EL SEGUNDO HERALD March 8, 2018 Page 11
Eagles from page 5
of family and friends from El Segundo went
into an ecstatic celebration with the Eagles’
1-0 lead in the 59th minute.
The tempo of the game became more
upbeat and Finders and Villalobos each had
shots on goal saved by Gallardo. In the 72nd
minute Finders took a free ball and blasted
a left-footed shot to the back of the net for
a 2-0 lead, much to the delight of his teammates
and fans.
As the final moments of the game wound
down, the crowd chanted down the historic
final 10 seconds. As the referee signaled
the game over, the 23 members of the El
Segundo High School soccer team went into
a celebratory frenzy knowing their team made
it into the history books.
During the celebration, Kelly was all smiles
knowing how far his program has come in his
four seasons at the helm. “This is a special
group of players that are close on the field
and off,” he said. He added that the team
has worked extremely hard and deserved
this moment.
The Eagles may have controlled the tempo
of the game on offense, but it was the defense
that stood out. Kelly pointed out that
the back three defensive specialists Charles,
Nate Salazar and Logan Pismopolous were
key components of the game. Amerault in
goal made six crucial saves and really shined.
So where does the soccer program go from
here? Well, first off the Eagles advanced to
the 2018 CIF Southern California Regional
Boys Soccer Division IV Championships
where they faced Robert F. Kennedy Community
-- the LA City Division III champs
-- this past Tuesday. A win would propel
them into the semifinals against the winner
of the Desert Mirage/Sage Creek game today.
The finals are set for Saturday at a time to
be announced.
Secondly the Eagles have just three seniors.
Bemis, Villalobos and Anthony Waites have
been the team leaders and each has led by
example. So the future looks bright and
strong with so much experience.
Volleyball Team Looks Good
For six of the past seven seasons the Eagles
have won at least 19 games each year. They
advanced to the CIF quarterfinals twice and
semifinals once – and they won two CIF
Southern Section titles. So with so much
success, the El Segundo has now moved into
Division I. This is one of the nation’s top high
school divisions. The Eagles were so highly
thought of, that they were one of the top 10
teams to watch for in a preseason ranking.
The Eagles seem to reload with talent each
year. Nakoa Parrish is a frontline player who
should have an outstanding junior year. Diego
Rivera and Michael Lynch are other physical
athletes at the net who give the Eagles plenty
of scoring opportunities. Will Lubs and Joe
Karrer give the team strong leadership with
their experience. Logan Sharp will play the
libero spot with his defensive skills. Dave
Kohn’s ability to hold serve is a credit to
his ability to keep the opposition guessing.
Chris Kelly is a defensive specialist and
could develop into a player as good as his
brother Joe (who has since graduated) was
last season.
The Eagles have a demanding non-league
schedule that includes some of the top
teams in Southern California. They’ll look
to compete for an Ocean League title they
haven’t won outright since 2015. They’ve
started the season 3-1 and host Culver City
next Wednesday at 3:15 p.m. in the Ocean
League opener.
Baseball Team Loses Opener
The Eagles opened their 2018 season by
hosting the El Segundo Tournament and
playing South Torrance in their first game.
El Segundo, which moved up to the CIF
Southern Section Division 2 after a strong
run the past two seasons, fell to the Spartans
2-1 in eight innings.
Senior right-hander Jaime Galicia went 7.1
innings and struck out five while scattering
eight hits and walking one. He gave up an
unearned run in the fourth and an earned run
in the eighth to take the loss.
The Eagles’ lone run came in the sixth inning.
Brendan Casillas walked and scored when
Hunter Lynch drilled an RBI single to rightcenter
to tie the game. In the eighth inning, with
El Segundo trailing 2-1, the Eagles had
an opportunity to have a huge inning and
the potential for a comeback win. Galicia
walked to start the inning. Junior shortstop
Benny Casillas, who had walked three times,
singled to put runners on first and second
base. Brendan Casillas sacrificed both runners
into scoring position. Lynch was intentionally
walked to load the bases. Ian Bonham
then laced a line drive that was snagged
by South Torrance second baseman Julian
Huerta, who quickly threw to first base for
a game-ending double play.
The Eagles continued play in their tournament
this week and host Redondo next
Tuesday at 6 p.m. in a non-league game.
Former Eagles in the News
Former Eagles are playing baseball at the
colligate level and doing well. Two 2017
Eagles are helping to lead the El Camino
Warriors to a 9-7 start. Spencer Palmer
is hitting a whopping .472 while Spencer
Long is pulling double duty as an infielder
and pitcher.
Jake Palmer, who set a number of school
records before graduating last June, is helping
the UC Irvine Anteaters to a 6-2 record
to start his college career. After singling in
his first at-bat, this starting left fielder is
now hitting .316 and leads the team with
five walks.
