November 24, 2016 Page 5 A Letter of Apology Cardinals Keep Rolling in Playoffs By Adam Serrao When this year’s football season originally began, there were many questions about what head coach Travis Clark and his Lawndale Cardinals prospects would be. After a 28-3 win at South High in the very first game of the year, things looked good. A three-game losing streak soon followed, however, and Lawndale fans began to get nervous. An extremely young team seemingly only needed time to gel. After winning five of the last six games of the regular season, Clark has his team on a roll. A victory over West High two weeks ago in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 6 playoffs kept the team rolling. Now, with a 38-14 trouncing over Summit in the quarterfinals last Friday night at Lawndale, the Cardinals have a CIF championship on their minds. In the first half, the football game between the Lawndale Cardinals and the Summit SkyHawks was like a heavyweight fight. Both teams were trading punches, attempting to get over on the other. With under a minute to go in the first quarter, it was Summit that landed a huge punch. A 35-yard touchdown pass gave the SkyHawks a 14-7 lead after a completed two-point conversion. That’s when Jordan Wilmore came to the rescue for Lawndale. Wilmore tied things up just before the end of the quarter, and despite a scoreless second quarter of play was ready to explode in the second half. Summit star running back Stephen Carr looked to continue his magnificent season and make a case for player of the game when he began the second half with a 45-yard kickoff return. After Summit eventually punted, however, it was all Wilmore. A 23-yard run in the third quarter by the Cardinals running back set up quarterback Jalen Hamler’s 26-yard touchdown pass to get things going and give his team the lead. On their next possession, Wilmore broke free for a 40-yard run and later dove into the end zone to double up on Summit with a 28-14 lead just before the third quarter came to an end. “Wilmore was so motivated because of Carr,” Clark explained. “He watched a lot of tape of him.” Carr finished the game with 143 yards. Wilmore had 325 and four touchdowns. “Carr is really good,” Wilmore explained. “But I want to be better than him.” It looks as if Wilmore proved his point. With the lead in hand in the second half, the Cardinals turned to Wilmore and the power running game. “We turned to our offensive line and put the ball in the hands of our sophomore running back,” Clark explained. It paid off. Summit was never able to get back into the game and as time ticked off the clock, the SkyHawks would remain scoreless throughout the second half. Wilmore capped things off with a touchdown in the fourth quarter to seal the deal for his team. Hamler finished the night going 11-for- 17 through the air for 138 yards and a touchdown. Ahmir Wilson totaled 53 yards and a touchdown. It was Wilmore who was the star of the night, though, and helped Lawndale (8-4, 4-1) advance to the CIF Southern Section Division 6 semifinals where it will take on the Paraclete Spirits and look for a chance to advance to this year’s CIF championship game. Hawthorne The Hawthorne Cougars struggled to get much going in a down year for their football team this season. A traditionally competitive Ocean League saw three teams battling it out for first place all season long. Hawthorne would finish in fourth place and while head coach Donald Paysinger and his team saw losses come in bunches, their victories proved to be dominant and gave fans hope for the future. Paysinger and the Cougars had trouble coming out of the gate this year. A 35-21 loss to La Canada to open the season was followed up by a 42-0 blowout win over Rivera in which starting quarterback Andrew Kalinowski threw for 110 yards and three touchdowns. Following their first victory of the season, however, Hawthorne would fall victim to a three-game losing streak that led into the beginning of league play. Coaches often say that the start of league play is like the start of a new season. Hawthorne won its first two games over Beverly Hills and Santa Monica respectively and looked like a brand new team. Unfortunately, the Cougars’ hopes of turning their season around would be dashed after yet another losing streak. Hawthorne (3-7, 2-3) fell in its last three games of the year to take a fourth place finish in the Ocean League Standings and miss out on this year’s playoffs. Inglewood The Inglewood Sentinels remained competitive in an extremely aggressive Bay League behind head coach James Sims early on this season. The year was really a tale of two halves. The first half was before league play started, while the second half was post-league-play competition. Before league, Inglewood put together some nice wins. A 34-7 victory over Angelou to start the year gave the Sentinels some momentum. A 64-0 blowout over Blair and a 22-19 win over Pioneer soon followed. Once league play began, though, Inglewood looked like a completely different team. Four losses in a row to Palos Verdes, Peninsula, Mira Costa and Redondo would result in a 1-4 league record for the Sentinels (4-6)--which was good enough for a fifth place finish and well out of playoff contention. A team full of juniors and sophomores certainly gained invaluable experience this season and should be back to make a difference in the Bay League next year. • On Behalf of El Segundo Community and El Segundo High School, I would like to apologize for any negative incidences that took place with our football game vs Lawndale High School on Friday, Oct 21. In what was expected to be a highly anticipated football contest, emotions spilled over into the stands and our Eagle Student Section. It was brought to our attention, that profane chants took place after the game, that were directed to Lawndale High School and that several families and their children felt unsafe at our school. In addition, it was also brought to