Banning to Defend Summer Grid Crown : Several South Bay Teams Seek Titles During L.A. Games

Banning High will be back to defend its football title in the Los Angeles Summer Games thanks to a walloping it laid on rival Carson in an earlier round, and South Bay teams will compete for titles in several other sports in the final weekend of the games.

With a few exceptions, semifinals and finals will be played at Los Angeles Valley College in Van Nuys or alternate sites in the San Fernando Valley on Saturday and Sunday.

Banning will face Gardena in non-contact football action in one of four Saturday quarterfinals at Valley College. Banning’s early-round victories include a 41-12 thumping of Carson. Gardena reached the final eight by whipping Redondo, 34-0.

(The football competition is a 7-on-7 match-up without pads or equipment, played without lines or blocking. Running backs are in the formation but most plays are passes. Coaches say this is summer fun and not necessarily a precursor of things to come next fall.)

Locke Plays Compton

Locke is in another quarterfinal against Compton. The Saints advanced with a 27-20 victory over San Pedro. Other quarterfinal match-ups are Muir vs. Loyola and Taft vs. San Fernando.

The boys basketball tournament, which began with 128 teams, is down to the final 16, including Carson, Inglewood, Serra and St. Bernard. Match-ups Saturday are Serra vs. Crenshaw, 9 a.m. at Birmingham High (Van Nuys); St. Monica vs. Culver City, 10 a.m. at Birmingham; Carson vs. Inglewood, 11 a.m. at Birmingham; Fresno Edison vs. Long Beach Poly, noon at Birmingham; Verbum Dei vs. Crescenta Valley, 9 a.m. at Valley; Pomona vs. Ocean View, 10 a.m. at Valley; Santa Monica vs. Dominguez, 11 a.m. at Valley, and St. Bernard vs. Simi Valley, noon at Valley.

Winners advance to 4 p.m. games to determine Sunday’s final four. Semifinals will be played at 10 and 11 a.m. Sunday, with the championship at 4 p.m., all at Valley College.

The basketball final 16 includes some of the nation’s top prep talent. Crenshaw is defending state champion and retains much of its lineup, including spectacular forward Stephen Thompson. Carson features 6-10 Clifford Allen, 6-7 Anthony January and point guard Izzy Washington. Inglewood has standout shooters Eric Jordan and Stacy Anderson. St. Bernard has outstanding junior David Whitmore. St. Monica boasts one of the nation’s most highly sought guards in Earl Duncan, and Serra has a fine small forward in Keith Malone.

Other Survivors

Other South Bay teams to advance were Redondo in girls volleyball and boys water polo, Torrance and South Torrance in girls soccer and West Torrance, El Segundo and Leuzinger in girls softball. South Bay teams were shut out in baseball, boys soccer and girls basketball.

Redondo faces Bishop Diego in girls volleyball Saturday. The Redondo boys play Gahr in water polo at 8:30 a.m. Sunday at USC. The winner of that game plays the winner of J. W. North vs. Sunny Hills in the championship.

Girls softball quarterfinals, Saturday at Grant High, are West Torrance vs. Bell at 9:30 a.m., El Segundo vs. Village Christian at 11:30, Leuzinger vs. Chaffey at 1:30 and Hemet vs. Eisenhower at 3:30. Grant High will host the Sunday morning semifinals and afternoon championship.

In girls soccer, Torrance plays Royal at 2 p.m., followed by South Torrance vs. Simi Valley at 3:30, both at Valley College. Torrance features scoring sensation Shannon Maddock and most of the lineup that was upset in CIF semifinals after going undefeated for more than a year.