Author: John Maffei

For original article: San Diego Union-Tribune

Through the regular season and the playoffs, Patrick Henry High School’s badminton team had barely been challenged.

That ended Saturday afternoon as the Patriots trailed after the singles matches, then rallied for a 9-8 win over Del Norte in the CIF San Diego Section championship match at Canyon Hills.

This was a rematch of last year’s championship, won 10-7 by Patrick Henry. It’s also the fifth title in six years for the Patriots.

“Coming into the match, we knew we had to play our best to win,” said Patrick Henry coach Trustin Nguyen. “In our league, Mira Mesa is the best team, and we beat them 14-3 and 10-7. Del Norte beat Mira Mesa 10-7 in the playoffs. So we knew we were in for a tough match.”

The Patriots trailed 5-3 after the singles round, but pulled even at 7-7 after the boys and girls singles.

Del Norte won the first mixed doubles match in three sets. Henry rallied to win the next two mixed doubles in two sets. Both, however, were 21-19 finals.

The mixed doubles teams of Kevin Do and Gabriela Truong and Landon Vu and Tiffany Huynh got the job done for the Patriots.

“We went down and were able to pull it out,” Nguyen said. “We have great senior leadership, and our seniors got it done. The match couldn’t have been closer.”

Patrick Henry finishes the season 13-0. The Patriots’ closest match during the season was a 10-7 win over Mira Mesa. They won a pair of matches 17-0 and five 16-1.

Patrick Henry’s two playoff wins were a 17-0 rout over Kearny and 16-1 romp of Hoover.

Next up for both teams in the San Diego Section Individual championships next Saturday at the Balboa Park Activity Center.

The Southern California Regionals are set for May 23 at Arcadia High School with the San Diego Section sending its top five qualifiers from each event.