The 2017 year in review from KHTS Sports.

January

Clemson Defeats Alabama for National Championship

College football tends to run the early portion of January with the New Year’s Day playoff games and the National Championship that follows it. It would be a lot more exciting for local fans if programs like UCLA and USC were competing for national titles. But you can’t help but get excited when a team at the top of the mountain finally gets knocked off, and that’s what happened to Alabama. Finally.

Clemson outscored Alabama 21-7 in the fourth quarter and mounted a last-second comeback to defeat the Crimson Tide, 35-31, sending Tigers QB Deshaun Watson off in to the sunset and the NFL with the final feather in his cap of a fantastic college career.

February

28-3

There have been flags waving across NFL stadiums all season long no matter where the two Super Bowl 51 teams’ play. Custom jersey’s made by trolling fans of rival teams with the scoreline. Meme’s forever immortalized online of one team’s fortune and another’s failure.

With under three minutes to play in the Super Bowl on February 5, 2017, the Atlanta Falcons held a commanding 28-3 lead over the New England Patriots. The Patriots proceeded to score 31 unanswered points and pulled off the biggest comeback in NFL history, defeating the Falcons 34-28 in overtime.

March

Saugus Boys Soccer CIF Regional Run

The Saugus boys soccer program made history with its first appearance in a CIF Championship game. The Centurions won back-to-back overtime games in the Quarterfinals and Semifinals of Division 4, before falling 2-0 to Bellflower in the Final.

Their run didn’t stop there however, earning a spot in the CIF SoCal Regional Championship tournament and making further history by knocking off Lindsay in a shootout of the Opening Round for their first Regional win.

April

Valencia Pitchers

The two best high school pitchers in the area for both high school baseball and softball were at Valencia in 2017. And they showed why in the month of April.

Chase Farrell, who will begin the next chapter of his career this Spring at UCLA, posted a 4-0 record in April with two complete games, and a 0.79 ERA. He led his team to a Foothill League title.

Shea O’Leary, Valencia softball’s dominant ace, proved why she was one of the best juniors in the area with four straight shutouts in what was a dominant season. She returns for her senior year as one of the top pitchers in California.

May – August

Dominant Dodgers

The Dodgers owned every local and national headline this summer. They went 30-4 over a six-week stretch from June to July and staying on that pace would mean winning the most games in Major League history. Cody Bellinger was launching home runs at a rate that had not been done before by a rookie in the National League. Clayton Kerhsaw had won eleven decisions in a row.

By August, the Dodgers had completed the best 50-game stretch in MLB, unless you count the year 1912. They posted a 43-7 record during that stretch, and had only lost one series (two of three against Washington) from June 5th to August 25th. At their summer peak, they were 53 games over .500 (87-34).

This was the most dominant Dodgers season for a franchise with a long and storied history.

September

Dodgers 180

For most of the summer the Dodgers looked invincible. Winning by large margins and by walk-offs, they couldn’t lose. Until things took a drastic turn in September.

Los Angeles lost eleven straight games in early September. Eleven. They closed out the season a barely-above-average 7-6. It shattered their bid for the best regular season record ever, and crushed a lot of confidence the team and fans alike had in winning the World Series.

October

Hart Stuns Golden Valley

The Golden Valley Grizzlies have never beaten the Hart Indians in football. But two of the past three meetings between the two teams have yielded the two most exciting Foothill League games of the young century.

GV led Hart 19-7 at halftime. GV led Hart 27-20 with the ball on the goalline poised to go up two touchdowns and the clock ticking under four minutes in regulation.

Then a Hart goalline stand. A blocked field goal attempt for the Grizzlies. A 64-yard touchdown from Indians QB JT Shrout to DJ Palmer.

And a 75-yard punt return for TD by Davon Jones with 13 seconds left to give Hart a 34-27 victory. The Indians scored 14 points in 78 seconds to shock Golden Valley and preserve its perfect record in a budding rivalry.

November

November 1st, 2017: Game 7.

Forget whatever happens up to this point, right? If the choice at the beginning of the year is that a team is playing for it all, the championship, the title, the World Series in a Game 7, that team will accept that fate every time.

What an incredible series to get to that point it was. The Dodgers battled back in Game 6 to avoid elimination with a 3-1 victory. Back at Chavez Ravine and beautiful Dodger Stadium for Game 7. What could go wrong?

Apparently everything, and almost immediately, as the Dodgers gave up two runs in the 1st inning and three in the 2nd, silencing their bid for their first World Series in 29 seasons. Though they shut out the Astros the rest of the way, they couldn’t muster an offense, falling 5-1.

December

Valencia Falls to Oaks Christian 20-19 in CIF D2 Championship

Valencia was simply dominant all season long. There hadn’t been a defense capable of slowing down their record-breaking offense (over 53 points per game), and the Vikings defense was suffocated opponents on nearly every snap.

Valencia would rue a missed PAT after their first touchdown and subsequent failed 2-pt attempt after their second score, which would ultimately be the margin of victory for Oaks Christian.

The Lions did just enough on offense in the fourth quarter, kicking two short field goals, to take a 20-19 lead and the Vikings could not contain their ferocious pass rush.