NEWS AND NOTES FROM PRESS ROW: Cerritos girls volleyball returns as 605 League champions

By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X

The Cerritos High girls volleyball team was the first champion for the inaugural 605 League season back in 2018 and the Dons will be the last champion of the circuit before moving into next season’s new 20-school conference. The Dons swept Oxford Academy 25-15, 25-13, 25-12 this past Tuesday to clinch their sixth league title in the past seven seasons.

The only roadblock from keeping that streak to seven consecutive seasons came in 2024 when Whitney High swept Cerritos to take first place. But entering their match with Oxford Academy, the Dons (17-4, 8-0) had a three-match lead over Whitney with three to play in the regular season.

“Knowing this was the last year of the 605 [League], we knew we wanted to [win the title], and none of my players this year have won a league title,” said Cerritos head coach David Cuthbert. “We didn’t make a big deal about highlighting it, but it was a big deal for us that we closed the 605 League with a win: to get that title back.

“We’re here, but we want to give our kids the best experience,” he later said. “We want sports to add to their high school experience, but we want to win league titles. That gives our kids that legacy; they get a year put on that [league title] banner [in the gymnasium].”

Of the 15 players on the team, eight are returning from last season’s squad, but none of them are seniors and only three are juniors. Five of the varsity newcomers are seniors who came up from the lower level. Against the Patriots, Cuthbert started four sophomores and three juniors, including sophomore libero Chloe Gomez, the lone non-returning starter.

“The funny thing is we had four freshmen last year on the team, and we somehow got younger this year because we lost seniors who played,” chuckled Cuthbert. “We normally will have five sophomores play significant minutes for us. They’re young, but last year dealing with that adversity of losing our first 605 League [title] has really built them into a really competitive group. We have some depth as well; there are kids who didn’t play today who can play. It’s been a great year to coach, but it’s been a real challenge to try and manage my rotation because this is perhaps my deepest team that I may have ever had.”

After falling behind 5-1 in the first set, junior outside hitter Ceana Merino had a kill, allowing Gomez to serve where she reeled off 12 straight points, seven of which were either aces or the return was hit too long. Oxford Academy scored three straight points on two occasions, but not until the Dons had built a 21-8 lead.

The second set was much tighter with Cerritos leading 9-7 after the first rotation, never leading by more than three points. With the score 11-10, a serve into the net allowed sophomore outside hitter Ally Veron to put together seven straight points on three aces, a pair of kills from 6’1” junior middle blocker Yuming Zhang, a kill from 5’10” junior right side hitter Kaylin Cho and a double hit violation.

Again, it was the serving from Veron that propelled Cerritos to the win in the third set, first reeling off three straight points early for a 5-1 lead, then putting together four consecutive points late in the set to make it 24-11. From her third set serving, she had three aces and a kill while Cho had three more kills and Zhang another one.

For the match, Cho led the well-rounded Dons with 11 kills while Veron had nine kills and Zhang seven kills. Junior outside hitter Avery Updike and sophomore middle blocker Miranda Martinez each pitched in with six kills while sophomore setter Leah Hidalgo added four kills.

“The plan for this year was to spread it around,” said Cuthbert. “We don’t have one dominant player; we’ve had that in the past. But we have six kids who can score the ball. The challenge is to get the balance right, and the challenge is to pass well enough so that we can give our middles a good run. Yuming was just stellar today.”

Cerritos will go to Artesia High on Friday and will wrap up the regular season on Tuesday against Pioneer High.

In other girls volleyball action with playoff implications on the line, Gahr High (22-9, 8-0) swept Paramount High this past Tuesday to claim at least a share of the Mid-Cities League. The Gladiators, who went winless in eight Gateway League matches last season, hosted second place Firebaugh High on Oct. 9 and will travel to Dominguez High on Tuesday in the regular season finale. This is Gahr’s first league title since 2019.

Norwalk High lost to Downey High in four sets last Thursday, which gave the Gateway League outright title to the Vikings. The Lancers travelled to Warren High this past Tuesday and was swept to drop to 13-9, 4-3. Norwalk ends the regular season on Tuesday against Mayfair High with a playoff berth on the line.

