Fullerton

FRIDAY’S RESULTS

CITY SECTION

Bell 27, Garfield 14

Bernstein 27, Hollywood 6

Eagle Rock 7, L.A. Marshall 0

L.A. Hamilton 36, Fairfax 12

L.A. Wilson 26, Franklin 12

Legacy 12, L.A. Roosevelt 6

Panorama 26, Granada Hills Kennedy 6

Roybal 22, Mendez 13

South East 18, Huntington Park 0

Sylmar 31, Van Nuys 6

Venice 20, L.A. University 0

SOUTHERN SECTION

Beverly Hills 12, Immaculate Heart 0

Brentwood 19, Providence 7

Cerritos 40, Whitney 0

Mira Costa 18, Peninsula 7

Orange County Pacifica Christian 41, Garden Grove Santiago 6

Torrance 19, North Torrance 8

St. Bonaventure 28, Del Sol 14

SATURDAY’S RESULTS

SOUTHERN SECTION

Ayala 19, Highland 6

Bellflower 31, Corona 7

Bellflower 19, Fullerton 12

Castaic d. Fillmore, forfeit

Castaic 18, Knight 6

Corona 25, Crean Lutheran 0

Corona del Mar 27, Inglewood 18

Corona del Mar 35, St. Paul 0

Corona Centennial 13, Riverside Poly 6

Fullerton 25, Corona del Mar 19

Hart 12, Ayala 6

Hueneme d. Canyon Country Canyon, forfeit

Hueneme 6, Lompoc Cabrillo 0

Huntington Beach 46, Buena 0

Huntington Beach 41, Channel Islands 7

Knight d. Fillmore, forfeit

Knight 19, Castaic 6

Lompoc 20, Windward 18

Lompoc Cabrillo 19, Saugus 7

Oxnard Pacifica 18, Saugus 13

Segerstrom 20, Garden Grove 6

Segerstrom 20, St. Paul 18

Simi Valley 34, Hueneme 12

Simi Valley 28, St. Bonaventure 12

Simi Valley 26, Valencia 12

Ventura 39, Ayala 0

INTERSECTIONAL

Fullerton 18, San Pedro 14

Gilbert (Ariz.) Campo Verde 34, Western Christian 7

Huntington Beach 23, LA Marshall 0

L.A. Marshall 27, Hart 7

L.A. Marshall 18, Ventura 14

King/Drew 21, Buena Park 13

King/Drew 42, Nuview Bridge 7

Madera 12, Windward 7

Narbonne 31, Destiny Christian Academy 0

San Pedro 27, Corona 7

San Pedro 34, Inglewood 13

Segerstrom 20, King/Drew 6

Vacaville 27, Narbonne 7

In “Am I Roxie?,” a world premiere one-woman-show at the Geffen Playhouse, Roxana Ortega, a working actress and alum of the Groundlings Theatre’s Sunday Company, revisits the period in her life when she was the caregiver for her mother, whose memory was unraveling.

When Ortega’s father died of a sudden heart attack outside the post office, she was unprepared for the consequences. He had been protecting the family from her mother’s decline.

An immigrant from Peru who had relinquished her dreams of acting to raise a family, Carmen had a special bond with Ortega. When little Roxana was growing up in Fullerton, her mother would improvise operas while fixing breakfast. Together, they dreamed theatrical dreams.

Carmen has many sisters — “Picture the Housewives of Beverly Hills, but in Canoga Park” — but none were able to take her in. Ortega’s siblings, married with children, were similarly unable.

Not having kids of her own deprived Ortega of the one excuse her family would have recognized. Yet she still wanted to have kids, though not before she found the right husband and made some headway in a career marked by small triumphs, such as booking commercials and webisodes. Was she really going to put her life on hold for a few years?

Finding a painful compromise, she decides to move her mother to an assisted-living facility near her in L.A. Taking this step requires her to go to war with her “inner Latina critic,” who reminds her of the code of her blood: “We take care of our own.” She adds an expletive to the end of this pronouncement, but no emphasis is needed for a daughter who has already indicted herself for selfishness, the one unpardonable sin for a Latina.

