We’re two full months into the 2024-25 slate of seasons, and so far the valley has been staking its claim as the place to be for City Section sports. Here’s a brief look at some of the storylines we’ve been following.

Starting with football, the ONLY unbeaten team remaining in the City Section is in North Hollywood. The Huskies have literally run through everyone on offense, and their defense has only given up 35 points – that’s only 5 points per game. Omar Muhammed and Jagger Belson have been a dominant 1-2 punch in the backfield. They’re making a case for a top seed in D1 and might have only one landmine left on their quest for an undefeated season with Verdugo Hills in Week 10.

Speaking of D1, the Kennedy Golden Cougars might believe that this is their year to make a big run in that division. They were bounced in the first round by the Cleveland Cavaliers in an all-valley matchup. Led by their dual threat quarterback in Diego Montes, the Golden Cougars have averaged 39.7 pints per game. Montes has ranked among the top 5 City Section quarterbacks all season and is a top-15 rusher as well. But they shouldn’t look beyond Sylmar this week because the Spartans could put an exclamation on their season with an upset.

Over in the West Valley League, Birmingham has continued to dominate City Section opponents, but that’s become old hat until someone beats them. The real story in the WVL is the development of student-athletes at the other schools. El Camino had their quarterback of the next few years transfer to Birmingham over the summer. His replacement, junior Artur Acevedo, has thrown nine touchdowns versus two interceptions, and has grown into the role. Granada Hills has six sophomores starting for them, including two that can play on both the offensive/defensive lines. Chatsworth may be senior-heavy, but there are 14 underclassmen that are poised to step up. Cleveland has 24 underclassmen this season, led by sophomores Cameron Green and Domenik Fuentes and junior Isaac Delgado. Finally, Taft has 31 juniors this season and the focus for the Toreadors is providing them consistency and stability so they can shine on the field.

On the volleyball court, we’ve seen as many 13 valley teams crack the top-25 list. There are the usual suspects from the West Valley League, but Triumph Charter in Sylmar has been a fixture in the top-25, ranked 19 as of this writing. Panorama and Grant each had runs atop the list as well, so lets get into it.

Taft is the #1 team in the City Section. With 11 seniors, including Colette Ejang, Aleiah Carr, and Claudia Aber, the Toreadors have posted a 34-7 record and the West Valley League is theirs for the taking. An Open Division title run is essentially expected, though Open Division is always a gauntlet. Last season, all six West Valley League teams made the Open Division, and El Camino defeated Taft 3-1 (20-15, 15-25, 25-11, 19-25) to take the crown. This season might see four of them, with but Taft is still the team to beat.

The Valley Mission League has been topsy turvy this season. The Reseda Regents, Panorama Pythons, and Kennedy Golden Cougars have all had strong seasons. The Pythons looked like they might be able to run through the league before losing two in a row last week to Sylmar and Kennedy. Their 20-6 record has them poised for a good playoff seed, and potentially a deep run. The Regents are having another strong season, and though they haven’t played as many games as most of the other top 25 teams, this is a program that is well built. Finally, the Golden Cougars have clinched the Valley Mission League title. They’ve played well all season, and finished it off with a slugfest of a 5-set win over Sylmar. Their regular season ended at 22-10-3, and, unless they have a tournament between this writing and next weekend, the Golden Cougars can only wait for brackets to be released then.

There was a changing of the guard in the East Valley League. The Grant Lancers have flat out dominated the league, only dropping two sets all season so far. One of those came this past Monday to the giant they dethroned in Verdugo Hills. The Dons and Poly Parrots have alternated spots atop the East Valley League for almost a decade, sharing the crown twice during that span. Both of those programs are looking to use their remaining games to prepare for the playoffs. Grant, on the other hand, might end up playing in the Open Division, as they are one of the teams on the bubble. The Lancers and Parrots face off in the final game of the regular season for both teams next Monday.

Triumph Charter is another team that has a stranglehold on their league at 9-0 in North Valley League play with only two sets dropped. It’s great when we can highlight the smaller schools that are generally overlooked, and with a 21-7-5 record, the Jaguars are demanding attention. With only one senior on this 9-girl roster, we expect them to continue this type of form for the near future.

Fulton and Vaughn are also two schools that fly under the radar, but they have an epic battle on Thursday, October 17 for the North Valley League title. A win for Fulton and the Jaguars claim a share of the league title, whereas the White Tigers want to keep the crown for themselves. This season-ending contest should help both teams prepare for playoffs.

Finally, Sun Valley Magnet has run roughshod over the Central Valley League at 11-0 and having swept all of their league opponents. The Pioneers have scheduled very strong this season, having played in tournaments with the likes of Grant, Taft and Kennedy, while also opening their season against Panorama. That type of slate will only battle harden a team when it comes time for playoffs.