Whitney swept Pioneer this past Tuesday to improve to 18-12, 5-3 and will visit John Glenn High on Friday before ending the regular season at Artesia on Tuesday. The Wildcats have the inside track to finish in second place in the 605 League.

GATEWAY LEAGUE FOOTBALL

La Mirada (2-4, 0-1) @ Downey (5-1, 1-0)-Even though this is the second of five league games, if La Mirada has any chances of finishing the regular season above .500, which would get the Matadores a playoff berth, it must pull off an upset against the Vikings, who are coming off a 33-14 win over Mayfair last Friday. La Mirada dropped a 27-13 decision to Warren last Friday in which the halftime score was only 10-7 in favor of the Bears. The Matadores are on a four-game losing streak, having been outscored 133-42, and have not scored more than 20 points since their last win, a 24-21 decision over Troy High on Aug. 28.

Sophomore quarterback Ace Faagata returned to the lineup and completed 10 of 17 yards for 75 yards while gaining 46 yards on 12 carries and scoring one touchdown. Junior running back Isaac Cuevas gained 59 yards on nine carries and scored the other touchdown while freshman wide receiver Kaiden Warlow continues to shine in his early high school career, catching five passes for 50 yards.

The Matadores gained 187 total yards against Warren and are more of a running team as they are two yards shy of the 1,000-yard mark. But it won’t get easier against the Vikings who gained nearly 400 yards against Mayfair. Highly touted quarterback Oscar Rios completed 14 of 24 passes for 243 yards and a pair of touchdowns and gained 42 yards on seven carries while Gavin Ingram rushed 15 times for 86 yards and scored once. Rios completed passes to seven different players with Damani Porras hauling in five receptions for 81 yards, and Rios already has over 1,300 yards passing with 13 touchdowns and four interceptions. Ingram and Rios have combined for 781 yards on the ground as the Vikings need three yards to reach the 1,000-yard mark.

Defensively, Downey has 11 sacks from nine players and seven interceptions, led by Porras (four).

Of the five victories, three were by a combined five points and the lone loss was a 42-point defeat to Sierra Canyon High. Downey has won all five meetings with the Matadores, including last season’s 45-7 decision with three other meetings won by at least 17 points and a 12-7 victory in 2019.

Prediction: Downey 35, La Mirada 17

IRONWOOD LEAGUE FOOTBALL

Aquinas High (5-1, 1-0) @ Valley Christian High (4-2, 1-0)-For all intense purposes, the winner of this contest has the inside track to claim the Ironwood League title as it’s the HMG-Community News Game of the Week. After a rocky non-league schedule, and a bye, V.C. opened league action with a 35-26 win over Capistrano Valley Christian High last Friday.

Neither team led by more than seven points through the first three quarters and the lead changed hands three times until the Defenders scored back to back touchdowns in a matter of minutes in the fourth quarter to go up 35-20. The highlight was a 40-yard pick-six from senior linebacker Cole Hefner.

Junior quarterback Graham Lunzer passed for 233 yards and had a pair of long touchdown passes to senior wide receivers Oliver Boateng and Sean Bouma but was picked off four times. Bouma ended the night with 120 yards on three receptions while Boateng caught two passes for 94 yards and V.C. had 461 all-purpose yards to 190 from C.V.C.

For the season, Lunzer is completing 57 percent of his passes and has thrown for 1,246 yards, 12 touchdowns and five interceptions. Together, Boateng and Bouma have combined for nearly 900 receiving yards and eight touchdowns while three other players all have over 100 receiving yards. This is clearly a pass happy team as the Defenders have gained 460 yards on the ground with Lunzer leading the way (70 carries, 208 yards, eight touchdowns).

Aquinas has been the kings of the league, winning all 16 games in the circuit since moving from the Ambassador League. In fact, the Falcons have not lost a league game since 2016, a 44-19 defeat to Notre Dame High out of Riverside. Since then, they have been riding a 38-game winning streak in league action.

