Big Games : Leuzinger at Culver City

The Culver City Centaurs raised their record to 3-0 last week by beating Palos Verdes, 22-17. Culver trailed, 14-0, but used the passing game to come back against the Sea Kings.

Quarterback Frank Dolce was 14 for 22 for 157 yards and a touchdown. Although Kayton Carter caught Dolce’s scoring pass, Coach Fred Fuller has found a new leading receiver.

Fuller had not been satisfied with the Carter twins, Karlos and Kayton. He thought the two receivers had not been playing up to their potential.

“We mixed up our receivers against Palos Verdes, going less to the twins and more to Pat La Gasse,” Fuller said.

La Gasse caught seven passes for 63 yards.

Leuzinger is coming off a 28-0 win over North Torrance.

7:30 p.m. Friday at Culver.

Palisades at Beverly Hills

This game features teams that seem to be going in opposite directions.

Palisades, which began the season with a 32-0 win over St. Monica, was beaten by Santa Monica last week, 32-0, while Beverly Hills improved its record to 3-0 with a 7-6 win over Torrance.

Palisades Coach Jack Epstein used three quarterbacks against Santa Monica, but his Dolphins still fell to 1-1. The three signal-callers (Mark Thau, Darin Nellis and Perry Klein) had trouble reading the defenses, a problem leading to 12 Palisades fumbles.

Linebacker Louis Randall had 13 unassisted tackles for the Dolphins. He also intercepted a pass.

Co-Coach Bill Stansbury said Beverly Hills’ win over Torrance was “very unimpressive. We didn’t play well.”

His Normans dropped two touchdown passes and let a number of other opportunities die because of penalties.

Palisades plays a wishbone offense, and Stansbury said his team’s biggest task is to defend against the option.

At 3 p.m. Thursday at Beverly Hills.

Sylmar at University

The Warriors improved to 2-0 with a 34-20 win last week over Eagle Rock.

University defensive back Varrian Smith intercepted a pass on the game’s first play. Two plays later, halfback Curtis Railey scored from two yards out and the Warriors never looked back.

“You have to understand, everything is relative,” said University coach Joe Sedia. “Sylmar is going to be a lot tougher. We have to keep improving.”

Sylmar (2-0) is coming off a 34-6 win over Van Nuys.

At 3 p.m. Friday at University.

Venice at Westchester

This is the Pac-8 League opener for both schools, which are 1-1.

Westchester lost to Hamilton last week, 12-6, and the Gondoliers beat Moorpark, 21-0.

Venice welcomed the return of quarterback Ernie Soto, who sat out the home-opening loss to Hamilton because of a sprained left ankle.

The Pac-8 player of the year in 1985, Soto threw for two touchdowns against Moorpark.

“He made a big difference,” said Venice coach Al Dellinger. “He’s still not 100%, but he threw for 175 yards.”

Westchester was favored to win the league in pre-season polls and looked impressive in a 32-6 defeat of Jefferson in the opener. In that game, running back Keith Bowen ran for 150 yards and two scores, then followed that up by rushing for 121 yards and the Comets’ only touchdown in the loss to Hamilton.

At 8 p.m. Friday at Westchester.

Dorsey at Hamilton

Hamilton’s two wins have both been close. Fullback-linebacker Jerrald Hines kicked a 20-yard, fourth-quarter field goal as Hamilton edged Venice, 16-14, in its opener.

The Yankees then relied on a stingy defense to beat Westchester, 12-6. Hamilton limited the Comets to 162 yards total offense and held them scoreless for 3 1/2 quarters.

Hines set up one touchdown with a 53-yard punt return and scored the game-winner three minutes into the fourth quarter on a 13-yard pass by quarterback Aaron Echols.

Dorsey, 2-0, is the No. 3 City team in The Times’ poll.

At 3 p.m. Friday at Hamilton

Quartz Hill at St. Bernard

The Vikings have recovered from their opening loss to Culver City and have now won two straight.

The latest victory, 14-7 over Jefferson, was led by Brett Hayes, who carried 22 times for 103 yards.

St. Bernard quarterback John Pawinski threw two touchdown passes, a 10-yarder to Eric Nelson and a six-yarder to Steve Hrabko.

Quartz Hill is 1-2.

At 7:30 p.m. Friday at St. Bernard.