our attention the Public Address announcer said disparaging remarks about Lawndale during the postgame handshake. This type of behavior is not indicative of the community or the student body of El Segundo High School and has been addressed by our school administration. El Segundo High School strives to provide a positive and student friendly environment when attending home events, and we hope that our two communities will continue to work closely together and provide a positive educational and extra-curricular experience in the future. Our Apologies, Jaime Mancilla Principal Steve Shevlin Athletics Director Rivalry Holds True Between Cardinal and Blue By Adam Serrao There’s nothing like a good, old-fashioned rivalry matchup, especially when it’s between the USC Trojans and the UCLA Bruins. Both teams have been heading in opposite directions this year, which led most people to believe that the game would result in a blowout score. USC has been ascending “There’s nothing like a good, old-fashioned rivalry matchup, especially when it’s between the USC Trojans and the UCLA Bruins.” toward the latter part of the season while UCLA has been in shambles. Rivalries bring out the best in both teams and that’s why UCLA kept things close early. Ultimately, however, it was USC that broke free, shook the Bruins off and ran away with a victory. In what was still a relatively exciting game, the Trojans came away with a 36-14 win. A pair of players attempted to make themselves household names in the first half. For the Bruins, it was Jordan Lasley. Lasley caught two first-half touchdown passes from starting quarterback Mike Fafaul, one of which got the Bruins out to an early 7-0 lead. Lasley took a mid-range, dump-off pass 56 yards for a touchdown in the opening moments of the game, much to the delight of the home crowd at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The Trojans would respond when Ronald Jones got his fantastic night started with a oneyard TD plunge to tie things up at 7-7. To the Bruins’ and Lasley’s credit, they stuck with the game plan. The wide receiver beat Adoree Jackson early in the second quarter for his second touchdown of the night to give the Bruins the lead once again at 14-7. Unfortunately for UCLA, that was the last lead of the night that they would enjoy. It wasn’t long before the Trojans would get rolling. That would happen on the wheels of their running back, Jones. Jones took the ball, busted through the seam and ran for a 60-yard touchdown that not only tied the game, but proved to be the turning point on the night. Not long after, De’Quan Hampton scored the first of his two touchdowns on the night to give his team the lead. USC never looked back. It was 23-14 at the half and by the end of the third quarter, the Trojans had pretty much put things away with a 30-14 advantage. UCLA managed all of its points in the first half before being completely shut down by the USC defense. “It was just a really tough and humbling night,” Bruins head coach Jim Mora explained. “Regardless of how this year has gone, those young men have done some tremendous things here. This was the first game that we’ve kind of not been in. That’s disappointing.” What was also disappointing was that with the loss, UCLA is now assured its first losing season in Mora’s five years at the helm of the team. The Bruins have lost five of their last six games. The Trojans, on the other hand, are riding high after their victory--not only because they put a whooping on their biggest rival in history, but also because they have finally put a horrid beginning of the season behind them and remain in contention for a Pac-12 South title. “We still need a little help, but now we’ve set our mark at 7-2,” USC head coach Clay Helton explained. The Trojans will finish the regular season off against Notre Dame this week. They’ll need to win that game and have Utah beat Colorado--a team that lost at USC last month. Trojans quarterback Sam Darnold passed for 267 yards in the 86th meeting between the two teams. Jones rushed for 121 yards and two touchdowns. USC has now won seven games in a row and has claimed the Victory Bell for the second consecutive season. The Trojans have now won 14 of their last 18 meetings with Bruins and the all-time series now stands at 46-31-7 in favor of USC. The Bruins are headed for their final game of the regular season versus Cal and for the most part can’t wait for the season to simply be over. Despite a tough defense that continues to fight in every game, UCLA simply doesn’t have the firepower on offense, especially after starting quarterback Josh Rosen went down with a shoulder injury that ended his season. USC, on the other hand, simply keeps getting better under Helton. Darnold explains that with their new head coach there is “a shift in culture that you can sense now.” Darnold, Jones, and Hampton highlight a powerful offense that seems to have really found itself toward the end of the season. It may be too late to win the Pac-12 South and advance far enough up the standings to have a shot at this year’s playoffs, but the Trojans will try to prove their point and make an impact in their last game of the regular season this week against Notre Dame. • – Asixlion@earthlink.net CLASSIFIED ADS The deadline for classified copy and payment is NOON on Tuesday. We reserve the right to reject, edit, and determine proper classification of classified ads. Email ad copy to: class@heraldpublications.com. 1x 2x 3x 4x 3 Lines $40 $50 $60 $70 4 Lines $45 $55 $65 $75 Need more lines? Additional line charge of $5 per line ALL SIX NEWSPAPERS – FOR ONE PRICE! Herald Publications newspapers: El Segundo Herald, Hawthorne Press Tribune, Inglewood Daily News, Lawndale Tribune, Manhattan Beach Sun and Torrance Tribune. We take Visa and MasterCard. Please always include your phone number with your submission. Payment must be received before ad is published.
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