“Am I Roxie?,” performed by Ortega with unflagging ebullience in an athletic-wear jumpsuit designed for comfort rather than style, brings to the exhausting, guilt-inducing grind of eldercare her own cultural spin. The subject is relatable, as lifespans have extended while health insurance only seems to contract. Ortega is an agreeable guide through the thicket of problems, such as choosing between senior facilities that resemble “sad Marriotts” or “sad La Quinta Inns.”

The show is more of a personal essay composed for the stage than a deeply imagined performance work. Ortega’s approach is friendly and wryly conversational. She’s bearing witness to a human dilemma our culture would prefer to keep under wraps, but Ortega might just as easily be doing an audio essay or podcast. The one character who comes vividly to life is her own.

There’s a rich tradition of performance artists bringing difficult personal stories to public light. “Am I Roxie?” seems disconnected from the work of Lisa Kron, Deb Margolin and Marga Gomez. Soloists who can populate the stage with uncurtailed ambition.

Thematically, “Am I Roxie?” is structured around the “Circle of Life” song from “The Lion King.” Ortega knows this reference is corny, but it’s also inescapably apt. The person who gave her life now needs her help as she nears the end.

Roxana Ortega in “Am I Roxie?” at Geffen Playhouse.

(Jeff Lorch)

Birth and death weigh heavy on Ortega’s mind, as she ponders her own lifespan, the diminishing window for motherhood and the confused and sometimes angry helplessness of Carmen, who comes to believe that her daughter is her sister. Eventually, Carmen will wonder if she herself is Roxie, an existential dilemma that Ortega refuses to understand as a mere symptom of Alzheimer’s disease.

She’s reluctant at the start to name her mother’s condition. How can she reduce a loved one to a medical diagnosis? Even at Carmen’s most exasperating, she could still surprise Ortega with a simple, poignant question: “How are you doing in your life, Roxie?”

Ortega begins to understand that, though her mother has been transformed, she can still connect with her if she accepts her as she is. By speaking to her mother in the nonsense language she falls into and by playing games of pretend as if they were back in her childhood home, Ortega reaches her mother, if only for fleeting moments.

The production, directed by Bernardo Cubría, seems to have adopted a medical oath of first doing no harm. A set piece is every now and again mechanically (and somewhat quizzically) moved in or out, and there are projections offering illustrations of Fullerton and Ortega’s mental health adventure scaling the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

But “Am I Roxie?” doesn’t depend on scenic frills. Ortega is the show — not just her story but her rapport with the theatergoers, with whom she confides as if to old friends. She shares her fears that she might have occasionally failed her mother, but this confession is just another example of her generous humanity.

