Sports
FRIDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: Matadores Start Out League Play With Dramatic Win; Should Coast Through Suburban
La Mirada~The La Mirada High School Football team beat Norwalk in dramatic fashion this past Friday night 29-23, in the opening game of Suburban League play for both teams.
Norwalk took the lead 23-20 with 2:30 left in the fourth quarter on a field goal by Jorge Perez.
However, La Mirada's Gerry Myres found Tyler Luatua for a 59-yard catch-and-run touchdown, securing the win for Matadores (4-1, 1-0).
Myres completed 9 of 15 passes for 178 yards, and saved his longest completion of the night for the winning score.
Adam Carrasco carried the ball 29 times for 165 yards, including all of his teams 66 yards in a grueling 3rd quarter 11-play TD drive.
After a tough pre-league schedule in which the Mats went 3-1, Norwalk may be the Matadores toughest foe in a notoriously very weak Suburban League, made even weaker this year with the recent announcement of the discontinuation of the varsity football program at Cerritos High School, another Suburban team.
The program was shut down due mostly from ongoing Cerritos parent concerns about player safety.
Now a five team league with Cerritos gone-don't look up-because the Mats have only four games remaining for the regular season.
Another key contest for the Mats will be the regular season finale November 2nd at home vs. rival Mayfair.
La Mirada next travels to Bellflower Friday, September 28th to take on the Monsoons (2-2, 0-0).
La Mirada High School Coaching Staff Offering Summer Basketball Camp
La Mirada~Boys ages 7-14 can improve their skills and learn more about the game of basketball at the La Mirada High School Summer Basketball Camp, July 16th-19th on the La Mirada High School campus.
The camp will be directed by La Mirada head coach Bryce Jones and his staff, and the emphasis will be on skill development and fundamentals.
The camp runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. each of the four days (Mon-Thur). The cost is $100.
You can register for the camp online by visiting cityoflamirada.org and clicking "register for classes" or you can call (562) 943-7277 for more information.
La Mirada Girls Develop a Lifelong Friendship Through Sports
La Mirada~ Actually, of course, it's just the beginning of their life journey for the young ladies on the La Mirada High Softball team, but, in many ways it is the end of a very special time for eight La Mirada girls.
When the Lady Matadores fell to Don Lugo in the CIF Division 2 semi-finals recently, it was the last time that the eight seniors on the team would play together.
 |
| On to the next step. La Mirada High's Lisa Perez, Shelbee Gomez, Mylee Macahilig, Rabecca Rice, Courtney Skogen, Jenevie Rivas, Rochelle Sablay, and Ambar Hickman |
We spoke with Rich Trujillo, La Mirada's head coach for the past 13 seasons, via telephone. He was on the La Mirada High softball field preparing for an orientation about La Mirada softball for a new group of incoming current La Mirada eighth graders.
"It's bittersweet," said Trujillo, "we have known these kids, and their parents, personally, for a long time."
Lisa Perez, Shelbee Gomez, Mylee Macahilig, Rabecca Rice, Courtney Skogen, Jenevie Rivas, Rochelle Sablay, and Ambar Hickman have basically been playing together since they were about eight, playing in La Mirada youth leagues, travel ball, and then ultimately at La Mirada High School.
Many communities have children growing up together playing youth sports and in many instances, there will be two or three kids, who stay together and will play in high school together, in whatever sport. But, to have eight kids grow up playing ball, and graduate high school, together, is truly rare.
In fact, word is there would have been nine, but one girl chose not to play this year.
La Mirada Soccer Girls Star in Tournaments
La Mirada~This year, the La Mirada Soccer Association had three La Mirada teams compete in the District Commissioners Cup. All three made it to the quarter finals, two teams made it to the finals and the La Mirada Blues won the Championship Game in Orange for the Fall 2011/2012 season.
La Mirada went 32 GF (goals for) and 2 GA (goals against), in the first round, 4 GF and 2 GA in the quarter finals and 5 GF and 2 GA in the semi finals.
