Santa Clarita High School Football

The 2015 high school football regular season came to a close Friday, and four teams clinched playoff spots in their respective CIF-SS Divisions. But first, let’s go around the Santa Clarita Valley for the weekend’s scores.

Make it seven straight Foothill League titles for the Valencia Vikings, who capped off their undefeated league season by grinding out a victory at Cougar Stadium against the Hart Indians, 21-17.

The Indians took a 10-0 lead in to halftime, but after the break the Vikings would roar back with three 2nd half touchdowns to clinch the title.

Our KHTS Game of the Week was also a hotly contested (and controversial finish) match-up between two teams vying for the playoffs, between Saugus and Golden Valley.

We said last week that the first team to 20 would likely be the winner, and that might have been the case if either team actually got that far offensively.

As expected it was a defensive struggle for both teams that came down to a wild fourth quarter full of turnovers, blocked or missed kicks, and incompetent officiating.

That woeful officiating led to a game-winning fumble recovery for touchdown for the Centurions, resulting in a 12-10 victory. With the win Saugus clinched a playoff spot and kept Golden Valley in search of their first playoff birth in school history.

The Grizzlies will have to wait until 2016 for another shot at the playoffs, as well as vengeance against the Centurions.

Canyon and West Ranch were involved in the final Foothill League game of the night, with major pride on the line. For the winner, bragging rights for the seniors to say they were not kept without a league win in their final year. For the loser, well, the painful opposite.

It was the Cowboys who emerged victorious with a 47-26 triumph over the Wildcats, snapping a six-game losing streak in the final game of the season.

A season to forget for both teams, especially the Wildcats who surrendered 35 points or more in each league game. Back to the drawing board for both teams, and on to 2016.

The top three Foothill League teams who are heading to the CIF-SS West Valley Division Playoffs are:

1. Valencia – the Vikings will face San Juan Hills (South Coast At-Large bid) at Valencia High School

2. Saugus – the Centurions hit the road to Upland High School (Baseline #2)

3. Hart – the Indians got the toughest draw, an away date with #1 overall seed Mission Viejo (South Coast #1)

All three games will take place Friday night, November 13. More to come on these match-ups later in the week.

Trinity Classical dropped their final game of the inaugural 11-man football season, 35-26 to Excelsior Charter. The Knights finish the season at 4-4, with a lot to build on for Year 2.

After being unable to keep up in a shootout last week, the Santa Clarita Christian Cardinals used a high scoring 3rd quarter to outlast Fairmont Prep, 53-40. The win, coupled with a Capistrano Valley loss launched the Cards into the playoffs with a 2nd place finish in the San Joaquin League.

The Cardinals open the CIF-SS East Valley Division Playoffs on the road against Desert High School on Friday night. The Scorpions finished first in the Desert Mountain League.

COC Football

Frustration is beginning to mount for the Canyons Cougars, who could get nothing going on offense with starting QB Devon Dunn not on the field Saturday against the Moorpark Raiders.

Moorpark executed a run-heavy, ball-controlled offense that saw them maintain over 35 minutes of possession. The 17-10 loss for the Cougars makes it back-to-back home failures for the first time this season.

One more opportunity left on the regular season schedule for the Cougars, who travel to Cerritos for a 7:00PM kickoff Saturday.

The Master’s College

Another dramatic one-goal victory for the Mustangs’ soccer team, who needed a 71st minute penalty kick to defeat San Diego Christian 2-1 on Reese Field this past Saturday and advance to the semifinals of the GSAC tournament.

Up next for the Mustangs is No. 2 seed Vanguard, who TMC beat in OT at Reese Field just a month ago, and should be a fantastic match between two high-powered offenses.

TMC vs Vanguard in La Mirada (Biola University), Thursday. Kickoff is at 7:30PM.

Los Angeles Lakers

For all intents and purposes, two games into their road trip and the Lakers can at least say they have started competing better, something that was not apparent in the first four games of the season.

Los Angeles beat a terrible Brooklyn Nets team Friday, and lost a close on to the New York Knicks on Sunday. The game at Madison Square Garden yesterday more than likely serves as the last time Kobe Bryant takes the court of the world-renowned arena.

Kobe is one of fifteen professional basketball players to score 50 or more points at MSG.

The Lakers will be in Miami tomorrow night for a date with Dwyane Wade and the Heat. Tipoff is at 4:30PM.