Junior Zack Abrams' 36-yard field goal inside the final six minutes proved to the decisive points as Los Al downed the Newport Harbor Sailors 9-7 in another tough Sunset League game Thursday night.
    The Griffins once again turned in another strong defensive effort. Although giving up a 54-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, they held the Sailors to 115 yards the rest of the game -- and came up with two interceptions (by Garrett Diulio and Ian Perez) to stop Newport Harbor drives deep in Los Al territory.
    Those plays helped Los Al overcome four offensive fumbles by soph QB Clark Evans and a blocked PAT after Evans ran for a first quarter touchdown.
    Despite the fumbles, Evans turned in some productive numbers, completing eight of 15 passes for 78 yards with an interception, but also rushing 22 times for 100 yards. Two of his fumbles gave the Sailors their third-quarter scoring opportunities.
    Newport Harbor entered the game with a 1-0 league record, having upset #4 Esperanza 21-13 in the first week of Sunset League action last Friday night.
For the Sailors, that was a triumphant return to the Sunset League after a 25 year absence. They had been in the Sea View League most recently.

Click below for the Los Angeles Times or Long Beach Press-Telegram accounts of the game. Click here for the box score in OC Register

    The Griffin defense turned in a strong effort for the second straight game. Last week, Ken Borg blocked an extra point and tight end Nick Brucculeri threw a 42-yard touchdown as the Los Alamitos Griffins opened their Sunset League season with a 7-6 squeaker win over Fountain Valley.

      One week after being upset and swept by Esperanza, the Los Al girls volleyball team collected itself to down Newport Harbor and move back into a first place tie at the end of the first round round of Sunset League play.
      The Griffins continually pounded the Newport Harbor interior with strong hits from Geena Urango and Christine Douglas. Newport Harbor came into the match on a roll which included an impressive win over Esperanza the week before.

Click here for Costa Mesa Pilot article on game.

      David Angstadt’s goal with one second left sent it into overtime, but the Griffin water polo squad fell 4-3 in overtime to Newport Harbor on Wednesday night. The loss drops Los Al to 2-1, while Newport Harbor is 3-0.

      Here's the Press-Telegram account of the game.

      The CIF Southern Section Water polo coaches have gotten the Southern Section administrators to agree to hold a post-season Southern Section Masters Tournament, which will put the winners and top teams from all the divisions into one final 16-team tournament.

      The Los Al Griffins girls tennis squad improved their Sunset League record to 7-0 with wins this week over Newport Harbor (9-9 match decided on games) and Marina (18-0).
      Against Newport Harbor Katie Moore and Jocelyn Liu won their final doubles set, 7-5, to help the Griffins (ranked No. 7 in the CIF-SS Division II poll) defeat No. 8 Newport Harbor on games, 78-75, in a Sunset League showdown.
      Click here for Costa Mesa Pilot coverage.

      The Los Al Cross Country squad left its mark at the (Edison) Charger Invitational on October 7, coming away with two individual champions in Kyle Frost and freshman Daniele Fessenden.
      Coach Nathan Howard called it the team’s best meet of the year.
      Senior Kyle Frost won the varsity boys race in a time of 16:08 to pace Los Al to a second place team finish. Also placing in the individual top ten were Kasey Ahlstrom (16:42.0), Brad Kachigan (16:44.0) and Jason Imamoto (16:46.0).
      In the varsity girls race, Jennifer Schefski finished in 8th place with a time of 19:57 to lead the Griffin girls to a third place finish.
      The Griffin freshman girls squad placed three runners in the top five spots and earned the freshman team championship. Danielle Fessenden (pictured right, along with Kelcey Salcido) took first place honors on the three-mile course with a time of 20:28. Salcido was 4th and Nealie Hook was 5th. Also earning points were Sydney Sperling, Annamarie Lee, Michelle Lee and Megan Shade.
      The Lower Level Boys won their race with Los Al High top finishers Frank Higuera, Ian Empey, Paul Bailey, Joseph Harabedian and Greg Zambrano. Boy's varsity placed 2nd and the Girls Varsity placed 3rd.

      This weekend many of the Griffins will compete in the annual Mt Sac Invitational, the the biggest high school cross country meet in the nation. 98 races will be run on the famed hills of Mount San Antonio College in Walnut CA. The Griffin Varsity Boys finished 15th in the Division I sweepstakes race at last week’s Orange County championships.

