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August 21, 2025
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
LA MIRADA MATADORES
3-7 overall last season, 2-3 in the Gateway League, fourth place
19-28 overall last five seasons
Head coach: Lucas Mealy (third season, 6-14)
Lost 25 seniors out of 62 players from 2024 opening day roster
Last made the playoffs: 2021
Division 10 last season
2025 schedule
Aug. 22 South Gate (7-7 overall last season, Division II L.A. City Section)
Aug. 29 Troy (9-2, D. 5)
Sept. 5 @ Tesoro (3-7, D. 5)
Sept. 12 @ Western (5-5, D. 5)
Sept. 19 La Habra (10-2, D. 3)
Sept. 26 BYE
Oct. 3 @ Warren (6-8, D. 7)
Oct. 10 @ Downey (9-2, D. 2)
Oct. 17 Dominguez (3-7, D. 11)
Oct. 24 @ Paramount (9-2, D. 8)
Oct. 30 Mayfair (8-4, D. 5)
When Lucas Mealy took over the La Mirada High head coaching duties in 2023, he was facing an uphill battle given the substantial number of graduates from the previous season plus more outgoing transfers than one of the top programs in the CIF-Southern Section could have ever expected. Mealy went 3-7 that season and was banking on a better 2024 campaign. However it was a duplicate in the wins and losses which put a damper on what Mealy is trying to accomplish with the city’s only high school.
“We saw some improvement, there’s no doubt,” said Mealy. “We were injury-riddled last year; we had a lot of injuries [to] a lot of seniors who played a lot for us. But going into the year, the expectations last year were pretty high [which] obviously fell short. We saw improvements, but ultimately, going into this year, the amount of improvements we’ve seen has been far greater than going from year one to year two. We’re in a lot better position here.”
The Matadores graduated more last season but had a slightly bigger team, making another absence to the playoffs more disappointing considering how close they were in the last game of the season. La Mirada trailed Warren High by 10 points at the half in a winner take all contest, only to come up three points short of taking the game to overtime.
“It was difficult; we were six yards away from moving on to the playoffs,” recalled Mealy. “Once you get to the playoffs, the things you hear about yourself, the program, the school, the football team…things change if we get six and a half yards. It was definitely a hard pill to swallow, but we’ve moved on, and we obviously have a little bit of that as motivation. But this is a whole new group of kids…between graduation and then between three big time players for us; three starters for us, three impact players for us who transferred, we’re a new group and I think these guys have their own internal motivation for making this happen.”
OFFENSE
La Mirada’s scoring improved from 210 points to 233 points in 2024, but the offense took some serious hits as quarterback Santino Garcia (1,513 yards, nine touchdowns, 11 interceptions, 105 yards rushing, one touchdown last season), who would have been a senior, transferred to Nogales High. That means there is a battle brewing between junior Isaac Cuevas (four of five for 34 yards) and 6’1”, 215 pound sophomore Ace Faagata, a transfer from Desert Pines High in Las Vegas who completed two passes for 11 yards. He came to La Mirada towards the end of spring and Mealy says the future is ‘very bright’ for him.
Another offensive weapon from last season who left the program to play at St. Paul High under former La Mirada head coach Mike Moschetti, is running back Jordan Lauago (716 yards on 98 carries, 14 touchdowns, 34 receptions, 554 yards, three touchdowns), who also would have been a senior. Coupled with the graduation of three other running backs, the entire running back department is new for 2025. Leading the way is junior Ismael Garcia, whom Mealy says is a physical downhill running back. He is one of four players who took reps during the offseason. Senior Josiah Fregoso, who was a slot receiver last season, is being moved to the backfield and will be joined by senior Julian Alvarez, who played on the defensive side last season and sophomore Noah Lendo.
The third big time playmaker leaving for another school is Aaron Castro (20 receptions, 282 yards, two touchdowns), who will be spending his senior season at La Habra High. His departure leaves senior Logan Martinez (10 receptions, 184 yards, one touchdown) as the leading returning receiver and will probably start at the slot position, according to Mealy. Slated at one outside position is senior Joseph Alvarado while at the other outside spot will be freshman Kaiden Wardlow. He was expected to go to one of the Trinity League schools, but when your uncle is the head coach at La Mirada, how could you say no? Junior Matthew Solorio returns as a tight end while junior Jaylem Scott, a transfer from Lynwood High and sophomore Ghage Serna, another Las Vegas transfer, will see some time as a wide receiver.
“He’s going to be a big time football player,” said Mealy of his nephew. “He’s got a scholarship offer from Sacramento State. Obviously, I know that means absolutely nothing right now. But he’s stepped in and earned the starting spot; he’s earned the respect of the rest of the team.”
The offensive line will consist of junior left tackle Matthew Alvarado, senior left guard Genesis Afu and sophomore center Soale Sitani while three players are vying for the two spots on the right side-juniors DeAngelo Garcia and Lorenzo Valenzuela, who is coming off a knee injury and played guard last season, and sophomore Aiden Land.
