By Joe Snyder
Under first-year head coach Akita Tate, Serra High’s young flag football team managed to make the CIF-Southern Section Division II playoffs after finishing third in the Camino Real League, behind champion Lakewood St. Joseph and runner-up La Puente Bishop Amat.
The Lady Cavaliers went on the road to take on No. 4 seed Gahr High in Cerritos on Oct. 20. The Gladiators proved their rating by jumping out to a 12-0 halftime lead en route to a 24-12 win eliminating Serra in the first round.
Serra’s defense had trouble stopping running back Devyn Gourdine, who scored three touchdowns, including both in the first half. Wide receiver Mylia Garcia scored the other TD for Gahr.
The Gladiators extended their lead to 18-0 when quarterback Camarra Brown-Stanton passed to Garcia from three yards.
Serra finally scored in the fourth quarter with 4:49 left on a short one-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Karson Smith to receiver Shaunice McClain.
Gahr came back to make it 24-6 on a 17-yard run by Gourdine but the Cavaliers made the game respectful scoring with six seconds remaining in the game on a 10-yard TD pass from quarterback Deja Smith to receiver Smith.
“We stepped up on offense in the second half,” Tate, who played on Serra’s CIF-Southern Section Division and CIF-State Division II champion football team in 2012, said. “We had a fine showing. We’re a young team.”
With the loss, the Cavaliers finished with an overall record of 9-6 including 4-4 in league. Serra had a very young squad with just one senior in Smith. They included six sophomores and four freshmen. The Cavaliers will be seeking a much better season for 2027-28. Highlighting Serra was a third-place finish in the South Bay Tournament that included a win over Pioneer League champion South Torrance, which is top seed in the CIF-Southern Section Division III. The Spartans are already in the quarterfinals after wins over Santa Fe Springs St. Paul and Cerritos last week.
Serra was in the CRL with St. Joseph, which is playing in the prestigious Open Division where it is 1-1 in pool play. St. Joseph is the sister school of Trinity League and United States national power Bellflower St. John Bosco, ranked third in the CIF-Southern Section and fourth in state by MaxPreps.
North Torrance also saw its season come to an end after getting routed by host West Covina 40-7 on Oct. 20. Bella Portello scored the only touchdown for the Lady Saxons, who finished third in the Pioneer League.
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Serra has back to wall after loss
Serra High’s football team recovered from its disastrous 58-0 loss to a premiere Sierra Canyon team on Oct. 9 by shutting out Loyola High 26-0 a week later at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
Last Friday, the Cavaliers traveled to Chaminade High in West Hills and saw their Mission League record fall to 1-3 with a 21-7 loss.
The Eagles welcomed back starting quarterback Jeremy Mellalieu from an injury and he sparked Chaminade well by completing eight of 13 passes for 112 yards, but did even better with his legs rushing for 126 yards on eight carries, including an 81-yard touchdown run.
Serra, which is 4-5 overall, started well when freshman quarterback Hassir Houston scored on a 12-yard run for an early 7-0 lead but that was all the offense the Cavaliers could get.
The Eagles had rushing TDs by Marquis Jones and Shilo Bowers that proved to be the difference in the game.
Serra will play its third consecutive season-closing away game at Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks Friday at 7 p.m. The Cavaliers will need to defeat the Knights for a CIF-Southern Section playoff berth. Last season, Serra won its only Mission League game over Notre Dame at Los Angeles Southwest College but failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2004. The Cavaliers are at risk at missing the playoffs for the second straight season but with a very young team, hopes should be higher for next year.
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Torrance, North fall in wild games; GHS has bye week
Last week was highlighted by a pair of league showdowns in the Pioneer and Marine League.
In a big Pioneer showdown, Torrance and Culver City were both unbeaten, as was in the Marine between defending CIF-Los Angeles City champion Carson and San Pedro. However, it was in the Pioneer that was a very high offensive contest where the Centaurs outlasted the Tartars 54-52.
Despite a back-and-forth contest behind the passing of the Torrance’s Gibson Turner and Culver’s Nicholas Hoang, it was a safety where Turner was sacked in the end zone for a safety by Jaylen Galloway and Nkenyka Anulasha that gave the Centaurs the win after the 52-52 tie.
What spectators, other Torrance and Culver City teammates, coaches and personnel saw was Hoang and Turner combine for 875 yards and nine touchdowns passing in the spectacular air show. Hoang completed 26 of 38 passes for 486 yards and six TDs. Turner was 24-for-35 for 389 yards and three touchdowns. He also had a short one-yard touchdown sneak that tied the game at 52.
Also, for Torrance, which is 6-3 overall and 3-1 in Pioneer play, Vaughn Reinart rushed for 169 yards and two TDs on 19 carries.
Leading the Tartars’ receiving was Issa Mora was 10 catches for 208 yards and two touchdowns.
Torrance will seek to finish league with a win over host and crosstown rival North Torrance Friday at 7 p.m. The Tartars could tie Culver for the league title if the Centaurs lose to Santa Monica on Friday of they defeat North.
The Saxons all but ended their hopes for a CIF-Southern Section playoff spot, also losing a high scoring game to host El Segundo 45-40 last Friday.
North will need an upset win over the Tartars for slim hopes to make the playoffs.
The Marine League showdown between host Carson and San Pedro was not quite as thrilling as the Colts, who are, again, ranked No. 1 in the CIF-L.A. City Section by MaxPreps, shut out the Pirates, who came off blowout wins over L.A. Harbor rival Wilmington Banning and Gardena, 35-0 last Friday.
Carson proved dominant, again behind last year’s CIF-L.A. City Section Open Division Player of the Year Chris Fields III. Fields completed nine of 13 passes for 118 yards and three touchdowns but also continued to run very well, including a 71-yard rushing TD on the Colts’ second play from scrimmage in the contest. All three of scoring passes from Fields went to wide receiver Nathan Williams.
Running back Tytus Salegi ran for 90 yards and one TD on 10 carries.
Carson finished league at 4-0 and won the title for the third straight season but will close league at home against Camino Real League-leading Mary Star of the Sea from San Pedro Friday at 7:30 p.m. The Stars already won the league title after blowing out Playa del Rey St. Bernard 57-21 in their league showdown between two unbeaten teams last Friday at Daniels Field in San Pedro. Mary Star is 9-0 overall with the win over the Vikings.
In other games involving local teams, Bishop Montgomery fell to 0-9 overall and 0-4 in the Angelus League with a 48-0 loss to La Canada St. Francis; Harbor City Narbonne fell short to Wilmington Banning, 35-32; South Torrance shut out Hawthorne 48-0; and West Torrance lost to Santa Monica 42-7.
Gardena had a bye week and closes out its season and Marine League play with its homecoming game against Wilmington Banning today at 7 p.m. The rebuilding Panthers are 0-9 overall and 0-3 in league losing its last game to host San Pedro 63-6 on Oct. 16.
