NOTEBOOK : East L.A. Beat--and Beaten Up--in Semifinals
The East Los Angeles College men’s soccer team was not only beaten in the semifinals of the state championship--they were also beaten up in their 4-3 loss to Chabot College in a double-overtime match Dec. 5 at Los Positas College in Livermore.
“We were pulverized,†East L.A. Coach Orlando Brenes said. “There must have been 100 fouls in the game and 76 were theirs. I had five players injured, two seriously.â€
Roberto Hernandez injured his right ankle and suffered cuts to his face and arms. Francis Zelao suffered a bruised right leg.
The Huskies had goals from Luis Cruz and Gary Hurtarte during regulation, and Harris Garcia in the first overtime.
Chabot avoided sudden-death overtime when the Gladiators scored the winning goal with two minutes left in the second overtime.
“I thought we were going to decide the game on penalty kicks, but it didn’t work out that way,†Brenes said.
El Camino beat Chabot, 4-2, in the finals.
Add ELAC--East L.A. last faced Chabot in the 1975 finals, when Brenes played center defense and was the Huskie captain. The Huskies won, 1-0.
Unpacking--The Crenshaw and Dorsey football programs will not be moving to a new conference.
The City Section realignment committee had floated a proposal to move Crenshaw, the 1991 3-A Division champion, and Dorsey, the 1991 4-A champion, from the Pacific League to the Coastal Conference to improve the level of competition. Westchester and Venice, which had two of the top three records in the Coastal Conference, were to move to the Pacific League.
But that proposal was rejected Monday when school representatives from Crenshaw, Dorsey, Venice, Hamilton and University protested during a meeting with City Section Athletic Commissioner Hal Harkness.
“The idea was scratched (Monday night),†Harkness said. “Five schools spoke against it, including Dorsey, and it was determined the proposal wasn’t good for anyone.â€
The Pacific League, which has produced the past four 4-A champions, consists of perennial powers Banning, Carson, Crenshaw and Dorsey.
Bell update--Bell High will have to wait until after the holiday break to hear whether the school’s football program will be placed on probation, according to Harkness.
The program is being evaluated by City Section officials because an Eagle running back kicked a Chatsworth player in the groin during a City Section 3-A Division quarterfinal game Nov. 25.
The Eagle player was suspended from school for two days and will not be allowed to compete in other varsity sports this year, He has also been declared ineligible to play in Bell’s first football game next season, according to a school official. Chatsworth also filed an incident report with Harkness. A rules committee will meet Feb. 25 to make the final decision.
Volleyball--Cal State Los Angeles, which entered the eight-team NCAA Division II championship tournament ranked 12th in the division, lost its third-place match against West Texas State, 15-3, 15-8, 15-12, last weekend. The Golden Eagles won their quarterfinal match against North Dakota State, but lost to eventual champion Portland State in the semifinals.
Freshman outside hitter Andrea Ferchaw was named to the NCAA Division II All-American second team.
Cal State L.A., which won the Southwestern Regional to advance to the tournament, finished with an overall record of 25-11.
Get our high school sports newsletter
Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
