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By Loren Kopff
Sports Editor | Follow X
November 5, 2025
For five area football teams, 10 games wasn’t enough to keep their dreams alive of capturing a CIF-Southern Section divisional championship. They will be playing anywhere from one to four more games to achieve those dreams, starting on Friday with first round action.
DIVISION 8
#12 Beckman High (7-3) @ # 5 La Mirada High (4-6)-This is the HMG-Community News Game of the Week and what better time for La Mirada to return to the postseason for the first time since Nov. 12, 2021 when the Matadores lost to Pasadena High 41-31 in the Division 7 quarterfinals. Since then, the program has gone 14-25 overall, 8-12 in Gateway League action and made a coaching change.
The Matadores dropped a 33-17 affair to their longtime nemesis, Mayfair High, last Thursday, but their ratings were good enough to get them the fifth seed in Division 8. Of the 17 teams in the division, 13 received automatic spots, three are at-large representatives, including La Mirada, and one team did not advance.
In the Mayfair game, the Matadores were trailing 27-3 entering the fourth quarter before getting a rushing touchdown from junior running back Ismael Garcia and a receiving touchdown from junior wide receiver Jaleel Scott.
The strength of the offense is the running game where Garcia has 678 yards with seven touchdowns while junior Josiah Fregoso has added 541 yards and three touchdowns. As a team, the Matadores have gained 1,755 yards on the ground and have found the end zone 17 times.
The leading receiver is freshman Kaiden Wardlow (41 receptions, 374 yards, four touchdowns) while no one else has even caught 15 passes from either junior quarterback Isaac Cuevas or sophomore Ace Faagata.
La Mirada began the season with two straight wins, then lost five straight in which it scored a total of 49 points. The Matadores are the fourth place team from the Gateway League but will be hosting the Lambda League champions who have won six straight contests.
Beckman defeated Marina High 21-14 last Friday in which it was tied 7-7 at halftime before the Patriots scored twice in the third quarter.
Quarterback Noah Nam, who had a touchdown against Marina, walks into the playoffs with 1,554 yards and 14 touchdowns. He is completing 60 percent of his passes. Five players have at least 13 receptions, led by Makhi Czaykowski (30 catches, 469 yards, eight touchdowns). He is also the team’s leading rusher with 988 yards on 110 carries and has scored 12 touchdowns.
Before the Marina game, the Patriots scored over 30 points in the other five games during the winning streak and has close to 300 points this season while the Matadores have scored 195 points. Beckman is in its 22nd year and this is the first meeting between the programs. The winner of this game will play either No. 4 Fullerton High or No. 13 La Quinta High
Prediction: Beckman 35, La Mirada 17
DIVISION 9
#9 Cerritos High (8-2) @ #8 Fillmore High (9-1)-If this matchup looks familiar, you’re not alone. Two seasons ago, they played a first round game in the Santa Clara River Valley and the Dons escaped with a 24-12 win. Three weeks later, Cerritos was crowned Division 12 champions.
“I like it; I think it’s fair,” said Cerritos head coach Demel Franklin of the bracket. “I like the opponent; it’s familiar. I know their coaching style, the type of players [Fillmore has] and the atmosphere.”
So now, the Dons return once again as 605 League champions after a 50-0 win over John Glenn High last Thursday and are ready to make another deep run in the playoffs. Cerritos has won six straight games, scoring over 25 points each time, and has eclipsed the 30-point mark six times overall. You can credit senior Justin Sagun for some of that scoring success, passing for 1,274 yards and 13 touchdowns while rushing for 341 yards and five more touchdowns. As a team, the Dons had 15 players carry the ball for a total of 2,219 yards and scored 31 touchdowns with senior La’Brenten Wilson leading the charge (715 yards, 13 touchdowns).
One advantage Franklin says he and his team doesn’t involve what goes on between the lines. Two seasons ago, the Dons left Cerritos around 2:30 p.m. and got to Fillmore around 5:30 p.m. But on Friday, they plan to get on the bus around noon.
“We were almost scrambling to get off the bus, get on the field and start playing,” he remembers. “That was my first playoff game, and I remember every moment of that. So, we’re going to take that part away and be able to go in there calm. I want them to go in there with a calm setting.”
Fillmore’s lone loss came to Agoura High, 42-14, on Oct. 17 in a Tri-Country League game. The Flashes are a scoring machine, having reached 40 points six times and 50 points once. But there are equally efficient on defense, allowing less than 20 points in eight of the nine victories with a pair of shutouts and single digits three times.
Jasiah Patterson is averaging nearly 141 yards per game on the ground and leads the team with 1,408 yards and 16 touchdowns. Micah Harm is next in that category with 657 yards and five touchdowns.
“We have to control the line of scrimmage, and we have to stop their running game,” said Franklin. “They’re a pretty strong running team; [Patterson] looks like he’s a little low, he’s quick and they can just keep handing [the ball] to him.”
The winner of this game plays either top-seeded Silverado High or No. 16 Ramona High.
Prediction: Cerritos 38, Fillmore 31
#14 Norwalk High (10-0) @ #3 Warren High (3-7)-This one has the makings of being a barnburner as the one-time Gateway League opponents meet under unusual circumstances. Norwalk is seeking to keep its undefeated season going while visiting third-seeded Warren, which began the season with five straight losses before winning the next two. Still, according to the ratings system, Warren was at 0.9 while the Lancers, who are 12 spots behind their first round opponent, had a rating of -0.9.
Despite the higher seed and the overall record, the numbers heavily favor Norwalk, which begins the playoffs undefeated for the second time ever. The last time came in 2013 when that squad fell to La Serna High in the divisional finals.