Out of all the La Mirada GU10 (girls under 10) teams that competed this season, they selected one player from each team to fill out the LMSA GU10 All-Star team. This team competed against JUSA, OJSC, Canyon, Anaheim, FRYSC and surrounding recreational soccer clubs to win the all-star Championships Tournament. They had 15 goals scored, and did not allow any goals during the tournament.
The La Mirada Xtreme competed in the JUSA spring season, finishing 5-1-2 , and they made the playoffs. They went 3-0 in the playoffs, avenging an earlier tie against West Covina, and won the Championship with a 3-1 victory over the OJSC Orange United team. During the playoffs they went 14 GF and 1 GA.
What an outstanding season for these young girls. Congratulations La Mirada Xtreme -Caitlyn, Katy, Valerie, Amanda, Nicole, Jessica, Julisa, Trinity, Megan, Maddy, Team Captain's Sabrina & Pam and our goalie Jazzy .
Lady Matadores Draw Home Game
La Mirada~The La Mirada High School softball team are looking to take advantage of home cooking when they were lucky enough to get a home game for their next playoff contest.
The Lady Mats advanced the CIF Division 2 playoffs after beating Beckman last week 7-0, and will play at home in the second round Tuesday May 22nd, as they host Los Altos High. Game time is 3:15.
La Mirada (21-7) is currently riding a five-game win streak and have won 9 of the past 11 games. They also finished the Suburban League undefeated at 12-0.
Matadore Boys Bow Out of CIF; Girls Play Thursday
UPDATE: The softball team beat Beckman, 7-0 Thursday to advance to the second round. They will play Los Altos Tuesday, May 22nd at La Mirada High beginning at 3:15 p.m.
La Mirada~The La Mirada High baseball season came to an end this afternoon, losing to Damien High, 5-2 in a wild-card game of the CIF Division 2 playoffs.
Also, in Division 2 action, the La Mirada softball team (12-0 in league) will take on Beckman (Irvine) Thursday, May 17th at La Mirada High beginning at 3:15
La Mirada Girls Claim Suburban Title
UPDATE: The team also won the regular season finale on Thursday May 10th vs. Cerritos at La Mirada, 5-4, again in extra innings, to finish the Suburban League campaign undefeated at 12-0. The Lady Mats finished 21-7 overall. They await their first round opponent in the CIF-SS playoffs which will be announced at 12:30 PM PT on Monday, May 14th at www.cifss.org.
From The La Mirada Lamplighter!
La Mirada~When La Mirada softball head coach Richard Trujillo scouted Cerritos for the first time this season on Apr. 27 against Norwalk, he hinted that he could have a secret weapon when his Matadores played Cerritos. Trujillo stuck to his word as La Mirada paid a visit to Cerritos this past Tuesday with the Suburban League championship at stake.
That secret weapon was freshman pitcher Valer
ie Alvarado and she was just as hot as the weather was on this early May Southern California day. Alvarado pitched eight and two-thirds innings and struck out 16 of the 34 batters she faced as the Matadores snuck past Cerritos 3-1 in 11 innings. After watching Cerritos and Mayfair share the league title last season, the Matadores reclaimed what had been theirs outright from 2001-2008. La Mirada, the eighth ranked team in the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section Division II poll, improved to 20-7 overall and 11-0 in the league.
Trujillo replaced senior Ambar Hickman with Alvarado with one out in the bottom of third following a walk to sophomore designated player Lilianna Herrera. Alvarado would strike out two of the three batters she faced in the frame as well as two in each of the next three innings. She fanned three in the seventh and eighth innings and never allowed a Cerritos runner to reach third base during her time in the circle.
"Whether you see her or not, she's effective," Trujillo said. "And that makes Ambar that much more effective. We still haven't counted [senior] Jenevie Rivas out but when they're not touching Val, why change?"
La Mirada Baseball Begins League Play With Big Win
La Mirada~The La Mirada high school baseball team began its defense of the Suburban League title yesterday by beating the Bellflower Bucaneers 7-0, behind a strong pitching performance from Ali Anthony and assists from a shaky Bucaneers defense.
