EL SEGUNDO HERALD December 15, 2016 Page 5 “Something has been brewing for the Silver and Black and with the arrival of new GM Reggie McKenzie and new head coach Jack Del Rio, the team and franchise have quickly gone from rags to riches.” happy holidays FROM Burkley & Brandlin LLP A T T O R N E Y S A T L AW 310-540-6000 Eagles in Action By Gregg McMullin The winter sport scene is in full swing with teams starting their schedules and playing in December tournaments to ready themselves for their league schedules that start in January. Girls’ water polo is looking impressive, while the girls’ soccer team hopes to continue its success in the South Torrance Holiday Tournament, and the girls’ basketball team is a young team still in transition. The boys’ soccer team is playing opponents tough while the boys’ basketball team is improving with each game. Girls’ Water Polo This year’s team is led by senior captains Emma Romero, Isabel Romero and Jordan Dornblaser. Each has plenty of experience and the leadership skills to lead by example. With Isabel Romero in goal, the Eagles figure to be in each contest. Sophomore Jenna Olson and junior center Claire Lindsey help give this team the defense and the help in transition the Lady Eagles will depend on during the season. The Lady Eagles played in the Mistletoe Classic at Newbury Park High School and were matched up with Southern Section power Oaks Christian, losing a close one 8-6. Emma Romero had some key outside shots and scored three goals, while Olson scored three goals from outside. The Lady Eagles put away Pacifica for a 8-5 victory in their second game. Isabel Romero demonstrated her exceptional defensive skills in the cage by recording 15 saves. Olson showed her athleticism with three goals and played stellar defense. Lindsey and Emma Romero each had two goals with Emily Wilkinson scoring on a counterattack. Santa Ynez scored a late goal to hand the Eagles a 5-4 loss. Olson had two goals, while Lindsey and Wilkinson each had one goal. And in the finale of the tournament, the Lady Eagles defeated Camarillo 6-2 behind Emma Romero’s four goals. Olson and Lindsey chipped in one goal apiece. El Segundo played two away games this week, facing Bay League powers Peninsula this past Monday and Redondo yesterday. Girls’ Soccer After opening the season with losses to West Torrance, Mira Costa and San Pedro, the Lady Eagles have bounced back in a big way. They tied Peninsula to wrap up play in the Westside Tournament and then opened the 37th Annual South Torrance Holiday Tournament with a 1-0 win over La Canada and a 4-1 blistering of Torrance. El Segundo, which defeated West Torrance 2-1 in last year’s final to capture the program’s first tournament championship, faced Leuzinger yesterday. Boys’ Soccer The Eagles are off to a slow start, but are playing competitively against some stiff competition. With a young team, head coach Andrew Kelly knew that there would be a transition from a senior-laden squad to one with so many underclassmen playing vital roles. The Eagles gave one of the South Bay’s top programs all it could handle, but fell short in a 3-2 loss to Animo Leadership. El Segundo’s Abraham Hernandez was in Sports Shorts Brianna Harmon, former El Segundo High School cross country standout, continues her running ways at El Camino College. Brianna was the varsity team captain for the 2015 league Brianna Harmon with El Camino cross country coach Dean Lofgren. Raiders Squander Chance at AFC West Supremacy By Adam Serrao There may not be one singular greater story in the NFL this year than the Oakland Raiders. The team has been the butt of every joke since their trip to the Super Bowl in San Diego in the 2002 season. Even mentioning the name of the Raiders would elicit laughter and jokes about just how terrible the team was. Well, that all has changed this season. Something has been brewing for the Silver and Black and with the arrival of new GM Reggie McKenzie and new head coach Jack Del Rio, the team and franchise have quickly gone from rags to riches. The Raiders have been in first place for the majority of the 2016 regular season, which is why last Thursday night’s game against a team that was in second place was so huge. With so much hype surrounding a newly energized Oakland team, the Raiders buckled under pressure. A 21-13 loss to the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City not only kicked Oakland out of first place in the AFC West, but also put the team’s playoff chances at risk. The Raiders and the Chiefs have been bitter rivals for over 60 years now. The rivalry may not be as heated as the one that exists between the Raiders and the Broncos, but the Chiefs remain the team that the Raiders simply can’t