Football: Birmingham takes on Taft for West Valley title

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

There’s a huge game in the City Section tonight, with Birmingham (5-4, 4-0) hosting Taft (8-1, 4-0) for the West Valley League championship.

This game will tell us a lot about the upcoming City playoffs. If Birmingham wins -- and I expect the Patriots to do just that -- then it becomes the prime challenger to Narbonne for the No. 1 seed. If it loses, then the City playoff picture isn’t so wide open after all. Narbonne becomes the clear favorite.

But I have a suspicion Birmingham has improved greatly since I last saw them in the season opener in August, a disappointing loss to Garfield. The defense wasn’t ready and the offensive line couldn’t protect quarterback Morey Croson.

If those two areas have gotten better, then Birmingham will be ready to make another run at a City title. As for Taft, the Toreadors rely too much on running back D.J. Morgan. Unless he gets some help, they won’t have the offensive firepower to stay with the Patriots. The game will be shown Friday night on LA36.

-- Eric Sondheimer