The Falcons had their way with Ontario Christian High last week in a 75-27 affair as Dannicco Louie led a solid rushing attack with 106 yards on nine carries and three touchdowns. Charlie Reyes added 79 yards on six touches and scored twice as Aquinas racked up 341 yards on the ground.

Champ Brown, who did not play against Ontario Christian, leads the Falcons with 564 yards on 62 carries and 10 touchdowns while Reyes has 347 yards on 48 carries and five touchdowns. Reyes is also completing 57 percent of his passes and has 834 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Aquinas is on a five-game winning streak and has scored at least 34 points in four of those games while allowing 33 points combined during that streak before last Friday. This is the fourth meeting between the schools with Aquinas winning the past three by scores of 42-0, 48-0 and 50-14.

Prediction: Aquinas 35, V.C. 24

MID-CITIES LEAGUE FOOTBALL

Gahr (3-3, 1-0) @ Lynwood High (2-4, 0-1)-For the longest time when these two rivals were in the San Gabriel Valley League, they would battle for not finishing in last place. But recently, Gahr and Lynwood have been competitive with Gahr advancing to the CIF-Southern Section Division 13 championship game last season and Lynwood playing in the 2023 Division 14 title game. In fact, the Knights have a combined record of 26-15 from 2022-2024.

Gahr is coming off a surprising 48-13 win over Bellflower High last Friday in which it scored three touchdowns within the first 7:26. Senior quarterback Roman Acosta was seven of 11 for 136 yards and two touchdowns while adding 50 yards on five rushes and a 30-yard touchdown run.

After scoring 46 points in the first four games, the Gladiators have put together 81 points in their current two-game winning streak. And now that a few transfers on the offensive side who played last Friday are eligible, Gahr is locked in for a potential first place battle with Norwalk on Oct. 17.

For that to happen, it can’t look past a Lynwood squad that played Norwalk close last Friday before losing 25-6. It was only 10-0 at the half and 17-0 going into the fourth quarter. The Knights were held to 186 all-purpose yards as quarterback Jordan Sewell, who has thrown for 520 yards and two touchdowns thus far, was three of six for 23 yards and an interception. He has also thrown six interceptions and is one of two players with over 100 yards rushing. Tristan Ormond leads Lynwood in that category with 294 yards on 69 carries and five touchdowns.

Lynwood defeated Locke High 50-6, then Narbonne High 18-12 the following week, but has combined for 30 points in the four losses. The Gladiators defeated the Knights 31-7 last season for their ninth straight win in the series. Since 1998, Gahr holds a 16-6 mark over Lynwood, but the teams didn’t play from 2002-2005 when Gahr was a freelance team.

Prediction: Gahr 42, Lynwood 21

Compton Early College (2-4, 1-0) @ Norwalk (6-0, 1-0)-The quest for an undefeated season, or at very least one of the best starts in program history continues as Norwalk wraps up a stretch of five straight home games. The Lancers have scored over 200 points and have not scored under 21 points this season.

This is the second meeting all-time with the Rising Phoenix, having won 56-6 last season in the inaugural season for Compton Early College. After going 0-10, the Rising Phoenix has two wins under its belt, defeating Mark Keppel High 49-21 on Sept. 5 and Firebaugh 63-49 last Thursday. In that game, quarterback Daniel Riley completed all four passes he threw for 69 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 244 yards on 20 carries and five touchdowns. Running back Travion Brown contributed with 148 yards on 18 carries a pair of touchdowns and wide receiver Mark Hurtado, a freshman, caught three passes for 64 yards and a touchdown.

Riley already has 1,126 yards on 125 carries and 14 touchdowns, and with Norwalk’s double wing offense of senior running backs Diego Cerritos and Daron Walker, who were both shy of 1,000 yards prior to the Lynwood game, this one should be over in under two hours.

Prediction: Norwalk 56, Compton Early College 10

Last week’s predictions: 4-3

Season to date: 24-18