Sports
Sherman Oaks CES enters playoffs unbeaten four years after shutting down football
At the intersection of Yolanda and Victory avenues sits a rundown field with just as much dirt as green grass peeking out from above the soil.
“We never have time to fix the patches,” said Dayvon Ross, football coach for the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies. “There’s more dirt than grass for sure.”
The sandlot-like multipurpose field for SOCES, a public magnet school in the San Fernando Valley, is home to its football team. The school, however, is more known for performance arts than sports.
Just four years after the football program temporarily shuttered, SOCES is 8-0 and sits atop the 8-man City Section standings — a turnaround from the 4-6 record it tallied last year in its return. With the City Section playoffs on the horizon, the roster is 22 players strong, requiring each Knight who takes the field to suit up on offense and defense.
Sherman Oaks CES quarterback and safety King Burns rushed for three touchdowns and passes for two scores in a win Friday.
(Benjamin Royer / For The Times)
“It’s hard work,” said King Burns, a senior quarterback and safety who had 120 yards and three touchdowns rushing while passing for 102 yards and two scores in a win over East Valley on Friday night. “We learn our positions and it pays off on the field. We are ready to go out there at all times.”
One of the 22 at the root of the Knights’ undefeated campaign is junior Daniel Truong, a 5-foot-6 running back and linebacker who tallied a prolific 1,058 yards, 14 touchdowns and 42 tackles through seven games. He sat out the season finale against East Valley as he recovers from a back injury in hopes of playing in the postseason. He ran for more than 1,300 yards last season, his first playing football.
Now at 16, his rise as one of the state’s best 8-man running backs has offered him not only opportunities to play in front of college programs, but also the freedom to grow socially.
“I was a kid hanging out by myself and just doing nothing,” said Truong, who recently competed at UCLA and USC football camps against 11-man opponents. “It feels amazing because I got to get close to other people. Now, they’re my brothers. I hang out with them every day.”
Ross, a former NFL hopeful who once competed for roster spots on the Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders, said most of his players had zero experience before joining the team. Truong, second in the state in rushing yards among 8-man teams, according to MaxPreps, is no different.
Sherman Oaks CES running back and safety Daniel Truong is a team leader with his work ethic on and off the field.
(Benjamin Royer / For The Times)
The Knights’ second-year coach added that Truong has learned the ins and outs of football by going beyond practice to improve. Ross said Truong even texts him on weekends after games, sharing videos of his performance in drills and asking for advice on how to improve.
“I knew that he was going to be something special — from his will to work,” Ross said. “The kid never gets tired. He never complains.”
Ross chuckled while showing a picture of Truong in a Hawaiian T-shirt and bragged moments later about his running back crushing his record deadlift in the weight room. Ross directs practice with high expectations but keeps the energy lighthearted with kids of all ages roaming the practice grounds after school.
Football never was something Ross imagined he would coach. But now, two years into leading this team, he’s all in. Ross put $20,000 into the program for new equipment and uniforms and even explored paying for a new field.
“When I interviewed here and saw these guys, they wanted a program so bad,” he said. “The kids bought in. Last year, we went 4-6, and I kind of had a bitter taste in my mouth. “I’m like, ‘Ah, man, maybe I shouldn’t be doing this.’ But then, in the offseason, these kids were committed every day, coming to practice sore.”
Sherman Oaks CES coach Dayvon Ross helped restart the 8-man football program last year and has the Knights unbeaten this season.
(Benjamin Royer / For The Times)
He added that he sees his students’ potential as limitless — and hopes it will translate to college football Saturdays in the future. The players’ buy-in convinced Ross that SOCES was a job worth competing and staying for.
With more fans — and students — coming to games, Truong said the encouragement places winning at the forefront of the team now more than before the season.
“It’s been awesome that people are coming out to support us,” he said. “It means a lot. It helps us want to win.”
Sports
Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo makes NBA history with 83-point game
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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo made NBA history on Tuesday night.
Adebayo scored 83 points, all while setting league marks for free throws made and attempted in a game for the Miami Heat in a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards. It is the second-highest scoring game for a player ever, only to Wilt Chamberlain’s famed 100-point game.
“An absolutely surreal night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after the game.
Adebayo started with a 31-point first quarter. He was up to 43 at halftime, 62 by the end of the third quarter. And then came the fourth, when the milestones kept falling despite facing double-, triple- and what once appeared to be a quadruple-team from a Wizards defense that kept sending him to the foul line.
He finished 20 of 43 from the field, 36 of 43 from the foul line, 7 for 22 from 3-point range.
After the game, he was seen in tears while he hugged his mother, Marilyn Blount, before leaving the floor after the game.
“Welp won’t have the highest career high in the house anymore,” Adebayo’s girlfriend, four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, wrote on social media, “but at least it gives me something to go after.”
MAGIC’S ANTHONY BLACK MAKES INCREDIBLE DUNK OVER FOUR DEFENDERS IN HISTORIC NBA GAME
Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat celebrates during the fourth quarter of the game against the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center on March 10, 2026, in Miami, Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
The NBA’s previous best this season was 56, by Nikola Jokic for Denver against Minnesota on Christmas night. The last player to have 62 points through three quarters: one of Adebayo’s basketball heroes, Kobe Bryant, who had exactly that many through three quarters for the Los Angeles Lakers against Dallas on Dec. 20, 2005.
