By Joe Snyder
If any prep sports observer sees a football team go 0-10 on the field yet make the playoffs, it would be quite a shock.
That was the case with Gardena High. Two days after finishing this season at 0-10 after getting shut out by Wilmington Banning 42-0 in the Panthers’ Marine League finale and homecoming game last Thursday at Los Angeles Harbor College, Gardena received a spot in the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division II playoffs as they open at top seed Jefferson High Friday at 7 p.m. in South L.A. It is quite an unexpected thing as players and coaches thought they would hang up their gear, and, suddenly, they will play, at least, one more game and hope they can upset the Democrats for even more contests.
The Pilots, who struggled in Marine play against champion Carson and runner-up San Pedro, who are the top two seeds in the L.A. City Section Open Division playoffs, they ended up getting third in league behind the two powers with little trouble against the Panthers.
Senior quarterback Noa Tuvalu threw for four touchdowns, three of those to senior wide receiver Randy Guerrero, as Banning (5-5 overall and 2-2 in league) raced to leads of 14-0 after the first quarter and 28-0 by halftime. The Pilots scored one touchdown, apiece, in the third and fourth periods.
Tuvalu’s other pass was to running back Joshua Carrillo of one yard that gave Banning a 21-0 lead with 3:11 left before halftime. After holding Gardena, the Pilots made it 28-0 with 22.3 seconds remaining in the second quarter on a 32-yard TD pass to Guerrero. Banning’s final two touchdowns were a 2-yard run by Guerrero in the third period, and Tuvalu’s 14-yard pass to Guerrero in the fourth.
The Panthers had a few scoring opportunities, behind some good plays from Chace Johnson and quarterback Omar Figueroa, but penalties and turnovers would stop some drives. One of the plays was a defensive pass interference on the Pilots on Figueroa’s pass to Johnson in the end zone where the ball was deflected off Johnson who could have caught it for a touchdown. Gardena was at the Banning one-yard line but was stopped. That was the closest the Panthers came to scoring but they had a couple of other opportunities.
“We made crucial mistakes on some plays,” Gardena head coach Terrence Williams said. “We had penalties that stopped our drives. We have a lot of young players and they will grow from this.”
Banning enters the L.A. City Division I playoffs as the No. 4 seed and open at home against 13th seed Chatsworth Friday at 7 p.m.
In the Open Division, Carson will look to defend its championship as it begins at home against eighth seed Palisades, while second-seed San Pedro hosts No. 7 seed Dorsey; both on Nov. 13 at 7 p.m.
The Panthers aren’t the only 0-10 team to make the playoffs. Westchester from the Western League lost all 10 games but made the L.A. City Section Division III playoffs as the No. 6 seed, beginning at home against No. 11 Long Beach Rancho Dominguez Prep Friday at 7 p.m.
Serra meets PV in Division II playoffs
With a 1-3 record in the rigorous Mission League, Serra High’s football team knew it had to defeat host Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks to receive an at-large spot in the CIF-Southern Section Division II playoffs last Friday.
The Cavaliers did their job as they held off the Knights 20-13 for that spot as, for the second time this season, they will visit Bay League runner-up Palos Verdes High Friday at 7 p.m. The two teams, met, in their season opener on Aug. 28 where the Sea Kings pulled off a 17-14 win over Serra at El Camino College. That avenged their 26-0 loss to the Cavaliers a year earlier at ECC.
The Cavaliers, who are 5-5 overall and finished Mission play at 2-3 for fourth place, trailed Notre Dame 10-6 before taking a 13-10 lead shortly before halftime on a 13-10 halftime lead on a 16-yard touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Hassir Houston to Derrick Coleman.
The third quarter was virtually all defense, but Serra came alive to up its lead to 20-10 midway in the fourth period on a 37-yard TD pass from Houston to wide receiver Ikeem Crawford.
The Knights bounced back and made some threats and cut the Cavaliers lead to one touchdown on a 37-yard field goal from Charlie Szaras, then recovered their own onside kick for an opportunity to tie or even win the game. Notre Dame was able to get to the Serra 20-yard line but Serra’s defense held the Knights down.
Serra will seek to avenge that narrow defeat to Palos Verdes, led by University of Nevada-bound all-American quarterback Ryan Rakawski and running back-wide receiver Delvin Flowers. The Sea Kings closed the Bay League shutting out Lawndale Leuzinger 45-0 last Friday.
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Torrance breezes by North to place 2nd in Pioneer
Torrance High’s football team locked up a close second place finish, behind champion Culver City, in the Pioneer League by breezing past host North Torrance 27-7 last Friday.
After throwing for 386 yards and six touchdowns in the Tartars’ wild 54-52 home loss to Culver City on Oct. 23, things for Gibson Turner did not go quite as well, although he was still 18-for-25 for 177 yards and two touchdowns.
North did everything to contain Torrance’s vaunted offense, that produced a Pioneer League leading 347 points in 10 games, but the Tartars were finally able to break in the second quarter on a 60-yard TD run by running back Vaughn Reinert for a 7-0 lead.
A Saxon turnover and pass interference set up Torrance’s second touchdown, a 9-yard pass from Turner to Ashton Bradlley. Just 21 seconds later and after an interception, Torrance made it 20-0 on Brandon Brey’s 20-yard scoring run.
In the third quarter, the Tartars built a 27-0 lead on a 42-yard touchdown run from sophomore running back Sonny Gomez.
North avoided the shutout loss when quarterback Ezra Siitia scored on a 4-yard run with 7:28 left in the game.
Torrance (7-3, 4-1) plays in the CIF-Southern Section Division V for the second straight season, opening at home against Agoura Friday at 7 p.m. Last season, the Tartars began the Division V playoffs as the top seed, facing Pioneer League foe Redondo, which they rallied to defeat 34-24 in their league opener a month earlier. The Sea Hawks, now in the Bay League but not making the playoffs after finishing fourth at 1-3 and going 5-5 overall after a 28-21 loss at Mira Costa last Friday in Manhattan Beach, avenged that defeat with a 21-14 win and went on to the Division V championship game before falling to Arcadia Rio Hondo Prep 29-7. Torrance is not the top seed or has any of the top four seeds, while San Pedro Mary Star of the Sea, which lost to host Carson in a non-league game in its regular season finale, is top seed and received a bye, awaiting the winner of the first round game between Pasadena John Muir and Riverside Hillcrest in the quarterfinals on Nov. 13 at home.
North is out of the playoffs for the first time since the COVID-19 ravaged 2020-21 season, in which there was no football playoffs and each team playing about four to six games in spring 2021, and first with football playoffs since 2008. The Saxons (3-7, 1-4) placed in a tie for fourth with West Torrance in Pioneer play. The Warriors, who lost their regular season finale to host Santa Monica 42-7 last Friday, are in the Division X playoffs where they begin at home against Ontario Christian on Friday at 7 p.m.
South Torrance, which placed second behind champion Lawndale in the Ocean League, will be on the road at top-seed Riverside Notre Dame in the Division XI playoffs Friday at 7 p.m. Lawndale is the top seed in Division IX as it begins at home against Huntington Beach Ocean View at the same time.
