Carson leads early in third quarter, 21-6

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I don’t know what was harder to watch. Brad Womack leaving his last two bachelorettes in tears and with broken hearts by walking away from both on Monday night’s final episode of ‘The Bachelor,’ or watching the Carson dance team try to perform their haltime routine to music that went silent for five seconds at a time.

Luckily, this City Section quarterfinal between Carson and visiting Banning is getting easier to watch through. Banning benched its starting quarterback, senior Anthony Rodriguez, in favor of junior Michael Ponce, and he led the Pilots on a long scoring drive that was capped by Josh Limosnero’s five-yard touchdown run. The point-after attempt was missed, however, leaving Carson with a 14-6 lead at the half.

The Banning crowd let the coaching staff know it could have managed the clock better at the end of the first half. Ponce had scrambled to the Carson 35-yard line with about a minute remaining. Ponce was then sacked and Banning lost three more yards on a reverse. The Banning crowd was yelling for a timeout, but the Pilots tried to run one more play and Ponce had to scramble again. Banning then let the last 20 seconds tick off the clock.

By the way, Banning’s halftime show was flawless.

Rodriguez started the second half for Banning and was intercepted on his first series.Carson quickly capitalized, as Morrell Pressley caught a 45-yard reception and an 11-yard pass for a touchdown to make it 21-6 early in the second half.

-- Dan Arritt

-- Image from www.surferhearts.com