He wound up passing Bryant for single-game scoring as well. Bryant’s career-best was 81 — a game that was the second-best on the NBA scoring list for two decades.
Adebayo scored 31 points in the opening quarter against the Wizards, breaking the Heat record for points in any quarter — and tying the team record for points in a first half before the second quarter even started.
He finished the first half with 43 points, a team record for any half and two points better than his previous career high — for a full game, that is — of 41, set Jan. 23, 2021, against Brooklyn.
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Adebayo’s season high entering Tuesday was 32. He matched that with a free throw with 5:53 left in the second quarter, breaking the Heat first-half scoring record.
Adebayo’s 43-point first half was the NBA’s second-best in at least the last 30 seasons — going back to the start of the digital play-by-play era that began in the 1996-97 season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Sports
Kings lose in overtime to the Boston Bruins
BOSTON — Charlie McAvoy scored 39 seconds into overtime and Jeremy Swayman stopped 14 shots on Tuesday night to earn the Boston Bruins their 13th straight victory at home, 2-1 over the Kings.
Mason Lohrei scored midway through the third period to break a scoreless tie. But the Kings tied it five minutes later when Drew Doughty’s shot from the blue line deflected off the heel of Bruins forward Elias Lindholm and into the net.
It was the seventh straight time the teams had gone to overtime in Boston.
In the overtime, Mark Kastelic blocked a shot in the defensive zone and made a long pass to David Pastrnak, who waited for McAvoy to come into the zone. The Bruins’ defenseman and U.S. Olympian, who went to the locker room at the end of the second period after taking a puck off his mouth, skated in on Darcy Kuemper and went to his backhand for the winner.
Kuemper stopped 21 shots for the Kings, who entered the night one point out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The victory kept Boston in possession of the East’s second wild-card spot.
Swayman tied his career high with his 25th win of the season. The Bruins haven’t lost at the TD Garden since before Christmas.
After the game, Kings forward and future Hall of Famer Anze Kopitar stayed on the ice to shake hands with the Bruins after what is expected to be his last game in Boston.
Sports
Jon Jones requests UFC release after Dana White says legend was ‘never’ considered him for White House card
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Mixed martial arts legend Jon Jones ended his retirement from UFC simply because he wanted a spot on the “Freedom 250” fight card at the White House in June.
But, when UFC CEO Dana White announced the card during UFC 326 this past weekend, Jones wasn’t among the fighters. As a result, he has requested a release from his UFC contract.
White was candid when asked about Jones following the UFC 326 card.
Jon Jones of the United States of America reacts after his TKO victory against Stipe Miocic of the United States of America in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, 2024 in New York City. ((Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images))
“Never, ever, ever, which I told you guys a hundred thousands times, was Jon Jones ever even remotely in my mind to fight at the White House,” White explained, per CBS Sports. “Some guy with Meta Glasses filmed him talking about his hips – that his hips are so bad. And I don’t know if you guys saw that flag football game where he can barely run. Jon Jones retired because of his hips. He’s got arthritis in his hips. Apparently, doctors say he should have a hip replacement.”
White added that “the Jon Jones thing is bulls—,” saying that he texted the fighter’s lawyer saying he would never be on the White House card despite Jones saying he was in negotiations for it.
UFC ANNOUNCES CARD FOR WHITE HOUSE EVENT
The Meta Glasses incident White is referring to came from a viral video, where Jones, unaware he was being filmed, discussed issues with his hips to a fan.
On Monday, Jones composed a thorough response to White’s comments about him and the White House Card. He previously posted and deleted social media explanations, but Monday’s appeared to be his final statement on the matter.
UFC President Dana White speaks after UFC Fight Night at Toyota Center on Feb. 21, 2026. (Troy Taormina/Imagn Images)
“Yes, I have arthritis in my hip and it’s painful, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight,” Jones, who retired a heavyweight champion in 2025, said. “So let me get this straight, if I had accepted the lowball offer, suddenly my hip would be fine and I’d be on the White House card? That doesn’t make sense. I even received stem cell treatment last week to get ready for the White House card, and training camp was scheduled to start today. I was preparing to be ready.
“I understand business deals fall through sometimes, but going out publicly and saying things that aren’t true isn’t right. After everything I’ve given to the UFC, the years, the title defenses, the fights, hearing that I’m ‘done’ is disappointing. Especially when as recently as Friday UFC was calling me trying to get me on that White House card for a much lower number.”
Jones finished his statement by saying he “respectfully” asks to be released from his UFC contract.
Jon Jones enters the ring before facing Stipe Miocic in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024 in New York City, New York. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
“No more spins, no more games. Thank you to the real fans who know what’s up,” he wrote.
The UFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Fox News Digital.
Jones is considered one of the best UFC fighters of all time, owning a 28-1-1 record, which includes his last bout with Stipe Miocic, knocking him out to take the heavyweight title belt. He is also a two-time light heavyweight champion.
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