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HIGH SCHOOL FLAG FOOTBALL

FRIDAY’S RESULTS

CITY SECTION

Huntington Park 20, Kennedy 7

Sotomayor 21, New Designs University Park 0

Sotomayor 8, New Designs University Park 7

Wilson 37, Huntington Park 6

Wilson 38, Kennedy 0

SOUTHERN SECTION

Aliso Niguel 13, Long Beach Poly 6

Classical Academy 53, Mission Viejo 0

Dos Pueblos 12, Aliso Niguel 0

Dos Pueblos 20, Fullerton 6

Esperanza 19, Woodbridge 6

Esperanza 19, Mira Costa 0

Fullerton 20, Long Beach Poly 6

Gahr 34, Cypress 13

Hacienda Heights Wilson 13, Villa Park 12

Lancaster 19, Saugus 12

Long Beach Cabrillo 33, Glenn 22

Long Beach Jordan 42, Mayfair 6

Mater Dei 25, Mission Viejo 0

Mission Hills 30, Santa Monica 0

Norwalk 13, Western 6

Orange Lutheran 32, Warren 6

Orange Lutheran 12, Western Christian 0

Sage Hill 15, Garden Grove Pacifica 0

Segerstrom 33, Garden Grove Santiago 0

St. Anthony 12, St. Paul 7

Vasquez 33, PACS 0

Villa Park 12, Hacienda Heights Wilson 13

Western Christian 20, Warren 6

INTERSECTIONAL

LA Marshall 35, Alemany 6

Mission Hills 30, Santa Monica 0

Vincent Memorial 28, Mira Costa 6

Vincent Memorial 21, Woodbridge 19

SATURDAY’S RESULTS

SOUTHERN SECTION

Agoura 20, Ayala 6

Agoura 48, Oxnard Pacifica 7

Anaheim Canyon 12, Upland 0

Anaheim Canyon 25, Upland 6

Ayala 39, Oxnard Pacifica 6

Beaumont 51, Shadow Hills 16

Bishop Amat 20, Hart 6

Bonita 25, West Covina 12

Bonita 45, San Gabriel 0

Bonita 48, Sierra Vista 0

Buena Park 14, Nogales 7

California 32, Montebello 0

Camarillo 26, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 8

Camarillo 33, Westlake 22

Canyon Springs 19, Yucaipa 7

Chaparral 33, Ontario Christian 8

Chino 13, Colton 0

Citrus Valley 23, Los Osos 19

Corona Santiago 6, El Dorado 0

Esperanza 20, Aliso Niguel 14

Fillmore 24, Calabasas 7

Fullerton 7, Mission Viejo 6

Keppel 12, Baldwin Park 12

La Sierra 23, California Military Institute 6

Los Osos 50, Victor Valley 2

Mater Dei 20, Esperanza 19

Mission Viejo 14, Long Beach Poly 13

Newbury Park 44, Highland 16

Norco 18, Murrieta Valley 0

Orange Lutheran 26, Aliso Niguel 0

Oxnard 52, Thousand Oaks 6

Oxnard 54, St. Bonaventure 0

Rio Mesa 28, Fillmore 0

Rio Mesa 46, Calabasas 0

Riverside Poly 21, Canyon Springs 0

Riverside Poly 24, Yucaipa 7

San Marcos 52, Highland 6

San Marcos 33, Newbury Park 12

Santa Margarita 13, San Marcos 0

Santa Margarita 44, Newbury Park 12

Sierra Vista 25, San Gabriel 15

Temescal Canyon 2, Norco 0

Temecula Prep 20, Chaparral 12

Temecula Prep 32, Temecula Valley 0

Temple City 28, Arroyo 6

Thousand Oaks 19, St. Bonaventure 14

Upland 19, South Hills 13

Upland 26, Corona Santiago 19

Warren 13, Mira Costa 6

Warren 12, Fullerton 7

Westlake 28, Camarillo 6

Woodbridge 13, Mission Viejo 0

Woodbridge 20, Warren 0

INTERSECTIONAL

Castaic 7, San Fernando 0

Bonita Vista 18, Downey 2

North County San Marcos 27, Santa Monica 0

Valencia 26, Kennedy 12

The Little League team from Honolulu has a chance to become a three-time world champion.

Winners of the Little League World Series in 2018 and 2022, the team from Hawaii earned a spot in this year’s World Series on Thursday night with a 4-1 win over Fullerton Golden Hill in San Bernardino. They will travel to Williamsport, Pa., where the World Series begins on Wednesday.

Golden Hill’s only two losses came from Honolulu, including a 1-0 loss to start the tournament. It was the first time in the league’s 69-year history that a team had advanced to the West Region final.

Pitcher Bronson Fermahin took advantage of his team scoring three runs in the first two innings by throwing lots of strikes. He had eight strikeouts through the first four innings and finished with 11 in 5 ⅔ innings before Golden Hill pushed across a run with two outs in the sixth.

Fullerton Golden Hill pitcher Lincoln Ploog struck out 10 in a loss.

(Craig Weston)

Lincoln Ploog of Golden Hill was brought in to pitch with two outs in the first inning. He hit three batters but finished with 10 strikeouts in 4 ⅓ innings.

Honolulu scored two runs in the first on an RBI single from Evan Crawford and a bases-loaded hit batter. An RBI double in the second by Kuana Payanal provided a 3-0 lead. Mason Mitani hit a home run in the fifth. Golden Hill scored a run in the sixth. Fermahin had to leave because of pitch count with two outs in the sixth. Mitani came in to get the final out, catching a broken-bat line drive.

Golden Hill showed off two future standouts in Ploog and infielder Gavin Janicke, who came in with four hits in eight at-bats. Janicke struck out 14 in a win on Wednesday and wasn’t eligible to pitch Thursday.