Prep Wrapup : 2nd Game is Black Friday for 4 Top L.A. City Teams

For the South Bay’s L.A. City football teams, Week 2 of the high school season might best be described as Black Friday.

Carson, Banning, Gardena and San Pedro--four of the top seven teams in The Times’ area rankings--all suffered losses at the hands of CIF-Southern Section opponents Friday night.

The most surprising result was Bishop Amat’s 17-13 win over Carson (1-1), ranked the No. 2 team in the nation by USA Today. Not only did the host Lancers (2-0) end Carson’s 11-game regular-season winning streak, they also knocked one of the Colts’ highly publicized quarterbacks out of action.

Perry Klein suffered what was diagnosed as a dislocated left elbow when he was sacked late in the first half. However, Klein said Saturday that X-rays showed the injury to his non-passing arm is not as serious as first thought.

“It’s not dislocated and there’s nothing broken,” he said. “I can move it; it’s just real sore. You can still see the blue paint from where the (Bishop Amat) helmet hit it.”

Klein said he hoped to be back for Friday night’s game against Lynwood.

With Klein sidelined, Carson went the entire second half with Fred Gatlin at quarterback. Bishop Amat built a 17-0 lead in the fourth quarter after converting two Gatlin turnovers--an interception and a fumble at the Carson 5-yard-line--into touchdowns.

Said Klein: “I think if I was in the game at the end, we would have beaten them.”

Gatlin has committed four turnovers in his last three varsity games, but Coach Gene Vollnogle said interceptions the quarterback threw in the closing minutes of Carson’s loss to Granada Hills in the L.A. City 4-A championship game last season and against Bishop Amat were both because receivers ran the wrong routes.

“One of our biggest problems is inexperience at receiver,” he said. “They’re all juniors. When something breaks down, they don’t know what to do.”

Vollnogle also criticized his offensive line, which failed to pick up Bishop Amat’s blitzing defense on several occasions. Klein was sacked three straight times, sustaining his injury on the third tackle.

Still, Vollnogle said he saw a silver lining in the defeat.

“I hardly ever remember saying this, because I don’t like to lose, but I think in this situation a loss might be good for us,” he said. “It might bring us down to earth and make us forget all the ratings.”

Five turnovers spelled doom for Gardena (1-1) in a 19-0 loss to Serra (1-1) in a game that was called with 6:30 remaining after a fight broke out between two girls in the Serra stands.

Gardena Coach Dale Hirayama and Serra Coach Joe Griffin agreed to end the game after several fans came out of the stands and began running on the track and the field, Hirayama said.

“It looked like the situation was close to getting out of hand,” he said. “We couldn’t even get to the locker room because there were so many kids milling around. We didn’t want to take any chances, so we sat on the field.”

Hirayama said his team remained on the field for approximately 20 minutes until its bus was allowed on the Serra track.

As for the game, Hirayama said the five turnovers--two fumbles by fullback Khybdeed Hairston and two fumbles and an interception by quarterback Rex Carroll--negated an otherwise fine effort by Gardena.

“Serra is a good team, but that score is no way indicative of how good we are and how good we played,” he said. “I thought our offense executed our game plan and our defense shut them down most of the game. But we had some big fumbles that really cost us.”

While athletes from 160 countries marched into Olympic Stadium in Seoul, another large group of Olympians was busy walking over San Pedro’s football team in Lawndale.

The Leuzinger Olympians, 67 players strong, posted an easy 30-6 win and showed they might have the deepest fleet of running backs in the South Bay.

Leuzinger (2-0) relied on the 1-2 punch of tailback Anthony Jefferson and fullback Greg Franklin last season, but this year Coach Steve Carnes shuffles backs like a deck of cards.

Tailback Damon Whitmore, a 6-2, 195-pound senior, is the ace of a healthy crop of runners that includes seniors Tim Camillo and Henry Bens, junior Cory Steward and sophomore Marvin Johnson. Camillo rushed for touchdowns of 12 and 10 yards, and Johnson intercepted two passes in the closing minutes, returning one 56 yards for a touchdown.

“With such a big squad, we’re trying to platoon more this year,” Carnes said. “Damon is our top tailback, but he also plays linebacker, so we try to give him a rest on offense. I think there’s a couple of kids who can catch up to him (at tailback).”

Carnes said another running back, senior Deshawn Bryant, will join the rotation for Friday night’s game against Morningside. Bryant could not play against San Pedro (1-1) because he had not participated in 10 practices.

Banning fell to Long Beach Poly for the second straight year, losing 21-20 after a 21-yard field goal attempt by the Pilots’ Miguel Manzano was blocked by Poly’s Jason Jones with 14 seconds left at Veterans Stadium.

Poly (1-0) was ranked No. 3 in the state in a preseason poll by Cal-Hi Sports. Last week, Banning (1-1) beat No. 18-ranked San Fernando, 25-10.

It doesn’t figure to get any easier for the Pilots next Friday. They play Muir of Pasadena (2-0), the No. 2-ranked team in the CIF Division II poll.

South Torrance has taken strong football teams to Palos Verdes each of the last two years and lost both times on the Peninsula. The reason?

“They say it’s a jinx, but I don’t believe it,” said John Morton, South’s talented wide receiver, after Palos Verdes rallied for a 21-14 victory Friday. Last year, Palos Verdes beat the Spartans, 27-19.

“When I was a sophomore I heard it was hard to win up here,” Morton said. “They say there’s magic on this field. I guess some of it is true.”

Palos Verdes Coach Bill Judy says he’s as surprised as anyone that his team is 2-0 at this point. Last week, the Sea Kings shut out North Torrance, 18-0, at home.

“We were supposed to be 0-2, so it’s really very pleasing,” he said. “I think we have some fine leaders on this team.”

Judy singled out tight end Spuds Powell, quarterback Dave Walsh, lineman Greg Kaltenbach and defensive back Jon Jacobson for their leadership.

As for the home-field advantage, Judy said: “Since I’ve been coaching, it seems more good things happen up here. It’s really the players, but it’s nice to have the feeling you can get the job done.”

Palos Verdes will see how it does on the road Friday night. The Sea Kings play at Serra.

Mira Costa’s girls’ volleyball team will be ranked No. 1 in the nation by Volleyball Monthly when the magazine releases its high school poll this week.

The Mustangs opened the season rated fourth, but moved up because the top three teams--Fremont High of Northern California, Irvine and Mother McAuley of Chicago--all suffered losses.

Mira Costa ran its record to 7-0 by beating Palisades on Thursday.