Ensign rallies for title

The Ensign seventh-grade girls’ basketball team ended its season with a bang, defeating unbeaten Dwyer, 24-23, in the Coastal Athletic League tournament championship game Thursday.

Trailing most of the game and down 12 points to start the fourth quarter, Ensign staged a remarkable comeback. Kaitlynn Bell started the scoring with two quick baskets. Mackenzie Gaddis added two other baskets to cut the lead, and Sammie Yeager later helped seal the victory with her clutch free throws. Ensign outscored Dwyer, 17-4, in the fourth quarter and were led by the outstanding team defense of Ali Bonds, Carlee Kapana, Brooke Zachary and Rachel Whitelegge.

CdM wins title too

The Corona del Mar eighth-grade girls’ basketball team won the Coast Athletic League championship Thursday at Ensign Intermediate.

The 30-24 victory against a tough Dwyer team, marked the first time in school history that a CdM girls’ junior high basketball team has won back to back basketball championships. The same team won the 2008 Coast Athletic championship as seventh-graders.

After a tough loss in its first game of the season, the CdM girls rang off eight straight victories en route to the title. The team included: Elizabeth Russell, Molly Keasey, Katie Scott, Chanel Wosoughkia, Jamie Smith, Kendall Mulvaney, Sabrina Smith, Eliza Clark, Hannah Bagdasar, Sabrina Roy and Rebekah Lewis.

SOCCER

AYSO Region 97

Girls Under 12

Green Hornets 2, Purple Elephants 1: The game was a battle between the defenses, until Juliana Eifler scored for the Green Hornets midway through the second quarter. Carly Van Oostendorp, Lexi Van Oostendorp, Holly Halperin, Olivia Blanda, Mackenzie Mowery, Ashley Obuljian, Breelyn Viloria, Kylee Seeber, Haley Datt, Amanada Cox, Chloe Hyde and Kailey Hambek provided great offense and defense. Lani Kerrigan had two critical saves in goal. With two minutes left in the game, Jessalyn Andres buried a goal for a 2-1 victory.

Green Hornets 1, Blue Triangles 0: In the third quarter, Eifler scored a goal for the Green Hornets. Kerrigan and Halperin had some great saves as goalkeepers. Great defense by Andres, Seeber and Hyde kept the Blue Triangles from scoring. Hambek, Cox, Datt, Viloria, Obuljen, Mowery, Carly and Lexi Van Oostendorp all made great offensive plays.

Boys Under 12

The Red Team 6, Red Raiders 3; The Red Team 5, Dill Pickles 1: The Red Team grabbed the first seed in Pool B for the playoffs. Corbin Joyce and Griffin Burke each produced a hat trick, while Cooper Peters and Sargis Srapyan scored two goals each. Alex Michaelson tallied the last goal. The Red Team displayed a tenacious defense led by Liam Tough, Spencer Swanson and Sean Arnold. The midfeld was controlled by Brian Shaw, Michael Nieto and Maxwell Spruill. Sohrob Goodarzy came very close to scoring several times.

Boys Under 10

Newport FC vs. Wolves: Newport FC captains Kyle Burger and John Bush led the team to a 5-0 win catapulting it into the quarterfinals. Lucas Mowery struck first bending a corner into the net. Jack Pitchess followed with another hat trick. Bobby Schulze added one late with a calmly placed penalty kick. The midfield pace throughout the match set by Hunter Bostwick, Thomas Vredenburgh, Garrett Gendron and Julian Hernandez. Justan Gizer notched another shutout with help from Pitchess and Mowery. This week’s Game Ball honors went to Mowery.

Waterbombs 7, Orange Crush 2: Connor Spence cleared the ball with a header and later a big boot downfield in the third quarter and ran the ball up the field in the fourth. Jonny Rimlinger got his foot on the ball no fewer than four times as a defender in the first quarter. Ryan Pham played good defense. Garrett Gritzmacher played strong in goal in the first and fourth quarters, allowing no goals in the fourth. Gage Greenberg had a shot on in the first quarter and held his own as goalie in the second. Quinn Richards got his foot on the ball several times before getting a shot on goal in the fourth quarter. Jack White and Marcus Croxson held their positions in both defensive and offensive positions. Scott Ryder made goals in the first and fourth quarter.

Boys Under 8

Bulldogs: In the morning, the Bulldogs came from behind and won a thrilling game, 2-1. A perfect pass from Jack Starnes saw Dylan Hillson grab the equalizer and a late goal by Aden Lalonde saw the Bulldogs advance to the afternoon round. Bulldogs advanced to the semifinals with a 3-1 win. Goals by Hillson, Starnes and a great goal by George Gastineau sealed the win.

Green Bullets Win Two: The Green Bullets earned their post-game doughnuts with two great playoff wins on Saturday. Zach Forbath led the way, scoring three goals and setting up several others. Chandler Airth stepped up his game for the playoffs, as he was all over the field in both games and earned an assist on a key goal. Luke Bashore used his strong leg to drill in four goals over the two games. Cole McCunniff was a rock at midfield and had a great throw-in to set up a goal. Ezer DeAlmeida flashed his skills on both offense and defense, including a great shot for a goal. Jackson Bryant provided four quarters of shutout goalkeeping over the two games, combining with Indiana Pullis and Ryan Steinke for eight consecutive shutout quarters. Tommy Kennedy came back from an injury in the second game to provide stellar defense and length-of-the-field clearing shots. Jordan Dore, along with Steinke, Bryant and Pullis, applied constant pressure and passing.