      Following a championship season as a club sport at Los Al High, Lacrosse has been officially approved by the school as a CIF sport for Spring 2007, with the Griffins fielding both a boys and a girls team.
      The boys team, whose JV squad reached the state championships in only its very first season, will join 20 other schools in Orange County (up from 5 last season) who will field teams for CIF play. The Sunset League will be comprised of Los Alamitos, Marina, Tustin, Newport and Avalon. Some other OC schools fielding teams are Foothill, J-Serra, Beckman, St. Margaret’s, Tesoro, Capistrano Valley, Newport Harbor, Corona del Mar, Santa Margarita, Servite & Huntington Beach.
      Kevin Meyran will again be the Head Coach of boys squad. Meyran was an assistant coache for several seasons at USC, and prior to that attended Towson University in Maryland, lacrosse scholarship, and made a NCAA Division 1 Final Four appearance. Fran Peters, who also has extensive east coast collegiate lacrosse experience, will again be the team’s assistant coach.
      Girls will field a lacrosse team for the first time, and will be part of the north division of the 14 school Orange County League. Coaching the girls is Meredith Adamicki who was a 2-time All-American at Towson and Female Athlete of the Year Nominee. She also played on the 2002 U.S. National Women’s Developmental Lacrosse Team.
      For more information about CIF Lacrosse at Los Alamitos High School, please contact:
      Boys: (562) 596-0815 or email losalmenslacrosse@yahoo.com 
      Girls: (562) 598-7769 or email losalwomenslacrosse@yahoo.com

      Former Los Al standout Rachel Moss has helped Duke jump to the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference volleyball standings, was selected as the ACC Volleyball Player of the Week for the week ending October 15.
      The Blue Devil freshman posted back-to-back double-doubles on the road against Virginia and Virginia Tech.
      Moss didn’t let up this past weekend, helping Duke to back to back sweeps over Maryland and Boston College.

      When he received word that University of Alabama offensive coordinator Dave Rader wanted to see him in his office last Monday, redshirt freshman quarterback Jimmy Barnes feared the worst.
      “First I thought I was in trouble or something," he said. “It’s never good when Coach Rader calls you into his office."
That’s when Barnes learned that he had moved up on the depth chart because senior Marc Guillon had quit the team six games into the season. Although Barnes had spent the entire year preparing to compete against true freshman Greg McElroy for the No. 2 job next spring and fall, ready or not he was suddenly the Crimson Tide’s backup.

Click here for more.

More Barnes:
Jimmy Barnes suddenly #2 QB at Alabama
Coverage from Alabama papers

      After scoring the game-winning goal on Sunday to give Pepperdine the 1-0 upset over No. 3 Santa Clara, former Los Al Griffin Sophia (Bo) Medina was named the West Coast Conference (WCC) "Player of the Week."
      Medina, a freshman for the Waves, was also credited with the assist on the game-winning goal during last Friday's 2-1 overtime victory over San Diego.
      Those efforts also netted her a spot on the Soccer Buzz team of the Week. Medina, the second leading all-time scorer in Los Al soccer, was a three time all-CIF selection for the Griffins before graduating last June.

      Niccole Grimaldi (LAHS '04) and the Oklahoma State Cowgirls soccer team broke into the top 10 rankings for the first time this season. The Cowgirls, who are 12-2-2 on the season and 7-1-1 in the Big 12, host Nebraska today in their home finale.

      Rocky Hearst (LAHS '05) and the University of Evansville Purple Aces women's soccer team have their eyes on a Missouri Valley Conference championship, as they play Drake University today with first place on the line. Drake is 8-5-2 and 3-0-1 in the MVC. Evansville is 7-6-0 and 3-1-0.

      Despite some disappointing close losses to good teams, Virgina Tech (Megan Strawther, LAHS '06) ) still has an outside chance to make the ACC playoffs if they can win their home games this weekend against Boston College and Maryland. The Hokies lost last Sunday to No. 2 North Carolina 1-0, wth the game's only goal coming on a free kick early in the second half. The loss came just three games after VT fell 2-1 to then No. 3 Florida State.

      Coming into the week with its highest-ever national ranking, No. 20 in Soccer America, the Long Beach State 49ers womens soccer team -- with former Griffins Hayley Bolt and Julie Megorden -- begins the final two weeks of their regular season with three matches over a six-game stretch,
      The 49ers (12-2-1, 3-0-1 Big West) travel to UC Davis (7-4-2) for a Friday afternoon match, then return home to play UC Irvine (3-10-1, 0-4-0 Big West) on Sunday at 1 p.m.
      The Beach will then play CS Fullerton next Wednesday (October 25) as part of the national NSCAA Game of the Week on Fox Soccer Channel. Game time is 5 p.m. Throughout the season, FSC has broadcast a men’s and women’s college game of the week. The broadcast marks the third time former Griffins have gotten exposure on national TV this year. Niccole Grimaldi (Oklahoma State) and Danny Suits (UCLA) appeared in previous telecasts.
      Beach is coming off a 9-day layoff, but their last showing was an impressive one, as the 49ers posted a 4-0 win over previously-ranked Fresno State (7-5-1) paced by two goals and an assist from Kim Silos and four points from former Los Al standout Hayley Bolt. The win tied the school-record for shutouts (11) and victories (12), both set last season.

      Here's the conclusion to a nice two-part article on local long-distance swimming star, Lynne Cox (shown right) which recently appeared in the OC Register. The article was written by Register Outdoors columnist David Whiting. Cox, a former Griffin, is probably the only person in the world who has swam the English Channel, the Bering Strait, Swimming to Antarctica, and frolicked with baby whales off Seal Beach -- as detailed in her new book "Grayson." ). There is also a link to a video piece on Cox.