Teams take part in state, regional tourneys
OPHS hoops squad defeated by Hanford in opening round
By Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com

The Oak Park High boys' basketball team's strong season ended when the Eagles fell to Hanford High 56-52 on the road Tuesday night in the opening round of the CIF State Basketball Southern California Division III Championships.

With a minute remaining in regulation and OPHS trailing by three, Eagle senior Andy Winningham had two chances to tie the game. The first shot was blocked by D.J. Jackson, while the second attempt rimmed in and out.

"Winningham has hit some big shots for us this year, so we really wanted to give him the ball during that last minute," head coach Joey Ramirez said. "He had some good looks; they just didn't fall for us this time."

The Eagles finished 23-8 in Ramirez's first season at the helm. The coach said the Eagles' future looks bright.

"We're trying to continue what's been set up already at Oak Park," Ramirez said. "We've had some great former coaches here, and they're always in my corner watching the games. This place is going to see more good things in the future."

In other local action Tuesday, the Oak Park girls' soccer team lost to Cathedral Catholic 4-0 in the first round of the CIF Southern California Division II Regional Soccer Championships.

Although his team was beaten, OPHS head coach Mark Zeolla was proud of the way his group played through injuries.

"The team knew it had to work harder to get to a place it may have been easy to get to without many of our players being injured," Zeolla said. "It made them bond more as a team, and I'm very proud of the way they worked through the adversity."

In the same Division II bracket, the Agoura girls lost to Coronado 4-2 in a penalty-kick tiebreaker. Agoura, the No. 4 seed, finished the year at 18-4-5.

In Division III girls' soccer, top-seeded Oaks Christian blew out Sherman Oaks Center 11-0. Freshman Marlo Smith scored three goals for the Lions, who host Francis Parker today at 5 p.m.

The OCHS boys, also a Division III top seed, lost to Avenal High, 4-3, in overtime.