PREP FOOTBALL : Banning Is No Match for Carson

In the long and storied tradition of the Carson-Banning football rivalry, now 33 games old, there had never been a game quite like this one.

There was no Chris Ferragamo, the dynamic Banning coach who left the Wilmington school after last season to take over at Harbor College. There was a lack of enthusiasm from Carson Coach Gene Vollnogle--”I don’t feel as hyped as normally,” he said earlier this week. And, most unusual of all, there was the quarterback who went from being in a wheelchair one day to a hero the next.

George Malauulu, carted off the practice field Thursday after fainting, apparently from skipping breakfast and lunch, practically ate Banning alive Friday night, connecting with Bryon Reeves for a pair of touchdown passes and running for another to lead Carson to a 35-7 Pacific League victory at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

The 28-point win, tying for the second-biggest in the history of the rivalry, gives Carson, the No. 1 team in the City, a 17-16 advantage in the neighborhood series that dates back to 1963 and an 8-0 record this season. No. 3 Banning is 4-4.

As was expected coming in, the outcome was never in doubt. After a scoreless first quarter, Carson moved out to a 20-7 halftime lead, scoring on its first three possessions of the second quarter.

In fact, the Colts scored on their first play of the quarter, with running back Errol Sapp going in on a 7-yard sweep. After Louis Perez missed the extra point, Malauulu, an ambidextrous thrower, used his running ability to make it 12-0. He had runs of 20 and 10 yards early in the drive and then finished it off with a 1-yard keeper with 6:53 to play in the first half.

The Colts scored their third touchdown early in the second quarter when Tyrone Bland went over the left side, broke a couple of tackles and went into the end zone from 24 yards out to make it 18-0 with 2:03 left in the half. A two-point conversion on a pass from Malauulu to Reeves helped make up for the extra-point failures the first two times.

The Malauulu-Reeves combination picked right up in the second half, hooking up for a 19-yard score on the first drive of the third quarter. The final damage report: Malauulu completed 7 of 12 for 143 yards and the 2 scores, and Reeves had 3 receptions for 80 yards.

Banning, coming off a 33-6 win over Gardena, its best effort of the season after starting the season with an un-Pilot-like 3-3 record, scored on the final play of the first half when quarterback John Maae took it in from the 11. That was it for Banning.

The Carson defense did a good job of stopping Pilot tailback Chris Griffith , who came in as the No. 5 rusher in the City and had five straight 100-yard games, but this time got only 22 yards in 13 carries.