EL SEGUNDO HERALD November 24, 2016 Page 5 Business credit lines. Cash management services. Commercial RE, construction and equipment loans. Tiffany Clyne Senior Vice President 310.321.3282 tclyne@grandpointbank.com 1960 E. Grand Avenue, Suite 1200 El Segundo, CA 90245 grandpointbank.com Five-Star Superior Rating by Bauer Financial 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 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 Girls Cross Country to State Championships; Boys Finish at Division Finals Provided by El Segundo High Cross Country The El Segundo High School girls cross country team has advanced to the California State Cross Country Championships to be held on the five-kilometer Woodward Park course in Fresno on November 26. This will be the Lady Eagles’ third-ever appearance at the State Meet in seven years after back-to-back showings in 2010 and 2011. The girls placed fifth in the CIF Southern Section Division 4 finals at the Riverside City Cross Country Course in Riverside on Saturday, November 19 against 24 teams. The first seven teams qualify for the State championships. The Lady Eagles improved their team time by four minutes by running 1:34:12 compared to 1:38:04 on the same course last week. They also had the third tightest gap between their top five scoring runners in the race. The girls finished in this order: Nikki Fulcomer (10), 22nd, 18:22.0; Natalie Faivre (12), 37th, 18:41.7; James Matlosz (9), 47th, 18:51.9; Aiyana Verfaillie (11), 49th, 18:53.9; Gabriella Lee (10), 76th, 19:23.4; Grace Hoffman (11), 113th, 20:13.8; and Sabrine Elfarissi (12), 160th, 22:00.0 with 171 runners in the race. Fulcomer, Faivre, Matlosz, Verfaillie and Lee improved their time from last week and each set Lifetime three-mile Personal Records (PRs). Based on “virtual meets” using athlete three-mile and five-kilometer best times this season for all State Division IV teams in California, El Segundo falls in the top third of the 23 Division IV teams that will compete in the State Finals. At the 2010 State Meet, the Lady Eagles placed sixth and in 2011, fourth. Top three places go to the awards stand. Meanwhile, the El Segundo High boys cross country team finished its season at the CIF Southern Section Division 4 finals by coming in 11th of 24 squads. The boys improved their team time from 1:25.05 to 1:21:27 and had the six closest gap time between their top five in the race. The boys finishing order and placement was as follows: Shane Mahon (12), 25th, 15:54.1; Noah Fenton (11), 47th, 16:07.1; Daniel Gutierrez (12), 71st, 16:19.9; Ryan Hoerner (11), 80th, 16:27.3; Garrett Rifkin (11), 100th, 16:38.8; Arend Verfaillie (9), 109th, 16:48.4; and Pierce Nebel (12), 150th, 17:24.8 with 170 runners in the race. All seven boys improved time on the course --especially Mahon, who ran 1:20 faster. Gutierrez, a senior, ran lifetime three-mile PR for his last prep race. Mahon missed an individual berth to the State Meet by a mere eight seconds since a maximum of five individual finishers who are not members of qualifying teams and who finish in the first 20 places in their respective divisions also advance to the State championships. This was the second appearance by the boys cross country team ever at CIF Division Finals. Their first time was the 2015 season, where they placed eighth out of 16 teams. Complete results can be found at http:// www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/Results/Meet. aspx?Meet=123074 • “There’s nothing like a good, old-fashioned rivalry matchup, especially when it’s between the USC Trojans and the UCLA Bruins.” Eagles Football Season Ends in Loss to Golden Valley By Geoffrey Nielsen over three times and managing just one score. On For the El Segundo High School football the other hand, Golden Valley took advantage of team, Friday night at Golden Valley was a the missing Eagle defensive lineman and ran frustrating end to a promising 2016 season as roughshod over the El Segundo defense, compiling the Eagles lost 28-7 in the second round of 380 total yards of offense while scoring the CIF Southern Section Division 7 Playoffs. 28 points. Coming into the contest the Eagles had The Eagles were without five key starters in allowed an average of just nine points per game. the contest--including star tailback Taz Tauase, El Segundo tied the game briefly with 3:31 who had amassed over 1,000 yards rushing in the first quarter at 7-7, as senior quarterback and 16 total touchdowns this season, as well Jake Palmer found junior wide receiver Danny as starting defensive tackles Gabe Fernan and McEntee down the sideline for an 82-yard Duncan Papalii, who were suspended for team touchdown pass. The touchdown was the rules violations. lone bright spot for the Eagles, as the offense Without Tauase, who was a major part of managed only one other drive past the Golden why El Segundo (10-2) averaged 188 rushing Valley 50-yard-line. yards per contest while amassing 31 points a The Eagle defense was led by senior linebackers game, the high-flying Eagle offense was held to Angelo Pacheco and Mark Binder, just seven yards rushing while turning the ball who recorded 20 and 16 tackles respectively. •
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