find a way to defeat. No one knew the potential that Oakland encompassed this season. When the team beat the New Orleans Saints back in September in the first game of the year, people thought the Raiders had just gotten lucky. A loss in their second game of the season against the Falcons had everyone believing that it was just the same old Raiders. Then, Oakland rattled off three wins in a row and won nine of 10 to take over sole possession of first place in the AFC West. Their only defeat in that period? A loss versus the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 6 by a final score of 26-10. The rematch last Thursday in Week 14 was not only for bragging rights between two bitter rivals, but was also to gain advantage atop the AFC West standings. Just one week ago, analysts were talking about how Oakland could compete with the New England Patriots to be the best team in the entire AFC. With their eight-point loss to Kansas City, the Raiders aren’t even the best team in their own division.”I liked our effort, just didn’t like the execution,” Raiders coach Del Rio explained after the loss. “In all three phases, we came up a little short.” The Kansas City offense was clearly the better one on the night, with Oakland starting quarterback Derek Carr only managing an abysmal 17 of 41 passing for 117 yards. Raider receivers Amari Cooper, Michael Crabtree and Seth Roberts were dropping absolutely everything that came their way, due in part to a Kansas City defense that played better on the night as well. The third phase was special teams. Speedster Tyreek Hill took a punt back 78 yards for a touchdown that turned the game completely around and in favor of the Chiefs. “It gave me chills on the sideline,” Kansas City quarterback Alex Smith said of the play. What’s bigger than those chills or the final result of the game is what the loss does for the Raiders in the standings. Should Oakland have won the game, they would have gone to 11-2 and held a clear and distinct advantage over both the Chiefs and the Broncos for the final three contests of the season. With the loss, however, the Chiefs now own first place and the tiebreaker between the two teams should the Raiders wind up in a tie for first at the end of the season. What’s even more is that Oakland is now two games in front of the Broncos for second place in the AFC, with a matchup against Denver coming in Week 17. Only three games remain in the regular season and with some bad luck down the stretch, the Raiders could theoretically go from being the best team in the entire AFC to out of the playoffs altogether. It looks as if the Raiders will indeed make the playoffs one way or another, but in a 16- game season it’s rare that one simple matchup against a division opponent can mean so much. The Raiders have now lost three games in the season and two of them have been to the Chiefs. Not only did Oakland lose, but it’s possible that they may have been exposed. Fans have gone almost the whole season thinking that their team was one of the best, if not the best, in the entire National Football League. Last week against the Chiefs, they looked like one of the worst. Carr couldn’t complete a pass, the defense couldn’t stop the ball, coaches made poor decisions, and the explosiveness and good luck that have traditionally been on the Raiders’ side this year were non-existent. It was just one game and one loss for a Raiders team that should very well remain in the playoff hunt--and more importantly, in the division hunt, for the rest of what little time remains in the season. Oakland fans everywhere not only hope that the team doesn’t have to see Kansas City again, but also that the game one week ago was an outlier. This week, the Raiders get a road matchup against the San Diego Chargers, against whom they have traditionally played well. The entire season is still up in the air with momentum that can literally shift either way in the blink of an eye. Will the Raiders get back to their thrilling and winning selves? Or will they continue slumping into the team that most people thought they would be back in September? One thing is for sure and it’s that Oakland is an exciting team to watch. It will undoubtedly be a thrilling end to a regular season that has a countless amount of possibilities in store for the Silver and Black. – Asixlion@earthlink.net • Former Eagle Finds Cross Country Success at El Camino champion cross country Eagles. Now running for the Warriors, she was the only female El Camino cross country runner to advance to the state championship round in Fresno 2016. Brianna with men’s cross country team in Fresno. Photos by Tom Harmon. See Eagles, page 6
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