Venice Holds Off Jordan

There were plenty of big plays when Venice met Los Angeles Jordan in the first round of the City Section Championship Division playoffs Thursday night at Venice, but one small mistake determined the outcome.

Jordan quarterback Jerry Jackson spiked the ball on fourth down at the Venice 11-yard line with 14 seconds left, giving the ball back to Venice (9-2), which held on for a 37-34 victory.

Jordan (8-3) had rallied from a 34-13 third-quarter deficit in large part because of Jackson and Ricky Thenarse, who connected on touchdown pass plays of 82 and 70 yards. The Bulldogs’ seemingly unstoppable offense was in position to win before the miscue.

“There was some confusion about the down,” Jordan Coach Elijah Asante said. “I was yelling, ‘Don’t spike it, don’t spike it,’ and they didn’t change the down marker, so it was very confusing at the end of the game.”

Thenarse, a highly recruited receiver and defensive back, caught four passes for 184 yards and also intercepted a pass.

Venice running back Kenny Ashley, who has committed to Mississippi State, rushed for 209 yards and three touchdowns, including scoring runs of 46 and 34 yards. Teammate Jonas Mouton had a 90-yard touchdown reception and was a force at safety.

Jackson completed seven of 16 passes for 277 yards and two touchdowns and fullback Rashad Newsome had 126 yards and touchdown runs of 63 and 26 yards in 10 carries for Jordan.

-- Peter Yoon

Sylmar 44, L.A. Locke 13 -- C.J. Gable ran 27 times for 184 yards and three touchdowns as the undefeated Valley Mission League champions capitalized on seven dropped passes by the Saints in a City playoff game at Sylmar.

Torrey Harkness connected with Darryl Stanley on a 14-yard touchdown pass with 10 seconds left before halftime to pull Locke (6-5) to within 20-13. But Harkness’ receivers dropped seven of his 12 passes, including two in the end zone. The senior completed four of 12 passes for 55 yards.

Sylmar (11-0) scored two touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters, highlighted by a cross-field lob from running back Marc Alanis to quarterback John Austin for a one-yard score.

-- Mayar Zokaei

Lake Balboa Birmingham 29, Harbor City Narbonne 13 -- Sophomore Milton Knox rushed for 170 yards in 26 carries and scored three touchdowns to help the eighth-seeded Patriots (6-5) win their playoff opener.

Knox, who raised his season rushing total to 1,474 yards, scored on runs of 10, seven and three yards to enable defending champion Birmingham to set up a quarterfinal rematch with West Valley League rival Woodland Hills Taft on Wednesday.

Major Culbert rushed for 116 yards in 17 carries for Narbonne (6-5).

-- Eric Sondheimer

L.A. Dorsey 37, Carson 8 -- Senior Stafon Johnson gained 362 yards in 27 carries and scored two touchdowns to lead the third-seeded Dons (9-2) to a victory over the Colts (3-8) in the first round of the City playoffs.

Johnson was well short of the City record of 417 yards, set by Ricky Solario of L.A. Garfield in a 35-15 victory over L.A. Lincoln in 1982.

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Three starters have been suspended from school and removed from the Newhall Hart football team for their part Monday in a hazing incident, school officials said.

Two players are starting offensive linemen and the other is a kicker.