La Mirada shared the title with Mayfair last season, with both teams finishing 10-2. The Matadores have won 12 of the last 13 league crowns.
As in recent years, the Matadores this season have battled a tough pre-league schedule, so they entered league play with a losing record.
After getting out of a couple of jams early, Anthony settled down and pitched a complete-game shutout. He gave up just 3 hits, allowed three walks, and had four strikeouts-two looking. He also hit two batters.
Anthony also starred at the plate going 3-4 and driving in 2 runs.
The game got off to a precarious start when Anthony gave up a leadoff single to Brandon Polizzi in the first inning. A stolen base and fielder's choice followed, and the Bucs had a runner on third with one man out. Then, Bellflower's Victor Zepeda hit a sharp ground ball to La Mirada shortstop Austin Rojo who recorded the out with a nice play of knocking down the ball and holding the runner. Ali struck out the next batter to end the inning.
In the third inning, Ali this time gave up a leadoff triple, again to Polizzi. He responded by retiring three straight batters, one on a called third strike. In the bottom of the frame, Ali drove in a run with a single, and the Mats went up 2-0 after scoring in the previous inning.
Matadore Boys Head North; Girls Soccer Will Host Playoff Opener
La Mirada~The CIF-Southern Section basketball playoff match-ups were announced yesterday, with both the boys and girls teams of La Mirada High School playing on the road in the first round.
The Lady Mats, (13-12, 6-6), under second-year coach Nicole Hyde, will play at No. 10 seed Wilson High School (Hacienda Heights) Thursday in a Division 3AA first-round contest beginning at 7 p.m.
Junior Lexi Vanzuillen (avg.13 pts. a game), and senior Kalena Glover (11), lead the Matadores who enter the playoffs as a Suburban League at-large entry.
They will face a tough opponent in Wilson (20-6, 10-2), who finished second in the Valle Vista League and are riding a four-game win streak.
The boys will have a more scenic route, heading 200 miles up US-101 to Arroyo Grande High School, which is a couple of blocks from Pismo State Beach and just south of San Luis Obispo.
The Matadores (17-11, 8-4), bring a modest two-game winning streak along for the ride, finishing as the Suburban League third place team.
Led by first-year head coach Bryce Jones, the Matadores will face a very tough Arroyo Grande squad. The Eagles (18-8, 11-1), finished first in the Pac-7 League. Start time for the Division 3AAA game is 7 p.m.
You can follow both games on our Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/lamiradablog.
In Girls Soccer, the playoff brackets were announced today. The Matadores, one of the premier teams in the area, finished in first place in the Suburban League and will host the Division 3 post-season opener Friday against Cypress, a very familiar foe from years gone by. Game time is 3 p.m. at La Mirada High School
Matadores Girls Basketball Has Its Eye on Playoffs
Recent News in La Mirada High Sports
Girls Soccer won at Mayfair, their perennial nemesis, by a score of 3-1 this past Monday for the second year in a row. The win puts the Matadores in position to win their second consecutive Suburban League crown.
Ileen Mejia scored two goals as the Mats (14-6-3, 7-1-0) begin looking towards the CIF playoffs.
In boys basketball, the Matadores (14-10, 5-3) lost to archrival Mayfair 67-50, however the playoff-bound Mats put up a fight against a Monsoon (18-5, 9-0) squad that is very tough.
In girls basketball, this past Friday night against Artesia, the Lady Mats were down by nine with 3 minutes left in the game. With: 15 left in the game they hit a three-pointer to send the game to OT, however they ended up bowing, 51-47.
This past Monday night, The Lady Matadores were down by only two at the half, 24-22, on the road against the Mayfair Monsoons, but ended up losing 55-46.
Alyssa Acuna led the Mats with 17 points.
The Mats (11-9, 4-3) are looking to make the playoffs for the first time under second year coach Nicole Hyde. There could be a showdown with Cerritos on February 10th for the final playoff spot, but a lot remains to be seen.
Recent posts
Feds Increase IRA Contribution Amount
Fatal shooting near the VFW La Mirada