Norwalk held on to defeat Bellflower High 14-7 last Friday, its lowest-scoring game of the season, and got touchdown runs from senior running back Daron Walker, who carried the ball 14 times for 123 yards, and senior quarterback Axel Bustamante. Senior running back Diego Cerritos gained 104 yards on 16 carries as he and Walker have been probably the best 1-2 punch around. Both have over 1,300 yards rushing with Cerritos scoring 19 times and Walker 17 times. Only one other running back, senior Keyshawn Williams, has gained over 100 yards this season. Norwalk has rushed for 2,891 yards but is still miles away from the school record of 5,314 yards set in 2009 behind Elijhaa Penny (1,339 yards), Adrian Gonzales (1,297 yards) and Billy Moore (1,110 yards).
Warren had no problems with Paramount High last Friday in a 31-6 victory, posting a season high in points scored while in the Bears yielded over 20 points in six of the seven losses. In fact, Paramount is the only common opponent as Norwalk defeated the Pirates 21-14 on Sept. 19.
Two seasons ago, the Bears blasted the Lancers 50-14 and before that, Norwalk took the 2012 contest (48-13) and the 2013 meeting (47-6). But it’s hard to pick against a team that is averaging nearly 32 points a game while its opponent is giving up an average of almost 22 points.
The winner of this game plays either No. 11 Chino High or No. 6 Valley Christian High.
Prediction: Norwalk 35, Warren 20
#11 Chino (5-5) @ #6 Valley Christian (7-3)-Before the season started, V.C. head coach Brenden Chambers was confident his team would finish in second place in the Ironwood League, losing only to Aquinas High. His predictions were spot on as the Defenders, who went 7-3 last season with a fourth place finish in the league, are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2022.
“I think that getting an automatic qualifier, it was nice after our game knowing that [last] weekend, we didn’t have to look at the CIF website wondering if we were going to be in or not,” said Chambers. “It’s a huge relief getting an automatic qualifier, and I was just happy for these guys; this group, especially these seniors with what they have gone through the last couple of years and kind of getting cheated out last year and how it all went down.”
V.C. smashed Ontario Christian High 56-0 last Thursday to put an end to an explosive offensive season that saw the team average over 31 points a game with five games of over 40 points.
The heart and soul of the team is junior quarterback Graham Lunzer, who passed for 1,951 yards, rushed for a team-high 521 yards and accounted for 35 of the 40 touchdowns the Defenders scored. He tossed 21 touchdowns and saw half a dozen players catch at least 11 passes with at least 110 over yards.
“It’s been honestly a little bit of a surprise with how well we played offensively,” said Chambers. “It shows the commitment they had and the ability to adapt and adjust to the talent that we had.
“Obviously Graham’s been a huge player for us this year,” he continued. “But the receivers have come up big when we needed them. Moving [senior] Cole Hefner to running back has been an added bonus for us, and just the play of the offensive line…they’ve gotten better every single week.”
Senior Oliver Boateng is the leading receiver with 44 catches, 743 yards and nine touchdowns, followed by senior Sean Bouma (32 receptions, 491 yards, three touchdowns) and Hefner (25 receptions, 318 yards, three touchdowns).
Despite the .500 record, Chino is a formidable opponent, winning five of the last six games after a slow start in which the Cowboys were outscored 153-68. But in the five victories, including last Thursday’s 42-9 contest with Diamond Bar High, the team has scored at least 29 points each time. The lone loss in Hacienda League action was to Los Altos High, 28-14, on Oct. 16.
Quarterback Carson Hoover has passed for 1,353 yards and 10 touchdowns while Nathan Bull leads the team in rushing with 762 yards and 10 touchdowns. As a team, Chino has rushed for 1,619 yards.
“When we got the draw and looked at MaxPreps, the guys said…they’re pretty balanced,” said Chambers. “Then when we watched the film, it was the same thing. [Hoover] has a decent arm; he throws the ball pretty hard and puts it in the right spot. They have a couple of good receivers on the outside, and then they’re big up front. They run the ball really well. I think for us, we always try to stop the run first, which makes [opponents] them throw the ball.”
This is the third meeting between Chino and V.C. in the past four seasons with the Cowboys posting a 33-0 win two seasons ago and a 17-14 victory in 2022.
Prediction: V.C. 31, Chino 24
DIVISION 11
#14 Gahr High (6-4) @ #3 Chaffey High (5-5)-Gahr surprised many last season by playing in the Division 13 championship game after a 5-5 regular season. But in 2025, the Gladiators won one more game with their forfeit win over Firebaugh High last Friday. Still, the Gladiators, who lost three of their first four games, have had to earn every win, whether it was a surprising 48-13 affair with Bellflower High on Oct. 3, or a 16-6 road win the next week against Lynwood High.
If Gahr, which finished in second place in the Mid-Cities League, is to win this contest, the running game has to improve and lessen the burden that has been put on senior quarterback Roman Acosta.
Chaffey has had an up and down season, losing its first two before winning the next two, then splitting the next two before losing two straight and finally winning the last two, including last Friday’s game with Montclair High, 27-10.
The Tigers love to run a lot as Carlos Vasquez leads the team with 1,016 yards and 12 touchdowns while Alexis Almeida is next with 678 yards and five touchdowns.
This is the first meeting between the two and the winner will play either No. 6 Dominguez High or No. 11 Valley View High.
Prediction: Chaffey 37, Gahr 21
Last week’s predictions: 4-2
Season to date: 41-21
