Teachers and Students Face off on the Basketball Court

Story and photos by Natalia Fuentes

On Tuesday May 19 our 2015 senior basketball players hosted the first Teachers vs. Students basketball game. Many students and adults came out to see their favorite teachers compete against the seniors from both boy and girls basketball team.

 

The teachers who came out and played were math teachers Mr. Jay Morookian and Mr. Eric Green, chemistry teacher Mr. Chris Wren, P.E teachers Mrs. Alexandra Bravo and Mrs. Sandra Corr, basketball coaches Joel Simonds, Eric Aguirre, Gabriel Calderon, Trisha Doi, volleyball coach, Hai Truong, water polo coach Sam Gonzalez, world history teacher Mrs. Rosalind Turner, head football coach Robert Thompson, and assistant principal Mr. Moises De La Mora. The teams played for two 20-minute halves.  When the teachers needed to, they would switch off five players.

 

“My favorite teacher to watch was Mr. Marookian because he was really funny and in the middle of the game he took off his pants and changed into shorts. He had his moments in the game,” said sophomore Andres Ariza.

 

“It was a fun game. It was meant to be entertaining, not serious. Our team had a lot of fun playing against teachers who seem friendly during school, but play aggressive during the game,” said senior basketball player Jesus Molina.

 

The students had the during lead first half with help from the crowds cheering  teachers came back up second half.   The teachers rallied to a tie of 51-51, and then after four minutes of overtime, the teachers were able to gain the victory.  In a surprise ending, the teachers beat the students 59-53.

 

 

Winter assembly brings cheers

By Juan Esqueda

Photos by Joselyn Macias

The Winter Sports Assembly took place on Friday February 20, 2015. The theme of the assembly was Space Jam, based the popular sports/adventure movie featuring Michael Jordan, that was released in the year 1996.

The assembly was in honor of the winter sports teams, including boys’ and girls’ basketball, boys’ and girls’ soccer, wrestling, and girls’ water polo. The assembly also honored the teams that made it to CIF this season: girls’ water polo, boys’ soccer, boys’ basketball, and some of the wrestlers from the wrestling team.

 

The Cheer Squad also performed a new routine that included many rounds of stunts and tumbling. Cheer captain and senior Alexis Garcia said, “Everyone put 100% in the performance. We practiced up to 4 times a week to get it right.”

 

In addition, Color Guard performed as well. Senior Karina Muñoz said, “I felt like we performed our hearts out, and I’m really proud of how much the team and I put hard work into it.”

Dance team performed to a mix of Upgrade U by Beyonce and Get Loose by Tyga. Based on the loud cheers the team received, the audience really liked the performance according to how loud their cheers were.

Soccer makes it to first round of CIF

By Natalia Fuentes

Photo courtesy of George Valdez

After missing the playoffs last year, the boys’ soccer team bounced back into CIF competition this season. Their 2-0 victory against Costa Mesa High School on February 12 got them into a CIF wild card game.

On February 18, 2015 the team competed  against Sultana High School for a CIF spot. After a tough battle in Tuesday’s game, the boys beat Sultana 2-1. The goals were scored by sophomore Rodolfo Estrada and junior Brady Carbajal.  This victory gave the team a chance to play West High School in the first round of CIF.

 

On Friday February 20, the team traveled to West High School in Torrance to try to advance to the next round. The outcome was a 2-1 loss. Even though they lost, the soccer team received positive feedback from their tough battle.

 

“They’re a good team. They work the ball well and they had their rhythm,” West Torrance coach Mike Shimizu said. “They were altering my jump by bumping me while I was in the air, and just that little bump would make the ball go wide,” West Torrance player Zach McGraw said.

 

When Coach Mel Silva was asked about his thoughts in the CIF game against West Torrance High school, he responded, “I have mixed emotions about it.  On one part I am sad because my team played really well. They played better than the other team, but soccer is so cruel not only the best team wins. This time we happened to lose. On the opposite side I am pleased because I saw my team grow before my eyes as a real team.”

“Coming together is the beginning. Stay together is the process,” Silva said. “Working together is success. We preached these concepts all season long. They worked really hard to stay successful and  earned a playoff spot and played well in the playoff. Because of this fact I am extremely optimistic for the next year to come.”

Football makes CIF

By Emanuel Ruiz

On Saturday October 25, the Saddleback football team beat Calvary Chapel by a score of 59-47 at Segerstrom’s football stadium.  The victory qualified the to advance to CIF competition.

