By Joe Snyder
A week after getting crushed by Sierra Canyon 58-0 in its final regular season home game, Serra High’s football team, for the second straight season, took its short trip to the famed SoFi Stadium in Inglewood seeking to avenge last year’s 13-10 loss to Loyola by facing the Cubs last Friday.
The Cavaliers were more successful with a 26-0 victory.
Serra wasted no time on Loyola. On the first play of the contest, freshman quarterback Hassir Houston connected with wide receiver Landon Thomas for a 55-yard touchdown to take a quick 6-0 lead after the point after touchdown Jovany Barragan was missed.
The Cavaliers, who improved to 5-3 overall and 1-2 in the Mission League, let loose for three second quarter touchdowns, starting with an 11-yard TD pass from Houston to junior wide receiver Ikeem Crawford and Barragan’s extra point was good to give Serra a 13-0 lead with 8:23 left before halftime. Then, Serra scored two touchdowns in just the final 10 seconds before intermission. Houston and Crawford, again, connected from eight yards out for a 20-0 lead, and, on the Cubs’ first play of their pursuing drive, junior defensive end Derrick Coleman stepped in to intercept a pass by Loyola freshman quarterback Zion Saafir, who replaced junior injured starter J.C. Rising (lost for the season), and returned the ball for a 25-yard pick-six.
That was all the scoring for the rest of the game as the second half was scoreless. Serra had a few other scoring opportunities but were thwarted, mostly by several penalties. Kicker Kane Casani missed all three of his field goal attempts for Loyola.
“Our defense played a great game,” Serra head coach Scott Altenberg said. “We controlled the line of scrimmage and created turnovers. Offensively, our young quarterback (Houston) had a very good game. He played with poise and made some big-time throws. In the second half, we struggled to avoid penalties and it hurt our production. We have to clean up the penalties if we want to defeat a tough Chaminade team on the road.”
Houston finished with three touchdown passes. After missing the Oct. 9 game against Sierra Canyon, senior running back A.J. McBean returned but saw limited action, rushing for 47 yards on eight carries. Serra’s defense had eight tackles for losses.
The Cavaliers will visit Chaminade in West Hills Friday at 7 p.m. Last Friday at Sierra Canyon in Chatsworth, the Eagles were shut out by the Trailblazers 41-0. Sierra Canyon is the No. 2 ranked team (behind Santa Margarita) in the CIF-Southern Section, California and sixth in the United States.
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North can’t keep up with CC
North Torrance High’s football team started things off well but Culver City proved too much for the Saxons in a 41-14 Pioneer League loss last Friday at Culver.
The Saxons, who are 1-2 in the Pioneer League and 3-5 overall, started off well with a 7-0 first quarter lead when Jayden Castro scored on a 5-yard run.
The Centaurs, who are 3-0 in league and 6-2 overall, tied the game at seven early in the second period on a 5-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Nicolas Hoang to wide receiver Jouree Cavitt but North bounced back for a 14-7 advantage on an 18-yard TD run by Castro.
From there, Culver City, behind Hoang and its outstanding speed, enabled the Centaurs to take the lead and continue to pull away as the Saxons were shut out the rest of the contest.
Hoang’s one-yard quarterback keeper tied the game at 14, then he threw his second of his five scoring passes to grab the lead for good.
Hoang continued his outstanding showing in the second half as Culver scored 20 third-period points to put the game away. He threw all three of his touchdowns passes to wide receiver Christopher Bludlo-Cohen in that quarter.
North hopes to stay alive for a CIF-Southern Section playoff spot as it visits El Segundo, which is 0-3 in league and 2-6 overall, Friday at 7 p.m. After visiting the Eagles, though, the Saxons will be pitted at home against another team unbeaten in league in Torrance on Oct. 30. The Tartars are coming off a 48-6 rout of crosstown rival West Torrance and showed a lot of talent in that game, behind running back Vaughn Reinart and quarterback Gibson Turner. The Warriors topped North 43-40 in their Pioneer opener on Oct. 1 at North.
