Serra High’s football team was well represented in the Daily Breeze all-South Bay team, announced last week.
Serra High had two players with top honors in senior linebacker-defensive lineman Lando Brown and junior quarterback Maalik Murphy.
Brown was named Defensive Player of the Year. He led the Cavalier defense with 67 tackles, 20 of those for loss of yardage. He had nine quarterback sacks and one forced fumble. Brown was also the Mission League’s Defensive Player of the Year.
Murphy was Newcomer of the Year. He completed 55.2 percent of his passes for 1,261 yards and nine touchdowns. He was intercepted once. Murphy, though, saw some time as a sophomore on Serra’s 2019 team.
Both keyed the Cavaliers to the co-Mission League championship with Alemany, a team Serra lost to 25-24 in its league finale on April 30 at Alemany in Mission Hills. The Cavaliers went 4-2 overall and 4-1 in Mission play.
The Cavaliers had five other players make all-area in senior running back Elijah Davis, senior Devin Ford, junior Darrian Anderson, senior linebacker Tyray O’ Dell and senior offensive lineman Ronnel Tyler.
North Torrance, which made the CIF-Southern Section Division X finals in 2019 and went 3-1 in the short Spring 2021 season, had three all-South Bay players. Included were sophomore quarterback Trevor Lagarde, senior wide receiver Blake Banks and senior wide receiver-defensive back Kekoa Carroll.
Other local players on the team were junior running back Nathaniel Nelson and senior defensive lineman Jordan Sanders (Torrance), along with senior all-purpose player Kade Jones and freshman quarterback Matthew Espinoza (South Torrance).
Both teams finished Pioneer play at 2-2.
South Bay Player of the Year was junior quarterback Justyn Martin from Inglewood. Martin helped the Sentinels to an unbeaten 5-0 record. Offensive Player of the Year was Manhattan Beach Mira Costa wide receiver Thomas Southby.
Southby is one of the top overall athletes in the South Bay, also keying the Mustangs to the CIF-Southern Section and Southern California Division I championships in boys’ soccer.