“The way they’ve gelled together; the way they’ve worked together, we are in a better position right now than we were this time last year, or even the year before,” said Mealy of his offense. “These kids understand the playbook for the most part, they understand where we want them to get to, how we want them to get there, and the way we want to go about going it when we get there. I’m not concerned about the new faces. I’m actually quite excited because most of them are underclassmen and we’re going to have another year or two with these guys.
DEFENSE
Last season was un-La Mirada like as it surrendered over 30 points seven times and over 40 points five times. In two of the three victories, the opponents failed to get to eight points. Mealy says the defense has improved drastically and feels this season the Matadores won’t have as many star players, but will have a lot more consistency, especially from the line to the back end.
He added that the best position group from this side of the ball about the defense will come from the line where as many as seven players will see some time highlighted by sophomore Ryan Gonzales (41 tackles), who started the last six games and made the All-Gateway League, ended up with nine and a half sacks, three forced fumbles, three strips and had a 61-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown against Warren. Senior Isaiah Gonzalez (19 tackles), two-year starter at defensive end and junior Amir McCalope, and sophomore Christian Prado, who will play the interior are the other featured linemen. Sophomore Vito Console and freshman Riley Gonzales, the younger brother of Ryan Gonzales, will also see some time here.
Senior J.J. Galvan (19 tackles) returns as one cornerback, and is a captain, which is a rarity as Mealy acknowledged that he doesn’t name captains too often. Juniors Elijah Estrada and a transfer from Lynwood High, Jaleel Scott, will battle for the other cornerback position. Juniors Wyatt Gorham (free safety) and Fernando Orozco (strong safety, 29 tackles) round out the secondary while seniors Ryan Campos, Emiliano Ramirez and Levi Reyes (13 tackles) will get some reps.
Juniors Isaac Dionne and Jacob Zatarian are penciled in as the middle linebackers while sophomore Matthew Ybarra will be put in the rotation at times.
“We kind of got back to our roots a little bit,” said Mealy. “I took over the weight room and we went back to old school mentality of lifting [heavier] weights. Granted, we’re going to be young, but we’re going to look bigger than we did last year with a lot younger kids. There’s about five seniors who are going to start for us and you look at everybody else, they’re all underclassmen.”
SCHEDULE
Here’s something you don’t see with the La Mirada football program-a CIF-Los Angeles City Section opponent on the docket. But make no mistake, hosting South Gate High for the season opener will be one of many tests. The Rams, who went 1-5 in the Eastern League, picked it up in the playoffs before falling to Chatsworth High 38-36 in last season’s Division II title game. Troy High is another new opponent while the Matadores hope to avenge a 38-28 loss to Tesoro High, a 42-7 defeat to Western High and a 48-21 setback to La Habra. La Mirada is 1-3 against Tesoro with the lone win coming in 2014 (26-23) and has won twice against La Habra in the last seven meetings with the last victory coming in 2014 (45-28).
“We were looking around for some games and we wanted a team that was going to test us not just from a standpoint of how they play the game,” said Mealy of South Gate. “They have a lot of seniors, and we wanted to be tested early and give ourselves a chance. A lot of people think the City Section is not as good and obviously, there’s some truth to that. But I also think that we’re not just going out there to play some team.
“Troy’s head coach is a good guy; he’s a buddy of mine,” he later said about the rest of the non-league slate. “They run a little of that double wing stuff, so it’s going to be a challenge trying to prepare for that. They do a lot of trickery and lot of misdirection. Then we go into Tesoro, who we know is going to be big and strong. I know they weren’t very happy that we kept the game as close as we did last year. Troy gives us a different look as far as their offensive schematics go. Tesoro is going to be smashmouth football. Then obviously La Habra; we know La Habra is a powerhouse.”
Following a bye, La Mirada jumps into Gateway League action, which has been rough for the program. In three short seasons of the league, the Matadores have finished fourth out of six teams every single time and once again, it won’t be easy. They open with road games against the teams from the City of Downey who have won all eight combined meetings with La Mirada dating back to 2018. Defending Mid-Cities League champion Paramount High jumps to the league this season, replacing Bellflower High. After that, the blue and gold host longtime nemesis Mayfair High in the regular season finale, hoping to end an eight-game skid to the Monsoons.
HOMECOMING
There isn’t much history with Dominguez High, which used to be a powerhouse program in the former San Gabriel Valley League. The Matadores defeated the Dons 38-13 in the 2015 Southeast Division quarterfinals on their way to a division championship, then the Division III-AA state title. La Mirada ended that season winning the last 12 games and finished with a 13-3 mark. The teams wouldn’t play again until 2022 and La Mirada has won every league game with Dominguez, including a 38-27 victory last Oct. 11.
The last homecoming win for the Matadores came in 2022, a 40-20 victory against Paramount.
FINAL OUTLOOK
“I think this year is going to be a big eye-opener for ourselves, for the community and for the school,” said Mealy. “We’re going to be young, and how these young kids respond with the leadership of the seniors is going to dictate how this year goes. I think if we can go out there and have the leadership that I think we have with the seniors and some of those juniors who play a lot, with the talent that we have with the underclassmen, we’re going to find success. But ultimately, we have to do it on a week in and week out basis.”
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