Over the past several seasons, Serra High’s football teams had a long line of extremely talented players who moved on to play in Major Division I colleges and even the National Football League.
Senior linebacker John Houston appears to be headed to that.
Over the past several seasons, Serra High’s football teams had a long line of extremely talented players who moved on to play in Major Division I colleges and even the National Football League.
Senior linebacker John Houston appears to be headed to that.
After being named all-American and all-CIF Southern Section Western Division as a junior last season, Houston already has very good numbers. Entering last Friday’s Mission League game at Alemany in Mission Hills, won by the Cavaliers 38-21, Houston already has 100 tackles, including one quarterback sack. He has one interception but added another one against the Warriors on Friday. Houston also caused three fumbles.
Houston will also play in the Under Armour All-American All-Star Football Classic in St. Petersburg, Fla. on Jan. 2.
“He’s a fantastic player; one of the best,” Serra head coach Scott Altenberg said of Houston. “He’s been doing it for three years. He guides the defense.”
As a junior last year, Houston recorded 137 tackles, 1 ½ sacks, seven pass deflections and two caused fumbles. He was all-American for his class by Maxpreps.
Houston was a key to Serra’s 13-1 record that included a Mission League championship and a runner-up finish in the Western Division playoffs where the nationally ranked Cavaliers were upset by league rival West Hills Chaminade, 38-35, on a walk-off field goal. The Eagles went on to capture the California State Division II crown. Serra was ranked as high as seventh in the nation entering that contest.
In his sophomore season in 2012, Houston had 127 tackles and one sack. He was on all-Mission defense and the Maxpreps all-American sophomore team. He was part of Serra’s CIF-Southern Section Western Division and State Division II championship team.
Houston is also a member of the Cavaliers’ boys’ track and field team where he has personal best of 50 seconds in the 400-meter dash and 22.7 at the 200.
Houston is seeking to help Serra win the prestigious CIF-Southern Section PAC Five Mission League and maybe even titles in the PAC Five that includes such powers as Bellflower St. John Bosco and Santa Ana Mater Dei and possibly the State Open Division. It will be more challenging than Serra’s years with the Western and earlier Northwest Divisions, along with Divisions II and III, but Houston feels that the Cavaliers will be up to the challenge.
“We’re humble and ready to win everything,” Houston said. “We’ll play each game as it’s our last.”
Houston knows that the PAC Five is a very competitive conference. “We’ll always play good teams,” Houston said. “We’re humble that we have to compete.”
Houston, a five-star college recruit, is being recruited by virtually all of the Major Division I colleges nationwide, including UCLA, University of Southern California and Alabama. The decision could be made anytime, although he could announce it at the Under Armour Classic or sign on National Signing Day in early February.
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Serra topples Alemany in battle of injury-riddled teams
By Joe Snyder
Sports Editor
Serra High’s football team entered the game already losing one top player for the rest of the season and another probably for the rest of the regular season but it hasn’t stopped in the prestigious CIF-Southern Section PAC-Five Mission League.
Out for the year for the Cavaliers is Culver City High transfer Stanley Norman with a torn ACL and Issac Thomas is expected to miss two more weeks, meaning that Serra will need to make the playoffs for the senior to return to action.
Serra, though, was able to down another injury-plagued squad, Alemany, 38-21, last Friday at Alemany in Mission Hills.
The Warriors, who are 5-3 overall and 2-2 in the Mission League, were once nationally ranked but now a shot at even the playoffs look very uncertain for them.
The Cavaliers, meanwhile, improved to 3-1 in league and 6-2 overall and they are currently tied with Bishop Amat, who beat Serra 14-7 three weeks ago in La Puente, and Encino Crespi.
With two outstanding receivers out, Serra was so shorthanded that head coach Scott Altenberg decided to put one of its quarterbacks, Caleb Wilson, at receiver. Wilson quickly learned his new position as he caught two touchdown passes from quarterback Khalil Tate from five yards in the second quarter and 27 in the final period.
“We lost Norman and Thomas, so we had to find a receiver,” Altenberg said. “Caleb did a great job.”
Things were not any better for the Warriors, who lost starting quarterback Blake Green midway in the first quarter and Alemany hardly was able to get into the groove.
However, one of the reasons why the Warriors struggled was due to Serra’s stingy defense, led by Oluwold Betiku with 2 ½ quarterback sacks, one of those that knocked Green out of the game with a right shoulder injury. Linebacker John Houston, an Under Armour All-American, added an interception, 12 tackles and two sacks.
Tate completed eight of 15 passes for 101 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 103 yards and two TDs on 11 carries.
After not playing a home game since Sept. 26 in their league opener against Notre Dame High from Sherman Oaks (a 28-23 homecoming win), Serra finally returns to its field to face league rival West Hills Chaminade, the only other Mission holdover from the league of the past few years, Friday at 7 p.m. The Eagles are only 1-3 in Mission action and are virtually out of playoff contention but Altenberg cautions that it doesn’t mean any easy gave for Serra. “We’ll be ready for them,” Altenberg said. “Every week, we have an elimination game. I’m proud that we’re 2-1 on our road trip. We’re still looking to win league.”
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El Camino gets first conference and home win over Harbor
By Joe Snyder
Staff Writer
After some heartbreaking losses in games El Camino College’s football teams could have won, the Warriors finally got a National Central Conference win over South Bay rival Los Angeles Harbor College, 30-22, last Saturday at Redondo High.
ECC had some disappointing losses in games that head coach John Featherstone and his team felt it should have won including on Oct. 11 at Redondo when the Warriors let a 26-14 lead with about three and a half minutes left get away in a 29-26 loss to Cerritos due to some questionable defensive penalties that led to the Falcons’ winning touchdown, and on Sept. 13 when El Camino players, coaches and fans thought that the Warriors had a touchdown when the West Torrance High quarterback Joey Notch to wide receiver Nick Roos had a scoring pass only to see Roos drop the ball about five seconds after he had possession and officials declared it no TD since he did not have complete possession in ECC’s 33-30 home loss to Ventura.
