Banning Comes Back All the Way, Thrashes Carson for 4-A Title

Asked earlier in the week what it would mean for his team to come back from a very uncharacteristic early-season performance to win the City 4-A championship, beating its No. 1 rival in the process, Banning Coach Chris Ferragamo thought for a moment and then stared at the piece of jewelry on one of his fingers.

“What it would mean,” he said, looking at a reward from one of his previous seven City titles, “is another trip to Gold Ring City.”

They made that journey Friday night.

Banning grabbed a 21-point first-half lead and reached its destination by beating Carson, 31-6, before a crowd of 15,000 at East Los Angeles College.

Gene Vollnogle, Carson’s coach for 29 years and 254 wins, had beaten Banning and Ferragamo, his former player, in last season’s championship game and in this season’s Pacific League meeting.

Ferragamo said he was surprised that his team, which started the season with a 1-2 record, even made the final. It was an even bigger surprise defeating the City’s top-ranked team. Not so much that the Pilots did it--they were ranked No. 2, after all--but the score was more lopsided than anyone could have anticipated.

Moreover, Banning got big games from running back Earl Saunders, who started the season playing only defense and was touted as one of the top prep linebackers in Southern California, and quarterback Ed Kapu, who began the night averaging about 79 yards passing a game.

Saunders, who finished with 110 yards in 13 carries, scored two touchdowns in the first half as Banning built a 21-6 lead, and added one more with a 59-yard run with 2:21 to play in the third quarter that put the Pilots ahead, 28-6.

Kapu, meanwhile, connected on his first five passes for 112 yards and finished with 6completions in 7 attempts for 133 yards. One was a 62-yarder to Leonard Hernandez that led to the first score of the game.

Running back Eric Sharp did the honors, slanting off left tackle from a yard out. Martin Manzano’s extra-point attempt went wide right.

The Pilots (9-3) scored on their next possession as Saunders carried it in from the 12. Kapu’s keeper with the two-point conversion made it 14-0.

At the same time, Carson quarterback Marc Walters was being victimized by some bad breaks. He was 6 of 13 for 88 yards and 1 interception in the first half, but he had several passes for big gains dropped by receivers.

With 9 1/2 minutes remaining in the first half, Saunders made his presence felt on defense on a play that pushed Banning to a 21-0 advantage. With the ball in Pilot territory, Carson handed it off to running back Alvin Goree, who in turn had it taken right out of his hands by Saunders. The result was a 75-yard touchdown, ruled as a fumble recovery.

Carson (10-2) finally got on the scoreboard with 35 seconds left before intermission as Walters lofted a lead pass to wide receiver Myron Freeman in the back of the end zone for a 15-yard score. The kick was blocked, which put the Colts down, 21-6, going into the second half.

But they never made a run at Banning as the Pilots pushed it to 28-6 on Saunders’ 59-yard run, with a great change-of-direction cut in the Carson secondary, and Manzano’s extra point.

All that was left was a 46-yard field goal by junior Jose Rocha with 1:32 to play.

And for Banning to go looking for new rings.