Venice gets (old) schooled by Banning

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The Banning Pilots took away Venice’s undefeated season, undoubtedly its No. 12 ranking in The Times and some of its swagger by taking the Gondoliers back in time -- way, way back.

In the modern age, where everyone runs some sort of spread system and gleefully throws the ball 40-50 times a game, Banning pulled out a vintage 1980s offense -- the veer option -- Friday night and upset Venice, 21-19, at the Gondoliers’ home field.

The veer is a run-first, run-second, run-third offense, and Banning ran it to near perfection in the second half, holding the ball so long that the frustrated Goldoliers had only three possessions in the final 24 minutes.

The shining example: After Venice took a 13-7 lead on Que Sean Gregory’s short touchdown run with just over seven minutes left in the third quarter, the Pilots took the ensuing kickoff back to their own 20. Banning then ran off 22 -- yes, 22 -- plays, using up the final 6:55 of the third quarter and the first 4:51 of the fourth before running back Michael Calloway burst into the end zone from five yards out.

Banning would convert three fourth-down plays during the enlongated drive. Venice also extended its agony with a pass interference penalty.

With a successful extra point, the Pilots took a 14-13 lead and would never trail again.

‘It was old-school football. That’s all we did tonight,’ said beaming Pilots Coach Chris Ferragamo.

‘We knew we had to control the ball against them and keep the ball away from [Venice running back Curtis] McNeal (pictured left). We work on the veer all the time -- it’s our bread-and-butter offense -- and it worked tonight. You can’t defense the veer in a week. With all the things we can do off of it, it’s hard to defend.’

Venice can scold itself for three costly turnovers, missing extra points, and missing opportunities. But the bottomline: Once the Pilots gave quarterback Anthony Rodriguez the option to carry the ball, give it to fullbacks Calloway or Joe Panteau, or pitch it to halfback Josh Limosnero, the Gondoliers had few options on how to stop it.

And none of them worked consistently.

‘You can take one or two of our guys, but you can’t take away all three,’ Ferragamo said.

- Mike Terry

-- Images by wishbone.freehomepage.com and rivals.com