Even in Saturday’s Warrior win, it took a dropped pass on Harbor’s last play to preserve their first conference win against three losses and their third overall victory against four defeats.
“We had a good week of practice,” Featherstone said. “The players knew how important it was to win this game. We should have won those games against Cerritos and Ventura. We would have been 5-2, not 3-4. We played real good solid offense and defense.”
The Warrior offense started off well but stalled and had to settle for three field goals from former Serra High kicker Eddie Garcia for a 9-0 first quarter lead.
El Camino scored its first touchdown when Notch completed a 14-yard TD Roos for a 16-0 lead with 14.8 seconds left before halftime.
Notch, though, had a pass intercepted by Harbor cornerback Cody Butler who returned the ball 35 yards for a TD cutting the Warriors’ lead to 16-7 with 9:47 remaining in the third period.
The Warriors, though, responded to the Seahawks’ first two touchdowns. They upped their lead to 23-7 with 8:27 to go in the third quarter on a 31-yard TD pass play from Notch to former Carson High standout Kendall Sparks.
After Harbor scored on a 5-yard run by Camen Walker, ECC took a 30-14 advantage with 12:16 remaining in the game on Sparks’ 7-yard touchdown run.
The Seahawks, though, cut El Camino’s lead to one possession when quarterback Tyler Sestich completed a 7-yard scoring pass to wide receiver Mike Andrews, followed by the combination’s two-point conversion pass.
From there, the Warriors held down Harbor.
“It feels good,” Garcia said. “I’ve been used to winning a lot at Serra but the coaches built a good foundation here. We need to do good stuff. We could have had a big win against Cerritos. We must get better at cutting down on penalties. We can’t let that stuff beat us.”
El Camino takes the road to Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga Saturday at 1 p.m. before playing its final game at Redondo, at least for this season, against an always powerful Mt. San Antonio College team from Walnut in ECC’s homecoming game on Nov. 8. The Warriors close regular season at a much improved Long Beach City College squad on Nov. 15.
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Gardena still winless in Marine League action
By Joe Snyder
Staff Writer
Unfortunately, Gardena High’s struggling young and inexperienced football team is trapped in the rigorous Marine League.
Not only are the Panthers 0-3 in league (0-8 overall) were shut out in all three games. They have been shut out in all three games, the latest being by CIF-Los Angeles City Section power Narbonne, 65-0, last Friday at Narbonne. It came a week after Gardena was whitewashed at home by Carson, 64-0.
Gardena’s brutal schedule continues at home against a 7-1 San Pedro High squad Friday at 7 p.m. The Pirates, who lost their only game at Narbonne 28-24 in their Marine opener on Oct. 10, are coming off a 52-0 rout of Washington last Friday at San Pedro.
Carson holds off Banning: The once famous Banning-Carson football rivalry has been lately dominated by the Colts but the improved Pilots put up a good fight.
Carson, which improved to 6-2 overall and 3-0 in the Marine League, jumped out to a 29-9 lead but had to hang on for a 29-23 victory for its 16th consecutive win over Banning. The Pilots have not defeated the Colts since winning the CIF-L.A. City Section championship game over them, 26-10, in 2000 at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.
After scoring five touchdowns in Carson’s 64-0 win at Gardena on Oct. 17, Jabari Minix added three more TD’s in its victory over Banning, which fell to 4-4 overall and 1-2 in league.
Among those was a 63-yard punt return, a 55-yard pass reception from quarterback Kiki Flores and a 2-yard run. He had 246 all-purpose yards.
The Pilots scored the game’s final two TD’s on a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Matt Arredondo and a 15-yard run from Jeremiah Valoaga to get within six points.
Banning had a chance to pull out the game but Joe Villareal fumbled away the ball and Carson was able to run down the clock.
The win sets the stage for a showdown at home against Narbonne Friday at 7 p.m. The Gauchos are 3-0 in league and 5-3 overall after crushing Gardena, 65-0, last Friday at Narbonne.
The Pilots visit Washington at the same time.
North holds off Torrance: North Torrance High’s football team had another huge Pioneer League rivalry at home against Torrance last Friday.
The Saxons scored 23 first half points but lost starting quarterback Chris Kuaea he sprained his ankle in the third quarter.
Leading 23-8, North was able to hold off the Tartars before an interception from Mique Juarez off Torrance quarterback Vincent Huey.
Kuaea completed eight of 13 passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.
Brandon Deocampo had four catches for 83 yards and had a 67-yard kickoff return that set up the Saxons’ third touchdown, an 8-yard pass from Kuaea to Juarez.
For the Tartars, Tyree Harris continued to dominate rushing for 200 yards and two touchdowns on 35 carries. He also ran in a two-point conversion after his first TD.
The Saxons host Lawndale Leuzinger Friday at 7 p.m. Torrance visits Centennial in Compton Friday at 6 p.m.
South, West, Bishop Montgomery win: West Torrance remained unbeaten and kept its No. 1 rating in the CIF-Southern Section Western Division by blanking Centennial, 49-0, in Pioneer League play last Friday.
The Warriors (8-0, 3-0) host South Torrance in a key Pioneer cross town rivalry Friday at 7 p.m.
The host Spartans (6-2, 2-1) downed Leuzinger, 49-31.
Bishop Montgomery opened the South Catholic League by outlasting Southeast L.A. Verbum Dei, 30-27, last Friday at Bishop Montgomery.
The Knights (4-4, 1-0) visit rival St. Bernard in Playa del Rey Friday at 7 p.m.
