logo
University High lacrosse faces sanctions after forfeiting semifinal to attend prom

University High lacrosse faces sanctions after forfeiting semifinal to attend prom

Yahoo28-04-2025
The University High boys' lacrosse team didn't have enough players for its City Section semifinal match on Friday night against Palisades because the school's prom was the same night and players chose the prom instead.
City Section Commissioner Vicky Lagos said the match time could not be changed, and now University is facing a $100 fine and a ban from next year's playoffs under City Section rules.
Advertisement
Lagos said the school has not responded to phone calls from her. The school has not responded to an email from The Times. A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Unified School District indicated on Monday they were working on a response.
The lacrosse finals will be played at El Camino Real, with the boys and girls finals matching El Camino Real against Palisades.
Sign up for the L.A. Times SoCal high school sports newsletter to get scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

City Section football coaches unite in challenging times as practice begins
City Section football coaches unite in challenging times as practice begins

Yahoo

time10 hours ago

  • Yahoo

City Section football coaches unite in challenging times as practice begins

As City Section 11-man football coaches prepare for the official start of practices on Monday, there's a noticeable change under way. They're not fighting one another. Rather, they are uniting as a group, understanding and embracing their similar challenges while trying to create environments to keep the players and their parents invested in the future. They still gripe and complain, but it's part of working in the Los Angeles Unified School District. They are sacrificing, many as walk-on coaches, for "little" victories that inspire them to keep coaching. Whether they realize it or not, this is the only way forward — helping kids develop as players and students first. Worry about on-field wins and losses later. All they want is a fair and equitable playing field, though sometimes even that can't be achieved. Coaches have had to put themselves out on a limb. There was courage displayed last season when the head coaches at San Pedro, Gardena, Carson and Banning decided to forfeit games against Narbonne while demanding an investigation by LAUSD into alleged rule violations. Families were not happy at losing the opportunity to play games. Purists who believe forfeiting is never acceptable were aghast. Coaches involved received strong criticism by some. It forced an investigation, resulting in players being declared ineligible and Narbonne vacating its City title and being declared ineligible for the 2025, 2026 and 2027 playoffs. Every coach who signed on to the protest ended up resigning except for San Pedro's Corey Walsh. They helped clean up a mess that shouldn't had been allowed to fester. When City Section coaches gathered for their annual meeting last month to discuss the season ahead, there were many hugs, handshakes and discussions of identical challenges (academic eligibility, increasing roster numbers, finding assistant coaches, concerns about federal immigration raids). The warmth was real because many of the older coaches have been mentors. Hamilton's Elijah Asante used to coach L.A. Jordan first-year coach James Boyd. So many families have left. The days when Carson, Banning, Dorsey and Crenshaw could compete against and beat the best of the Southern Section teams are gone. Remember when Crenshaw played De La Salle in the CIF Open Division state championship game in 2009? Coach Robert Garrett is still around with 290 career victories, but the Cougars' roster hovers around 25 players with no JV team. It doesn't mean the former powers can't rise again as champions within the City Section. Those who have stayed, from coaches to players, deserve praise for taking on an adventure that can be daunting. There are good, loyal people determined to help along the way. New facilities have opened. All-weather fields and new grass fields are multiplying. Garfield, Roosevelt and Hamilton debut new stadiums this fall. A strong collection of City Section quarterbacks are ready to let the ball fly, from Eagle Rock's Liam Pasten to Carson's Chris Fields. There is no certain dominant team, though the usual contenders — Birmingham, Carson, San Pedro — are teams to watch. So far, 71 schools are playing 11-man football. There's a story line certain to provide inspiration — Palisades High trying to rise again after its campus was damaged during the Palisades fire. Even though its football field was largely untouched, the team is starting the season not allowed to play on the field and will be playing at Santa Monica College. Students have yet to return to the campus. TV cameras will be out en force to capture the drama if the Dolphins can put together a dream season. Southern Section teams also begin practices on Monday. If you think you're watching the movie "Groundhog Day," you are correct. Every Division 1 title since 2016 has been won by Mater Dei or St. John Bosco. It's almost certain to happen again in 2025. It doesn't mean there shouldn't be some outstanding games in the Southern Section, starting with the Aug. 22 matchup of Santa Margarita and new coach Carson Palmer taking on Mission Viejo at Trabuco Hills. There's always excitement and intrigue when the pads first come on next week. Teaching kids who have never worn shoulder pads is both comedy and memorable. It will be just one more responsibility for City Section coaches who receive a $5,622 stipend over four months and are expected to be Superman every day. To all coaches, thank you for your sacrifice and for providing teenagers the guidance, discipline and structure that will be needed when their playing careers are finished. Sign up for the L.A. Times SoCal high school sports newsletter to get scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

City Section football coaches unite in challenging times as practice begins
City Section football coaches unite in challenging times as practice begins