The Roadrunners were ahead throughout the game, never letting Calvary either tie the game or got ahead. In the first quarter, Saddleback scored a three touchdowns while Calvary only cored one. In the second quarter, Saddleback scored two more touchdowns and a field goal while Calvary only scored six points, ending the first half with a score of 38-13.

In the third quarter, Saddleback scored two more touchdowns while Calvary scored two more touchdowns and two field goals, bringing them closer. Finally in the fourth quarter, Saddleback scored one more time. Calvary scored a touchdown with a two point conversion, but it wasn’t enough to bring them ahead.

“I felt accomplished, our first goal to make it it to CIF was achieved. The hard work we put in before the season paid off.” said quarterback Johnny Rojas. He looks forward to, “Passing the first round of CIF and making it into Quarter Finals.”

Linebacker and fullback, Chris Rios said, “I felt great, a feeling that I can’t explain.” He continued with, “I’m looking forward to the competition out there, its going to be a great experience.”

Senior Perez wins soccer scholarship for Minot State, North Dakota

By Humberto Berumen

Photo by Humberto Berumen

Senior Maritssa Perez has been very successful throughout her four years playing soccer at Saddleback High School. Perez has been awarded a full scholarship to play soccer at Minot State University in North Dakota, a Division two school in the NCAA. The award for full tuition is $12,000, although Perez is receiving a $10,000 scholarship and a financial aid package to cover other costs of her education.

Senior Maritssa Perez

 

Playing against division two teams will definitely not be easy. Perez said, “I have played my whole life club and participated here in high school. I feel like I am prepared to expect how they play, and I feel like it will be a challenge but i can manage.”

 

Minot State’s head soccer coach, Jason Spain, said, “We have been trying to find a holding midfielder with a never-ending engine and Maritssa is definitely that.” Minot State University expects great things for next season.

 

Perez shared the same point of view and added, “Knowing that the team has had great success and that they have signed eight incoming freshman, and also three transfers, I feel like this team is trying to build and win a championship title.”

Saddleback enjoys spring assembly

By Bryan Medina

Photo credit: Andrea Reynoso

 

On Friday May 23 e had two things going on that were fun.  We had an awesome assembly and the senior photos during lunch.  The assembly was the last one of the year, and for seniors it was their last assembly at Saddleback High School.

We had the dance, team show us some moves they had been practicing, and it was a good performance people clapped. Cheer showed us some of their moves too as they did flips and threw girls in the air, cheer was very cool too. Color guard did their performance too the theme was cool and they did neat tricks with the flags. They threw them in the air and cought them easily. Band also played a song. Towards the end of the assembly they also gave awards to some of the best student at saddleback.

There are a lot of work that go into planning them the assembly. ASB creates a slideshow and the performers practice hard to give a great performance.  NJROTC, band, choir, color guard, cheer, dance, and sports are all major part of the assembly. Everybody that was performing was awesome. Band also made the gym shake with their drummers, and choir sang with their delicate voices. Overall we had great performances on our last assembly.

In a Saddleback tradition, the end of the assembly was special. Seniors left first as they walked across the gym for the last time in an assembly. all the seniors were walking proudly because they are almost done with highschool and this is the last assembly they will be attending. last years seniors walked across the gym and now this years seniors walked, we’ve been doing this for a long time.

On Friday we also took our senior photos during both lunches. Hopefully all the seniors took their photos as they are a great memory. Last Friday was very fun, filled great activities that brought a great start to our three day weekend.

Swimmer Valerie Acosta sets a new record

By Tatiana Rojas

Photos courtesy of Valerie Acosta

 

Senior Valerie Acosta broke our school’s record for the 100 yard breaststroke during CIF prelims and rebroke it at CIF finals, held at Riverside Community College on Wednesday and Thursday, May 14 and 15. She broke Evani Molinda’s record of 1:12:09 at CIF Prelims with a time of 1:11. Then she broke her personal best at CIF finals with a new time of 1:10:78.

“I didn’t really change my routine,” commented Acosta, “I was in shape and well tapered.” Evani Molinda had held the record for the 100 yard breaststroke since 2007, and Acosta reached her goal of breaking the record.

“My goal was to break the record, and at one point I thought I wasn’t going to break it,” said Acosta, “but I wanted to so I pushed myself.  It was one of my greatest accomplishments all year, and it was great to say now that I will be remembered until further broken.”

