Sports : DOUBLE JEOPARDY

La Mirada High cruised to a 24-0 victory over University High of Irvine in the first round of the Southern Section Division VIII football playoffs to improve to 11-0.

The Matadores’ bid for an undefeated season, however, was in jeopardy off the field when the Southern Section was notified of a possible ineligible transfer player hours before Friday’s kickoff.

The commissioner’s office allowed the game to be played because of the short notice. On Saturday, La Mirada was forced to forfeit 10 victories and the Suburban League title after a vote of league principals but was allowed to continue in the playoffs.

University administrators challenged the decision to allow La Mirada to remain in the playoffs. But at an appeal hearing Tuesday, Commissioner Dean Crowley said the section determined that the player in question was eligible and La Mirada would not have to forfeit its victories.

“I didn’t sleep much over those three days,” La Mirada Coach John Mele said. “The kids took it well. The bottom line is we won on the field. We built a good case and found out we were OK.”

The Matadores will play host to Duarte (6-4-1) in a quarterfinal game Friday. La Mirada defeated the Falcons, 49-8, in the third week of the season.

FAMILY AFFAIR

Whittier’s 36-35 double-overtime victory over Walnut advanced the Cardinals (6-5) to the Division VI quarterfinals against Rancho Cucamonga Friday at California High.

Alex Maldonado connected with Alex Muro for a two-point conversion on a fake extra-point to give Whittier the victory.

After Walnut had taken a 35-28 lead in the second overtime, Maldonado, who caught a four-yard touchdown pass in the first overtime, scored on a one-yard run to bring Whittier to within, 35-34.

Whittier Coach Walter Scott, not wanting to allow Walnut’s offense another opportunity, elected to go for the fake extra-point even though the Cardinals had not run the play this season. The teams were tied, 21-21, at the end of regulation. Each team had four plays to score from the 10-yard line in overtime.

“I just didn’t want to go back out on defense again,” Scott said.

The victory also gave Michael Jones bragging rights over brother, Richard. Michael, 23, coaches the linemen at Whittier. Richard, 18, is the line coach at Walnut.

PLAYOFF PAIRINGS

La Mirada and Whittier were among 17 Southeast-Long Beach high school football teams that began playoff competition last week. Eleven advanced to this week’s quarterfinals.

Long Beach Poly (10-1) and South Gate (10-1) have the toughest draws. Poly faces Los Alamitos (11-0) in a Division I game at Orange Coast College.

The Griffins defeated St. John Bosco, 37-22, to tie the Southern Section record of 46 games without a loss held by Temple City (1963-71) and Canyon Country Canyon (1983-86).

South Gate played host to defending City 4-A champion Carson (3-8), which forfeited three games because of an ineligible player.

In other playoff games involving local teams:

Division I--Trabuco Hills (9-2) at Long Beach Jordan (8-3).

Division II--Paramount (9-2) at Quartz Hill (6-3-2).

Division III--Ayala (10-1) at Montebello (10-1).

Division IV--Rancho Cucamonga (10-1) vs. Whittier (6-5) at California High.

Division VIII--Bloomington (11-0) at Artesia (8-3).

Division IX--Nordhoff (8-3) vs. St. Anthony (9-2) at Clark Field.

Division X--Valley Christian (9-2) vs. Kilpatrick (9-2) at Kennedy High.

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In the Southern Section water polo playoffs Wednesday at Belmont Plaza, Long Beach Wilson played top-seeded Corona del Mar in the Division I final. Top-seeded La Serna faced second-seeded South Pasadena in the Division III championship.

Third-seeded Wilson (23-4) defeated second-seeded San Clemente, 8-6, in a semifinal match Saturday at Saddleback College.

Nick Hill had 10 saves and Matt Armato, Rick Westberg and Micah Miller scored two goals each for the Bruins.

Justin McGlaughlin scored three goals to lift La Serna (22-4) to a 6-5 semifinal victory over Crescenta Valley.

MIRROR IMAGE

The Millikan High girls’ volleyball team battled adversity to reach the Division II final. Bishop Montgomery did the same in a 10-15, 9-15, 15-13, 15-9, 15-10 victory over Millikan Saturday at Cypress College.

