Northwood defends Southern Division Challenge title

IRVINE - Northwood's football team defended its championship Saturday, winning the Southern Division Challenge for the second year in a row with a 22-6 victory over Los Amigos at Irvine.

Irvine, Woodbridge, University, Beckman and Santiago also competed in the day-long 7-on-7 summer passing tournament, which featured 40-minute games.

Northwood was able to avenge a 24-22 loss to Los Amigos earlier in the day to take the title. The Timberwolves also defeated Woodbridge, Santiago and Irvine.

"It's fun, but the season is what really counts," Northwood Coach Rick Curtis. "It's not real football, but if gives the kids some confidence and the kids have worked hard, so we're pleased with the progress."

"Our linemen did well today and we have a good group of guys."

Curtis was pleased with quarterback Kevin Norman.

"Kevin is really progressing well and he's starting to understand what's out there defensively," Curtis said. "He's really improving."

It was also a solid day for Los Amigos, which defeated Beckman and Santiago and lost to Woodbridge. The Lobos were led by quarterback Alex Ocegueda and receiver Anthony Magana.

"It was a pretty good day for us overall, it was a huge step for us," said fifth-year Coach Carl Agnew. "Last year, we would play in these and we would lose in the first round and go into the consolation bracket. This year, we went under the big bracket and got through."

Los Amigos, led by linemen Alonzo Montes De Oca and Dean Monge also did well in the linemen competition and won the tug of war event.

The tournament gave teams a chance to get an early preview.

"It went great, it's always nice that we have all these teams that are either in our league or our division because we get a chance to peak at each other before we get into the real thing," Irvine Coach Erik Terry said.

Terry's Vaqueros defeated Woodbridge and Beckman but lost to University.