Boys volleyball competes in CIF

By Jossy Burciaga

 

The boys’ varsity volleyball team made it to CIF when they beat Carpinteria High School on May 10, 2014 The game which made it clear to the boys’ volleyball team that they received a spot in CIF was the game against Carpinteria High School. It was a wild card game and the team won. The score for the first set according to head coach Ms. Sue Gregory, was 25-21, then for the second set 24-26, the third 25-20 and fourth 25-13.

Photo credit: Henry Peña

Miguel Toro, senior, explains how they prepared for CIF. ”We worked as a team and we worked hard,” he said. Daniel Solis, sophomore and outside hitter, added that, ”We came together as a group lost that mentality of me me me and focused on we.”

According to junior Jose Chavez, middle blocker, the first round of CIF took place the following Tuesday May 13. It was at El Segundo High School in Los Angeles, near LAX, where they were eliminated. The scores for this round was 13-25 for the first set, then 15-25 for the second, and 10-25 for the third. The boys volleyball team had 14 wins and 11 losses, finishing with a winning season.

Wrestling competes in CIF

By Mark Silvas

On Friday February 21, our wrestling team competed at the first day of CIF. Eight students from our school competed they were Senior Remigio Escanuela, Juniors Danny Silva, Sergio Gonzalez, Devin Toussaint, Freddy Tepox, Jonathan Marquez, Kenneth Sierra, and Sophomore Pedro Leon.

The team all competed strongly, and Leon and Silva were able to go to the second day of CIF. Their coach, Art Garcia, told us that Leon won two matches and Silva won one.

His teammate Escanuela had some insight on Leon and how he competed: “Training with him most of the time, we both gave a hundred percent effort before CIF, which paid off in the long run,” said Escanuela. Escanuela also said about the team: ”Everybody did their best and never quit even until the last minute they gave it their all.”

Boys’ basketball celebrates Senior Night

By Kaitlin Fergerstrom

Photos by Kaitlin Fergerstrom

On February 13 in the Saddleback gym, the boys’ varsity basketball team took on Godinez Fundamental High School.

That night the atmosphere was full of school spirit, which seemed to boost the team’s motivation. The gym was full of cheering Roadrunners. With such great effort from the boys in previous games, the Roadrunners were expecting an exciting game.

Junior Jose Chavez said that, “Before the game everybody seemed pumped up, but nervous. I personally was in the zone.”  The team’s youngest player, sophomore Qouc Le, said, “I was nervous before we even started, but at the game there were fans, band, and Cheer who really helped me in the game to give it my all.”

While the boys jumped up and down ready for the game, you could tell they were excited for their last game and senior night. Celebrating their final game as Roadrunners were seniors Joshua Adame, Isiah Franks, Chris Robles, and Miguel Toro.

Junior Javier Ramirez showed appreciation for the seniors: “My favorite part,” he said, “was being on the floor with the seniors and just being thankful for the opportunity I got with them. I wanted to let them have a memorable last game.”  As the audience cheered on, roadrunners energy tried to make the boys became even more encouraged than ever to win.

The game started, and within a few minutes Toro made the first three-point shot, stunning the Godinez Grizzles. Throughout the entire game our boys played excellent defense and pushed hard. “Pressure! Pressure! Pressure!” the crowd screamed with anticipation.

At the end of the first quarter our boys made the effort of keeping the score 6-6.

In the second quarter Ramirez was fouled and made two out of three of his free throws. Toward the end of the second quarter, Toro scored four three-pointers, leaving the score 19-21.

After halftime the boys came back with more strength in their defense. Adame said, “Every time we kept going back and forth with both teams making points.  The crowd was screaming louder and louder, helping us with confidence in the game.”  With the Roadrunners ahead 27-28 at the end of the third period, the boys had to push even harder to win.

In the last minutes of the game, Toro got charged with his fifth foul and was out of the game. Holding back tears, viewing his facial expression Toro seemed to know he had to keep his head up high and stay strong for his teammates to get that win. Sadly the boys lost with a final score of 38-40.

Le said, “After the game I felt sad mostly because we lost but I felt bad for the seniors. I’m proud of the seniors and I’m going to miss them alot!”

Junior Walter Chavez added, “Even though I didn’t play due to an injury I was still there by my teammates side. All in all, in the end of the game I was still very proud of my team.”