Alina Argueta is quite the renaissance girl at Banning High School. She plays point guard on the basketball team, catcher and shortstop on the softball team, and on Wednesday afternoon played in the City Open Division championship game as quarterback for the school’s first flag football team.
The senior captain threw four touchdown passes, two each to Adelaida Ibanez Eddy and Sara Gonzalez, and rushed for 25 yards in the Pilots’ 33-25 semifinal victory at Eagle Rock at 5 p.m. He set the stage for the All Marine League finals against San Pedro. Saturday at Crenshaw High School at 30:30 p.m.
“I didn’t play [flag] We didn’t have a team last year,” said the athletic Argueta, who completed 17 of 21 attempts for 169 yards. “We played them [Eagle Rock] It was the first scrimmage of the summer and no one knew what to do. we were devastated. It’s good that we didn’t score any points. We’ve gotten so much better since then. ”
Have you ever done it? The Pilots won 14 games in the regular season, finishing second in the Marine League behind San Pedro and earning the No. 7 seed in the eight-school open field. They defeated second-seeded Marshall 19-6 in the first round on Nov. 13 and showed up to sixth-seeded Eagle Rock brimming with confidence. This is mainly because I didn’t change my routine.
“We’ve been wearing white in the playoffs, we’ve been sitting in the same place on the bus, we’ve been wearing the same clothes to school. We’re all superstitious,” Argueta said. “We lost to Marshall. [in September]lost to Eagle Rock in the preseason, so the last two weeks have been a lot of redemption games. It would be nice to have one more. ”
Banned players celebrate Wednesday’s City Open Division semifinal win over Eagle Rock.
(Steve Galluzzo/For the Times)
The final will be the ultimate challenge for Banning as they face No. 1 San Pedro, which has lost three of six games twice in the league and once in the tournament.
“To be honest, I don’t care who we play against, but I definitely know them better than other teams,” Argueta said. “Including scrimmages, we’ve lost to them four times…but the last loss was by a touchdown. Coach coaches us hard in practice, and we work hard against each other. We’re looking forward to it.”
Eagle Rock quarterback Marysol Jernigan entered Wednesday’s contest with only two pickoffs on 376 pitches, but the Pilots intercepted her twice, the first of which was thrown by Kari by a safety. Suh was returned 35 yards and scored.
Courtney Talanoa had six receptions for 67 yards, Ibanez Eddy had five catches for 43 yards (including three one-point conversion catches) and Melonie Barnabe had four grabs for 45 yards.
Jernigan completed four touchdown tosses, bringing her season total to 70, and versatile back Haley Weatherspoon caught her 35th and 36th touchdown passes, giving her 100th catch for the Eagles (16-4). exceeded the mark. Alina Arbuia also had two scoring catches, her second one cutting Bunning’s lead to eight points with less than four minutes left. The Pilots forced a fourth down incomplete with 15 seconds left and their own 23, and Argueta hit a knee to run out the clock.
San Pedro will return to the finals with an impressive 33-7 victory over No. 4 Verdugo Hills (20-2-1), last year’s inaugural Division I champion. The Pirates (25-2-1), who lost 14-6 to Birmingham in last year’s Open District Championship Game, are on a 15-game unbeaten streak.
The Glass Slipper is a perfect fit for Division I’s Cinderella story, King/Drew. The 13th-seeded Golden Eagles defeated No. 1 Jefferson 6-0 in Wednesday’s semifinals and will play No. 2 Narbonne (which beat Panorama 7-6). ) About the title Saturday 4pm.
El Camino Real will face West Valley League rival Cleveland in the Division II final in the 2:30 game of a tripleheader Saturday at Crenshaw. The top-seeded Royals won all three regular season games.
