Last Friday night, Serra High’s football team began the rigorous CIF-Southern Section PAC Five Division Mission League with its annual homecoming game and the Cavaliers were determined they were not going to go down.
Serra started out with an unbeaten Notre Dame High team from Sherman Oaks and it made the key offensive and defensive plays for a key 28-23 victory.
The Cavaliers, who improved to 5-1 overall, held off the Knights after a pass by Notre Dame quarterback Cole Klayman fell incomplete in the end zone.
Last Friday night, Serra High’s football team began the rigorous CIF-Southern Section PAC Five Division Mission League with its annual homecoming game and the Cavaliers were determined they were not going to go down.
Serra started out with an unbeaten Notre Dame High team from Sherman Oaks and it made the key offensive and defensive plays for a key 28-23 victory.
The Cavaliers, who improved to 5-1 overall, held off the Knights after a pass by Notre Dame quarterback Cole Klayman fell incomplete in the end zone.
Serra quarterback Khalil Tate continued to shine. Playing mostly in the second half, he threw for 157 yards and was involved in three touchdowns, two of those that he rushed for.
Senior running back Malik Roberson, who was sidelined with a torn ACL all of last season, had a spectacular 54-yard TD run. He finished with 74 yards rushing.
Defensively, the Cavaliers were led by Brandon Burton and Oluwole Betiku. Burton forced a fumble and Betiku had two sacks on Klayman, who had a very good preseason.
Tate gave Serra an early 7-0 lead on a 14-yard scoring run.
The Knights (3-1) tied the game when C.J. Sanders returned a punt 50 yards for a touchdown.
The Cavaliers quickly responded. After a 20-yard run from Darion Naylor, Roberson sprinted 54 yards to give Serra a 14-7 second quarter lead.
Shortly after Kendall Ross stripped the ball from Notre Dame’s Leo Lambert, Tate found Deontay Burnett for a 27-yard TD pass that gave Serra a 21-7 second period lead.
Notre Dame cut Serra’s lead to 21-14 on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Kayman to Max Weisman.
After a bad snap sailed into the end zone, Serra was able to recover the ball in the end zone that gave the Knights a safety.
Serra, though, brought its lead to 28-16 on Tate’s 4-yard run.
Notre Dame scored the game’s final TD on a 4-yard run from Lambert but key defensive plays enabled the Cavaliers to hold on.
Serra hopes to increase its league record to 2-0 when it visits Bishop Amat in La Puente Friday at 7 p.m.
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Morningside overwhelms Gardena
By Joe Snyder
Sports Editor
With a small, young and inexperienced roster, Gardena High’s football team found Inglewood Morningside too much to handle in a 50-0 intersectional non-league loss last Friday at Gardena.
With the defeat, the Panthers fell to 0-4.
The Monarchs, who improved to 3-1, wasted very little time on the Panthers. They took leads of 20-0 after the first quarter and 40-0 at halftime. Most of the second half was played with a mercy rule running time.
Morningside was sparked by senior running back Christian Williams who rushed for 201 yards and three touchdowns on 14 carries. He scored on runs of eight, 22 and 15 yards.
Junior Jonathan Hill also did damage to Gardena as he scored a pair of TD’s on a 22-yard run and a 78-yard punt return. His final score was the Monarchs’ last with 7:23 left in the game.
Isaac Lewis added an 18-yard touchdown run. Quarterback Travion McGee had a 4-yard scoring pass to Adarrus Wilson. Kicker Jose Azanon had a 23-yard field goal in the third period and went 4-for-7 in point after touchdown attempts.
“Right now, we’re not very good,” Gardena head coach Vincent Smith said. “Morningside was on fire. It’s never easy. We’re finding it hard to build up. It’s a tough process to go through. We’re hoping to stay on course and get it right.”
The Panthers totaled just 33 yards and two first downs on offense. Both of those first downs, in fact, were on a drive where Gardena drove to the Morningside 35-yard line before fumbling away the ball in the second quarter. Michael Thompson had a pair of good catches from quarterback Marvell Beroit on that drive.
The Panthers close non-league at home against Warren High from Downey Friday at 7 p.m. before beginning the Marine League at Banning in Wilmington on Oct. 10 at the same time.
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Without key players, El Camino falls short of Citrus
By Joe Snyder
Staff Writer
El Camino College’s football team had to play last Saturday’s home game against Citrus College from Glendora without top players Kendall Sparks, Raphael Lawson-Gayle and quarterback Joey Notch, due to injuries, and it proved very hard.
The result was a 28-21 loss to the Owls at Redondo High.
ECC managed to have strong play by its defense and special teams to stay in the game.
Defensively, former North Torrance High standout Michael Jurado had a blocked punt and Kenneth Davis had two tackles for losses.
The Warrior offense, though, sputtered. Playing much of the game under quarterback Eban Jackson (a former Narbonne High standout), he was intercepted by Tyler Walker in the fourth quarter and a bad snap slipped through his hands.
Down 28-14 with less than two minutes left, ECC got within one touchdown on Jackson’s 9-yard scoring pass to ex-North star Devante Jenkins.
On top of that, the Warriors had a shot at pulling the game out as Azuzullah Fifita recovered an onside kick with 1:20 remaining. El Camino, however, failed to capitalize as Jackson, on a fourth-down-and-15 yards to go attempt, was brought down well short by Citrus’ Mitchell Harmon.
