Griffins-Aztecs Kick Off Sunset League Play, Again

Top-ranked Los Alamitos High and 10th-ranked Esperanza kick off Sunset League play with their annual war Friday night at Valencia High. Last year, the Griffins ended a three-game losing streak to the Aztecs, winning, 22-17.

For the fourth consecutive year, it’s the league opener for both teams.

Griffin Coach John Barnes, whose team entered the Sunset League with Esperanza in 1994, said the schedule has just worked out that way but wishes the teams could meet later in the season.

“My feeling is you should play a big rival game like that in the eighth or ninth week and rotate the other games,” Barnes said. “That game is so pressure packed, in part because the rivalry is so good, that your players can think the whole season comes down to that one game.”

Aztec Coach Gary Meek is ambivalent. “You play when you’re scheduled to play,” he said. But this season, unlike years past, Meek doesn’t think Friday’s winner has a clear path to the league title.

“The whole league is playing better this year,” Meek said. “You’ve still got Edison, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach and Marina to go through. I don’t think anyone will go through the league undefeated.”

SCC MARCHES ON

Southern California Christian, which is dropping to eight-man football for the remainder of the season because its already-thin roster was further depleted by injury and illness, will play at Avalon on Santa Catalina Island Saturday at 11 a.m.

Coach Alan Degenhardt said the Flames haven’t found an opponent for Oct. 23, but will round out the season by hosting Santa Clarita Christian on Oct. 29 and Hesperia Christian on Nov. 5.

Home games will be played at Hart Park and begin, as usual, at 8 p.m.

Correspondent Eric Maddy contributed to this story.