Torrance, meanwhile, will host Culver City in their league showdown Friday at 7 p.m.
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SP overwhelms Gardena High
After battling well in a 47-32 loss to Narbonne on Oct. 8 at Los Angeles Harbor College, Gardena High’s football team had to travel to face top Marine League and CIF-L.A. City championship contender San Pedro for another brutal league game last Friday.
The Pirates showed the undermanned and inexperienced Panthers why they are one of the top teams in league and the City Section with a 63-6 rout.
San Pedro wasted no time on Gardena in surging out to already a big lead of 28-0 after the first quarter and 49-0 at halftime. In the running time second half, the Pirates, using mostly reserves, added one touchdown each in the third and fourth periods.
Ayomikun Falujo scored Gardena’s only TD on a run in the third quarter.
“Unfortunately, our numbers are low,” Gardena head coach Terrence Williams said. “We had several injuries a week before.”
The Panthers, who are 0-9 overall and 0-3 in Marine play, have a bye this week before closing out the season in their homecoming game against Banning High from Wilmington next Thursday at 7 p.m.
“Banning should be a good game for us,” Williams said. “We always play really well against them. We hope to find some way to get a win. We’ll try and fight hard.”
Last season at Banning, the Panthers rolled over the Pilots 29-6 with a mostly senior-studded squad and this year is mostly very young and playing without its home field, which was demolished over late last summer and is in the beginning stages of being rebuilt.
Torrance High’s football team continued to stay hot after dominating cross town rival West Torrance 48-6 Friday at Zamperini Field.
The Tartars, who improved to 6-2 overall and 3-0 in the Pioneer League, had a stellar performance from senior running back Vaughn Reinart, who rushed for 223 yards and five touchdowns.
Reinart scored four of his five TDs in the first half. Three of those were big runs of 40, 42 and 45 yards. He added two other scoring runs of one and eight yards.
Quarterback Gibson Turner completed 16 of 21 passes for 261 yards and one touchdown. Wide receiver Marcus Dailey had three catches for 54 yards and one TD.
The win sets the stage for the league showdown against Culver City Friday at 7 p.m. at Zamperini Field. The Centaurs are led by quarterback Nicolas Jaong who already passed for nearly 2,000 yards this season. Culver also has outstanding speed as several of its players are also track and field standouts. The Centaurs are a transfer team from the prestigious Bay League.
West was led by quarterback Dominic Golia who completed 10 of 20 passes for 139 yards and one TD, that from 76 yards to wide receiver Dylan Gobee that cut the Tartars’ lead to 7-6 in the first quarter.
The Warriors visit Santa Monica in a key Pioneer game that might determine a spot in the CIF-Southern Section playoffs Friday at 7 p.m.
In a Marine League game last Friday at Narbonne in Harbor City, Carson crushed the Gauchos 60-0 to set its stage for a league showdown at home against San Pedro Friday at 7:30 p.m. The Pirates had no trouble in routing winless Gardena (0-9) 63-6 last Friday at San Pedro. The Pirates are 6-1 overall and 3-0 in league. The Colts are 7-1 overall and 3-0 in league.
Narbonne visits Banning Friday at 7:30 p.m.
In an Ocean League showdown Friday at Lawndale High, South Torrance fell short of the host and league leading Cardinals 28-21.
The Spartans will visit Hawthorne, which is winless at 0-3 in Ocean play, Friday at 7 p.m. The Cougars are coming off a 28-18 loss to previously winless Beverly Hills.
Bishop Montgomery fell to 0-8 overall and 0-3 in the Angelus League after being routed by Cathedral High from Los Angeles 56-7 Friday at Bishop Montgomery in Torrance.
The Knights visit St. Francis in La Canada in league play Friday at 7 p.m.
