CIF championships highlight big year for Downey High sports
Downey High School won a CIF championship on Nov. 25. It was the second title under head coach Jack Williams. (Photo by Alex Dominguez)
DOWNEY – It’s been a championship year for Downey High School sports.
Both the football and boys water polo teams accomplished the ultimate goal of winning titles.
The boys water polo team, under coach Uriel Villa, captured the school’s third title on Nov. 12 and just two weeks later the football team, under coach Jack Williams, won its fourth CIF-Southern Section Championship with a 40-7 victory over Cypress Nov. 25.
The championship was the second for Williams, who is in his 14th year as coach. His first title came in 2012.
Big year for Downey football
It was a big year for the Vikings in 2022. After Oregon State commit Aidan Chiles went down in 2022 with an injury, big things were expected from the 6 ft. 4 in., 205 lb. quarterback this year. And he obliged.
Chiles just had one of those magical seasons and hopes to bring that to the Corvallis campus.
He only threw five interceptions in 269 attempts and had 38 touchdowns and threw for 3,350 yards.
He also ran for 940 yards on 67 carries and scored nine touchdowns.
Although the Vikings lost in the annual rival game against Warren and an opening game loss to Corona del Mar, those two setbacks made the team even hungrier during the season.
“After the Warren loss it made us realize what we needed to do,” Williams said. “Another observation by Williams was the 32 seniors on the team. He figured 24 of them had never beaten Warren in their four years. “That just made them hungrier the rest of the season and into the playoffs.”
Williams also noted that after the Warren game at grading time, there always seemed to be some athletes that couldn’t make the grade to continue with the football program.
Since the loss to Warren, the Vikings reeled off six consecutive wins for 245 points with an average of 40.8 points per game leading up to the state playoff game.
Going back to this past summer Williams thought this years’ team was a work in progress that would take time to develop, maybe into the next season.
That all changed when he saw something special during the 7-on-7 tournaments during the summer.
“I knew we had something special in the summer with the 7-on-7’s,” Williams added.
“I can’t put it (championship) into words,” said Williams. “Everything we have gone through in the last 12 weeks, it’s just super exciting to be the head guy and just to see them fight for each other is special. I thought this year was going to be a rebuilding year.”
For the first time in program history, the Vikings played in a CIF State playoff game. They lost in a come-from-behind effort by Mater Dei Catholic of Chula Vista, 22-21.
The title-game win against Cypress was a defensive gem, as the Vikings allowed only one touchdown, intercepted two passes, had eight tackles for a loss, one sack and no points allowed in the second half.
Santa Fe senior linebacker and transfer, Peter Debora, led the charge and culminated the season with a school record in a season with 166 tackles.
In the game, senior running back Jaylen Crutchfield led all running backs with 174 yards on 9 carries. He scored on runs of 10 and 76 yards.
Chiles threw three touchdowns on 11 of 14 passes for 261 yards and his favorite target was senior wide receiver BJ Carey with a game-high 147 yards on four catches. Carey had scores of 29 and 76 yards.
As usual, the battle in week No. 8 was the big one in the regular season.
Downey-Warren is a gem of a rivalry. Warren got the best of Downey the last two years, led by Tennessee commit, Nic Iamaleava, but it has proven over the years it is “The” rivalry of California.
Water polo wins third title
The 10-5 final was a complete victory for the Vikings and Villa.
With the win, Villa has now been a part of three titles while playing at Montebello high school and one as an assistant coach. He now has a title as a head coach.
“I was excited, but it was nice that we accomplished our goal,” he said. “It was so rewarding and an amazing feeling of reward. We realized after the quarterfinals (Crean Lutheran), we knew we had a chance.”
The win was the first in 50 years, with the last one coming in 1972.
The Vikings initial title came in 1962, which was when the program was a powerhouse throughout the 50’s and 60’s. They were runner-up on five different occasions.
“Experiencing this level of success with this group of seniors is real special,” Villa added. “They were an important part of last season’s semifinalist team, and that experience helped us reach our boys programs first championship game since 1972. Competing for CIF championships was this coaching staffs goal back in 2017.”
Leading up to the title game were victories over Arcadia, 15-11 in the second round, a 7-5 win over Crean Lutheran in the quarterfinals and a close, 12-11 win over Schurr in the semifinals.
Leading the way for the Vikings was freshman Matthew Moran with four goals. Senior Johan Gayton and freshman Nathan Martinez had two each.
With a 7-2 lead at halftime, the Downey defense shined in the third period, denying three consecutive shorthanded opportunities on a man advantage. by Yucaipa. The Vikings were led by senior goalie Diego Campos.
The Viking defense also had seven field blocks in the game, while Campos had eight saves in the game, with the Vikings controlling most of the game.
“Our defense really stepped up,” Campos added. “At halftime, it was a good indicator that we had a chance to win.”
The Vikings reeled off 14 consecutive wins leading up to the final game of the season in the state playoffs.
The big one, however, was the title game against Yucaipa with the Vikings controlling most of the game.
“It feels like I finally accomplished something as a head coach,” Villa said. “It’s nice to accomplish a goal. We want to start our own dynasty and build something special here at Downey.”