Los Angeles Times

time10 hours ago

  • Los Angeles Times

City Section football coaches unite in challenging times as practice begins

As City Section 11-man football coaches prepare for the official start of practices on Monday, there's a noticeable change under way. They're not fighting one another. Rather, they are uniting as a group, understanding and embracing their similar challenges while trying to create environments to keep the players and their parents invested in the future. They still gripe and complain, but it's part of working in the Los Angeles Unified School District. They are sacrificing, many as walk-on coaches, for 'little' victories that inspire them to keep coaching. Whether they realize it or not, this is the only way forward — helping kids develop as players and students first. Worry about on-field wins and losses later. All they want is a fair and equitable playing field, though sometimes even that can't be achieved. Coaches have had to put themselves out on a limb. There was courage displayed last season when the head coaches at San Pedro, Gardena, Carson and Banning decided to forfeit games against Narbonne while demanding an investigation by LAUSD into alleged rule violations. Families were not happy at losing the opportunity to play games. Purists who believe forfeiting is never acceptable were aghast. Coaches involved received strong criticism by some. It forced an investigation, resulting in players being declared ineligible and Narbonne vacating its City title and being declared ineligible for the 2025, 2026 and 2027 playoffs. Every coach who signed on to the protest ended up resigning except for San Pedro's Corey Walsh. They helped clean up a mess that shouldn't had been allowed to fester. When City Section coaches gathered for their annual meeting last month to discuss the season ahead, there were many hugs, handshakes and discussions of identical challenges (academic eligibility, increasing roster numbers, finding assistant coaches, concerns about federal immigration raids). The warmth was real because many of the older coaches have been mentors. Hamilton's Elijah Asante used to coach L.A. Jordan first-year coach James Boyd. So many families have left. The days when Carson, Banning, Dorsey and Crenshaw could compete against and beat the best of the Southern Section teams are gone. Remember when Crenshaw played De La Salle in the CIF Open Division state championship game in 2009? Coach Robert Garrett is still around with 290 career victories, but the Cougars' roster hovers around 25 players with no JV team. It doesn't mean the former powers can't rise again as champions within the City Section. Those who have stayed, from coaches to players, deserve praise for taking on an adventure that can be daunting. There are good, loyal people determined to help along the way. New facilities have opened. All-weather fields and new grass fields are multiplying. Garfield, Roosevelt and Hamilton debut new stadiums this fall. A strong collection of City Section quarterbacks are ready to let the ball fly, from Eagle Rock's Liam Pasten to Carson's Chris Fields. There is no certain dominant team, though the usual contenders — Birmingham, Carson, San Pedro — are teams to watch. So far, 71 schools are playing 11-man football. There's a story line certain to provide inspiration — Palisades High trying to rise again after its campus was damaged during the Palisades fire. Even though its football field was largely untouched, the team is starting the season not allowed to play on the field and will be playing at Santa Monica College. Students have yet to return to the campus. TV cameras will be out en force to capture the drama if the Dolphins can put together a dream season. Southern Section teams also begin practices on Monday. If you think you're watching the movie 'Groundhog Day,' you are correct. Every Division 1 title since 2016 has been won by Mater Dei or St. John Bosco. It's almost certain to happen again in 2025. It doesn't mean there shouldn't be some outstanding games in the Southern Section, starting with the Aug. 22 matchup of Santa Margarita and new coach Carson Palmer taking on Mission Viejo at Trabuco Hills. There's always excitement and intrigue when the pads first come on next week. Teaching kids who have never worn shoulder pads is both comedy and memorable. It will be just one more responsibility for City Section coaches who receive a $5,622 stipend over four months and are expected to be Superman every day. To all coaches, thank you for your sacrifice and for providing teenagers the guidance, discipline and structure that will be needed when their playing careers are finished.

Unsung contributors for high school football: Drone operators, managers, trainers
Unsung contributors for high school football: Drone operators, managers, trainers

Yahoo

time2 days ago

  • Yahoo

Unsung contributors for high school football: Drone operators, managers, trainers

As Hart High football players engaged in a 6 a.m. workout on Wednesday morning, injured player Micaiah Underwood was given an important task — flying the team's drone to take video. He had been trained by head coach Jake Goossen. When an alarm went off alerting low battery, Underwood calmly manipulated the controls to bring the drone down — though it briefly went so high that teammates were joking it was out of control. Every head coach needs to delegate responsibilities and rely on others to help him focus on getting his team ready, and three important positions in 2025 are drone operator, manager and athletic trainer. Every program needs one of each. At a City Section school earlier this week, three managers were making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for players to eat after practices. At another school, the athletic trainer was taping ankles and roaming the field in case of an emergency. For those teams without athletic trainers, coaches were forced to take on the task. Coaches kept handing out their keys to managers to retrieve or open something. Managers and trainers have been around for years, but drone operators are new. At Hart, they have to pay special attention to hawks. Seriously, Hart had a drone disabled by a hawk. Now there's spotters to make sure no hawks are nearby. After all, Hart's new nickname is the Hawks and apparently the real hawks like flying drones. So everyone say thanks to the drone operators, managers and trainers. The're unsung helpers every program needs. Oh, and one more trend. There are so many players using electric bikes to get to practices perhaps a charging station is next to be added on a program's football budget. Sign up for the L.A. Times SoCal high school sports newsletter to get scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store