Boys Under 7

Fighter Jets vs. Tigers: The Fighter Jets ended the season with a great game against the Tigers. Marcus Miller got things off on the right foot with a goal from the left side of the net early in the first quarter. Later in the game, he passed the ball to a hustling Aidan Gassel for a shot on goal that went wide. Jake Nellesen went one on one against a Tigers player and won the ball for the Fighter Jets. Joseph Whelan and Finn McClintock both had a couple of big kicks on defense and displayed great dribbling skills throughout the game. Working hard to keep the Tigers balls out of the goal were Jerome Snyder and Richie Rimlinger who were both solid in the goal in the first and second halves, respectively. Dane Voorhees was aggressive on both sides of the ball, and Kaiyo Freyder provided a great effort

Red Dragons vs. Blue Thunder: Early in the first quarter, Brandon Kincaid found the back of the net for the Red Dragons. The defense still maintained midfield possession, keeping the Blue Thunder from rumbling. With only minutes remaining in the first quarter, Tyler Li scored his first goal. The Red Dragons finished their season strong as the team’s top scorer Evan Langston relentlessly pushed forward and scored his final goal of the season. The Red Dragon team of Aedan Skellern, Kincaid, Cole Sukow, Devin Fairchild, Langston, Justin McCoy, Tim Badum, Thomas Stobart and Tyler Li amazed their coaches and parents after outscoring their opponents 31-8.

Slammers Advance in League Cup: The Slammers Maroon girls’ U-11 soccer team added three more victories to its championship season and advanced to the second stage of the Coast Soccer League Cup this past weekend.

The Slammers beat a tough and determined Newport Mesa squad, 2-1, Saturday. Emma Scott and Kiana Ghamari scored for the Slammers.

The team faced IUSC Brasil in the first round of the League Cup at UCI Sunday. The Slammer girls were never challenged as they coasted to a 4-0 win. Scoring for the Slammers were Faith Harper (two goals), Katie Dosch, and Ghamari. Katrina Freiberger, Grace Jennings and Scott were credited with assists. Coach Kirk McIntosh praised the play of Leah Givant, the center mid he describes as the team energizer.

In the final round at UCI the team squared off with South Bay Gunners, the second seed from Torrance. Although the Slammers had several scoring opportunities in the first half they were unable to beat the keeper and the score was 0-0 at halftime. A dominant defense led by Bella Goldstein, Shelby Guerena, Paige Fults, Jasi Dunk, Grace Vandervort and Jackie Singer kept the ball in the South Bay half and the Slammer offense responded with continuous attacks. Midway through the second half a cross by Freiberger was deflected out of play by the Gunner keeper and the Slammers were awarded a corner kick. Katie Dosch sent in a beautiful arching cross and Siena Ward buried a perfect header goal in the near post propelling the team to a 1-0 lead. Ward, who was the shortest player on the field at the time, came up big with what turned out to be the difference maker as the stingy defense led by keeper Destry Comp denied any chance for South Bay to score. The 1-0 win propels the Slammer girls into the second round this weekend in Santa Clarita.

Area 57

Boys’ under-10

Bad Boys win again: The Bad Boys posted a 4-3 win over Crimson Tuesday night to advance to the quarterfinals in the league championship tournament. The Bad Boys took an early 3-1 lead with goals from Dayne Parsons, Max Dunk and Saxon Elfend. The Bad Boy offense put continuous pressure on the Crimson goalie with at least 10 shots on goal in the first half. Andrew Smith came through with the deciding goal midway through the fourth period on a perfect crossing pass from Elfend. The was defense led by Michael Sherlock, Hunter Riddle and Cole Rameson. Eric Fries, in goal, stepped up to seal the victory.

AYSO Region 120

Terminators Slay Golden Dragons: The boys’ U-10 Terminators defeated the Golden Dragons, 8-0, in their first pool play playoff game. Liam Jason and Adrian Plazola flawlessly assisted each other and combined for two goals each to give the Terminators a 4-0 lead. Andy Garcia weaved through the defenders to score his first goal of the season. Owen Maldonado shut out the Golden Dragons as goalkeeper in the first half. Gabriel Lindsey scored the first goal of the second half on a perfect assist from Plazola and Lindsey later added a goal on a nice breakaway run. Maldonado finished the scoring with his first goal of the season with a strong shot from the middle. Darius Sobhi and Joey Wakely hustled throughout the second half and attempted several terrific scoring shots and only the strong defense of Henry Campbell and stingy goal play of Conor Halloran prevented Wakley and Sobhi from scoring. Jason thwarted several Golden Dragon scoring attempts and preserved the shutout with his goal work in the second half. Nathan Hayes and Adam Campbell, both valuable teammates all season long, were unable to play for the Terminators due to illness.

Basketball

Newport Lightning 39, Huntington Beach Rebels 36: The Newport Lightning 14-and-under boys’ basketball club won its regular-season finale in the Junior Hoop Stars League by beating the Huntington Beach Rebels. Jack Williamson led all scorers with 14 points (on four three-pointers) with Alex Markling chipping in 12 points and eight rebounds. Andrew Moore dominated on offense and defense with 13 rebounds and 11 points, while Charlie Coffman, Blake Flamson, Andrew Chase and Braden Brahs all played well in the big win. The Lightning head into the Junior Hoop Stars playoffs this weekend.