley Smith took over. Her
booming kills accounted for six points. With
a score of 8-8, the Eagles went on to score
the final seven points and win the game and
the match 15-8.
The win sent the Eagles to the CIF-Southern
Section Division quarter-finals to face the
sixth-seeded Alemany Warriors on the road
last night; the winner advances to Saturday’s
semi-finals.
Names in the News
Lars Nootbaar Showing
Power in AFL
Lars Nootbaar is showing off some power
in the Arizona Fall League. Nootbaar, who
plays for the St. Louis Cardinals, is honing
his batting skills and has developed some
power. He hit his fourth home run for the
Glendale Desert Dogs in ten games. Not
only is Lars leading the six-team league in
home runs, but his fourth was estimated to
be the longest to be at 464 feet.
Jameson Wang Leads
Cornell to Victory
Long-time resident Jameson Wang played
his high school football at Westlake Harvard
and Oaks Christian. He compiled to rush and
throw for over 10,000 yards and scored 113
touchdowns in high school, and is playing
football as a freshman quarterback at Cornell.
Jameson became the first Cornell freshman
to throw and rush for a touchdown in a
single game in the Big Red’s 34-20 victory
over Colgate. He had a game-high 84 rushing
yards on 12 carries, with the go-ahead
18-yard score on the ground in the first half.
Went 4-for-4 passing for 16 yards, including
a 4-yard pass to fellow freshman Matt
Robbert to get the Big Red on the board.
For his efforts, Jameson was named Ivy
League Rookie of the Week. Against Brown,
he led his team with 101 rushing yards and
a touchdown and passed for two TDs too.•
Marley Smith came up with numerous digs in the Eagles second-round win over University. Kaia Breeden puts a point away in game five against University.
Jameson Wang led Cornel to a win over Colgate to earn the ‘Rookie
Bridget Dorr and Lauren Neely were tough at the net in the win against University. of the Week’ award in the Ivy League.