Despite being short handed, ECC managed to take leads of 7-0 and 14-7. The Warriors’ first touchdown came in the first period on a 1-yard run from Deon Williams that was preceded by a 30-yard pass from starting quarterback Jorge Hernandez (North, 2013) to Michael Wimberley.
El Camino’s second TD came on a 2-yard scoring run by Williams.
The Owls, however, came back with 21 unanswered touchdowns as the Warriors were unable to muster much more offense.
Citrus was led by quarterback Larry Cutbirth who completed 22 of 35 passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns. He was intercepted once.
Things will not get any easier for ECC as it visits powerful Riverside City College Saturday at 6 p.m.
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Sports Scoop
Dodgers, Angels gear for playoffs
By Joe Snyder
Sports Editor
It has been a great regular season for the two Los Angeles teams, the Dodgers and Angels.
For the first time in five years, both of them won the Western Division, the Angels of Anaheim in the American League and the Dodgers in the National.
The Angels ended their season with the American and Major League’s best record of 98-64, while the Dodgers finished strong at 94-68.
It was a big fashion to see Dodger ace pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who had a Major League leading 21 wins against only three losses, get the Western Division clinching 9-1 win over their rival San Francisco Giants on Sept. 24 at Dodger Stadium. The Giants (88-74) ended up second in the National League West and played in the wild card playoffs in Pittsburgh yesterday.
The Dodgers will have their best-of-five divisional series against the St. Louis Cardinals beginning Friday at Dodger Stadium.
The Angels open their best-of-five divisional series against either their Western Division rival Oakland Athletics or Kansas City Royals beginning today at Angel Stadium. The A’s, who were second behind the Angels at 88-74, visited Kansas City in their wild card game last Tuesday.
It will definitely be a new season when the playoffs come. It’s a matter of who is the best in the playoffs that goes on to win the World Series.
Over the past 53 years, since the Angels began their franchise at the long defunct Wrigley Field in South L.A. (demolished in 1966) in 1961, a Freeway World Series has been only a dream and it could continue to be so. Let’s hope it will finally become a reality this year.
The Dodgers’ 94-68 record is only second best, overall, behind the Eastern Division champion Washington Nationals (96-66).
The Angels were two games ahead of the American League Eastern Division champion Baltimore Orioles, also 96-66. The Angels would have loved to get 100 wins but that hope was dashed as they were swept by the desperate host Seattle Mariners, who were seeking to pull off the playoffs over Oakland, last weekend. The A’s held on by shutting out the host Texas Rangers (last place in the A.L. West at 67-95), 4-0, on Sunday.
The Dodgers had more like an pre-playoff exhibition series at home against the Colorado Rockies and swept them. They closed out the regular season winning their final five games.
Chances are very good that the Dodgers-Cardinals first game match-up could see sensation pitchers Kershaw and St. Louis’ Adam Wainwright on Friday.
Interestingly, Dodger manager Don Mattingly took off last Sunday’s finale against Colorado and saw player-manager Juan Uribe get a 1-0 record after the Dodgers downed the Rockies, 10-5. Kershaw was the pitching coach and he saw Zach Grienke finish his regular season at 17-8.
Great end to Jeter: Derek Jeter had a great 20-year career with the New York Yankees where he keyed them to six World Series titles.
This year, the Yankees were not at their best only with an 84-78 record (second place and 12 games behind the Orioles in the A.L. East) and failed to make the playoffs but Jeter shined in his final year. He had a game-winning hit in New York’s dramatic 6-5 victory over Baltimore last Thursday in his last player appearance at Yankee Stadium. He had a key hit but was taken out in the third inning in their finale at rival Boston on Sunday and Red Sox and Yankee fans gave him a standing ovation. The Yankees gave him a retirement gift with a 9-5 win. Only a year after winning the World Series over the Cardinals, Boston was last in the A.L. East at 71-91.
Big Games in South Bay: Last Friday featured several key football games. Perhaps the top ones included West Torrance, top ranked in the CIF-Southern Section Western Division, getting a key 35-14 win over Bay power Manhattan Beach Mira Costa and Carson getting a last second touchdown to edge another Bay dynasty, host Palos Verdes, 27-24.
Torrance, which was hot in winning the previous two games, was brought down by host El Segundo (third in the Western Division), 49-7.
Another contest between host North Torrance and Inglewood ended in a double forfeit after a major bench clearing confrontation between the two teams after a late tackle on an Inglewood player who was returning a punt late in the third quarter.
Numerous players were ejected as the officials decided on the contest not to continue and they declared the double forfeit after the Saxons held a 21-14 lead.
Shortly before, Justin Allmond gave North the lead with a 99-yard interception return.
North head coach Todd Croce attempted to protest the decision to the CIF-Southern Section and it would be announced earlier this week.
Also with a large amount of ejections with those players that could be ineligible for their next games, the Saxons and Sentinels might even have to either forfeit their next games or be forced to play with mostly junior varsity and maybe even freshman players. It could be worse for North, which has a bye this week due to its zero week home game against Redondo (won by the Saxons 13-10). The Saxons’ next contest is in the Pioneer League at Centennial High in Compton on Oct. 10. Inglewood hosts CIF-L.A. City Section school University Friday.
It could be interesting.
South Torrance and Bishop Montgomery got wins on Friday. The Spartans rolled over host Carpinteria, 44-7, in South Santa Barbara County. The Knights downed host Mary Star, 35-13, in their South Catholic League opener at Daniels Field in San Pedro.