Millikan was a point away from elimination in a quarterfinal victory against La Habra but rallied for a five-game win. The Rams came back to defeat Harvard-Westlake in four games after losing the first game.

After winning the first two games Saturday, Millikan was on the verge of a sweep, leading, 13-12, in the third game. Bishop Montgomery (22-3), though, rallied for three consecutive points and went on to win its second Southern Section title in three years.

“They played better but we weren’t making the adjustments,” Millikan middle blocker Hilary Gunsaulus said.

Gunsaulus had 27 kills and Kristian Wintrich had 21 kills and 22 digs. Dana Crutchfield added 20 kills for top-seeded Millikan, which had defeated Bishop Montgomery in the Torrey Pines tournament.

“We’ve played much better teams than that,” said Millikan setter Melissa Haugen, who had 66 assists. “La Habra was 10 times better. I think the fact that they lost the first two games, we took the third lightly.”

The defeat did little to help the Rams’ placement in the Southern California Regional Division I playoffs. Millikan (16-4) drew top-seeded Newport Harbor (30-1) in the first round and lost, 10-15, 15-5, 15-4, 15-8, Tuesday despite 19 kills by Gunsaulus.

COMMUNITY COLLEGES

The Golden West and Long Beach City College water polo teams split the previous six meetings this season. Golden West, though, won the one that counted. The Rustlers defeated the Vikings, 10-6, Saturday at Belmont Plaza to win its sixth consecutive State championship.

Jaime Ramirez had three goals and Todd Putren had 10 saves for Long Beach (25-5-1), which defeated Modesto, 24-9, and Citrus, 12-11, to reach the final.

Putren, Stalin Reyes and Juan Carlos Martinez of Long Beach were selected to the All-Southern California first team. Ramirez was named to the second team.

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The Long Beach City men placed 11th and the Viking women were 15th in the state cross-country championships Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno. Miguel Ramirez and Katy Donahue were the top finishers for Long Beach. Ramirez was 30th in 20 minutes, 41 seconds over the four-mile course and Donahue was 34th in 19:45 in the women’s 5,000-meter race.

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The Long Beach City men’s basketball team improved to 4-1 with a 97-75 victory in the third-place game of the Fullerton tournament Saturday. Long Beach, the defending State champion, is fourth and Cerritos is ninth in the preseason state rankings.

Mark Neal, Chris Blanton, Robert Darville, Marcus Woods and Pete Sverkos return from last year’s team. Dayron Harris, a two-time All-City selection from Washington High, Kevin Chaney, Eric Williams and Jeff Haller are among the newcomers.

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Jachon Ramseur scored on a 94-yard return on the opening kickoff but Compton College was no match for Bakersfield College, losing, 75-7, in its regular-season finale Saturday.

Jimmy Perry passed for 92 yards and Joe Austin had two receptions for 54 yards for Compton, which finished 3-6-1 and 1-4-1 in Western State Conference Southern Division play.

Austin led the Tartars in rushing this season with 381 yards and Ramseur was the top receiver with 25 catches for 233 yards. He also rushed for 348 yards.

Germel Ford led the defense with 112 tackles. Blase Austin had six interceptions and Yusef Pie and Deon Hampton had four each.

BEACH BOUND

Michelle Esparza, the seventh all-time scorer in Southern Section girls’ basketball with 2,246 points at El Rancho High, has transferred from Cal State Northridge to Cal State Long Beach. The 5-foot-10 junior was Northridge’s top scorer last season, averaging 15.7 points a game.

Ember Brown of Ventura High has signed a letter of intent to play at Cal State Long Beach. Brown, a 5-foot-8 guard, averaged 14.6 points as a junior to lead Ventura to the semifinals of the Division II-A playoffs.

Compton College sophomore forward Marcus Johnson (6-8), Long Beach Wilson High forward Michael Batiste (6-8) and Lynwood High forward D’Cean Bryant (6-6) signed letters of intent during the early signing period (Nov. 9-16).