Lars Nootbaar, who led the Eagles in 2015,
was an All-Pac 12 outfielder in 2017 for
USC. He is batting leadoff for the Trojans
(7-1) and leads the team with 13 walks in the
first eight games. Nootbaar had a double and
walked once against sixth-ranked Arkansas
in USC’s 3-1 win over the Razorbacks. •
Eagle goalkeeper James Amerault knocked away a shot attempt in the first half of the CIF finals. He had seven saves.
Casey Lund on the attack as Ciaran Feeney (left) and Christophe Charles trail the play. Photos by Gregg McMullin, unless otherwise noted.
City Council from front page
bidder from the final three. The Council
will also receive a breakdown of evaluation
scores for the other bidders who don’t make
the cut. The task force members will rank
the bidders using a specific scoring criteria:
Financial impact to the City, 0-25 points;
experience/capability, 0-25 points; comprehensive
resident/community involvement, 0-20
points; business/operating plan, 0-15 points;
and capital improvement plan, 0-15 points.
In the coming months, the Council will
decide whether or not to accept a $659,000
grant from Los Angeles County Metropolitan
Transit Authority (Metro) for a housing
study east of Sepulveda Boulevard. Metro’s
interest is to look at ways to increase mass
transit by potentially developing high-density
residential projects (possibly to include affordable/
low-income housing) and denser
commercial buildings around their Green
Line stations—of which El Segundo has
three east of Sepulveda.
Planning Manager Greg McClain explained
how the grant can be used to help update a
portion of El Segundo’s now 26-year-old
general plan—a much-desired project, but one
that has become increasingly expensive with an
estimated overall price tag of $1.5 million to $2
million. Staff’s thought was to pursue outside
funding sources to supplement its own monies.
While the City’s attempt to secure grant dollars
from the Southern California Association of
Governments fell short, news of the Metro award
just surfaced and that agency’s board will make
final approvals for the allocation next week.
Staff’s initial recommendation was to split
the general plan into three phases, with part
one dedicated to Smoky Hollow which is
already funded. Part two is east of Sepulveda,
with the City kicking in $370,000 (including
$70,000 in staff time) towards the effort. Part
three, which will require the least work, is
west side residential. Under the proposed
schedule, the City will complete the Smoky
Hollow portion by the end of 2018, finish
east of Sepulveda in 2021 and then wrap up
the general plan in 2023.
But whether the Council decides to accept
the Metro grant is another story, since it
may come with conditions the City doesn’t
want—such as the low-income housing and
increased density. The Metro grant guidelines
did not sit well with Mayor Suzanne Fuentes,
who said the document contains “so many
things that don’t even sound like El Segundo.”
She also expressed concern that the grant
information arrived despite no outreach or
prior input from the Planning Commission
and Council.
Any final approval and contract will take
months to resolve, so the Council will revisit
the matter in the near future. City Attorney
Mark Hensley noted that if the Council
does not want a study that looks at affordable
housing, then this grant might not be
the right vehicle. However, he added that
if Metro ridership and other housing are
important considerations, then the grant may
be “a good way to go.”
City Manager Greg Carpenter emphasized
that the basic issue is about land use
and potential changes in that regard. “Staff
agrees… it’s time to study land use,” he said.
“It doesn’t mean it’s gonna change, but at
least we want to have the conversation out
there if people want it to change.” Mayor Pro
Tem Drew Boyles suggested that Metro likely
knows El Segundo may not want housing,
but might very well consider high-density
employment centers where mass transit usage
comes into play.
Also on Tuesday, the Council (with member
Carol Pirsztuk recusing herself because
she lives too close to the area) approved a
contract with LandCare USA to provide ongoing
landscape maintenance of the planters in
Downtown El Segundo at an annual cost of
$57,540. In the quest to improve/beautify the
area and attract more patrons, the Downtown
Committee late last year approved a new
landscape palette with a variety of plants, trees
and shrubs best suited for the corridor. The
Council authorized purchase and installation
of the new plant material in December and
the project is currently in progress.
Petit told the Council that recreation staff
is spread thin, with only a two-man crew
currently available to tend to the planters
for a total of 10 hours a week. She said that
won’t be enough time to maintain the desired
quality without pulling the workers off of
other important tasks such as ball field and
playground maintenance, trash collection,
and special event assistance.
The LandCare proposal will provide one
worker Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to
2:30 p.m. for 40 hours a week solely dedicated
to Downtown landscaping as well as cleanup
(e.g. cigarette butts, gum and litter). Petit also
pointed out that if the City staffed the same
hours in-house, it would cost over $84,000.
“Investment in the Downtown area would make
a big impact,” she said. At Boyles’ request, the
Downtown Committee will evaluate how the
maintenance is going in another 60 to 90 days.
Finally, the Council approved a request to
update the bylaws for the Technology Committee
and increase the group’s membership
from seven to 11 participants. Information
Systems Director Charles Mallory explained
that the move will provide “additional resources
to the team” and allow formation of
more subcommittees as the City deals with a
backlog of projects. •