Prep Wrapup : Carson Finds Time for Trick ‘Return Punt’

For years, a friend has tried to coax Carson football Coach Gene Vollnogle into attempting a “return punt” in a game.

Vollnogle balked at the idea until Friday night, when the Colts performed the unusual play early in the second quarter of their 51-0 win over Narbonne at Gardena High.

Carson’s Errol Sapp fielded a punt, took a couple of strides and punted the ball back to Narbonne. Needless to say, the play caught nearly everyone by surprise.

“Nobody really knew what took place,” Vollnogle said. “I hadn’t even told our team. The only people that knew were our coaches. When we were warming up, I got ahold of Sapp and told him what I wanted to do. He said, ‘Is that legal?’ ”

It’s not. The Colts were penalized the lost possession of the ball. But Vollnogle figured they could afford it against Narbonne, which has lost 18 straight games and has been outscored 256-13 in six outings this season.

Vollnogle said the return punt was a legal play until a few years ago and was used for the same purpose as a quick kick.

Before the game, Vollnogle let Narbonne Coach Lynn Hughes know the return punt was coming. He also instructed Sapp to tell referee Joe Rubio. Sapp’s kick carried into the Narbonne end zone and was awarded to the Gauchos at their 20-yard line.

Carson’s sixth win in seven games came at the expense of quarterback Perry Klein, who was forced to the sidelines after injuring his ankle on the second play from scrimmage.

Klein said Saturday that his left ankle was “pretty swollen,” but he did not think the injury was serious.

Klein’s injury comes at a crucial time for the Colts, who open Southern League play Friday night against Crenshaw at Gardena. After four weeks of beating the Southern-Pacific Conference’s 3-A Division teams--San Pedro, Washington, Gardena and Narbonne--by a combined score of 201-30, Carson will see nothing but 4-A competition from here on.

Leuzinger (7-0 overall, 4-0 in league play) maintained its one-game lead in the Bay League by hanging on for a dramatic 26-22 win over visiting Palos Verdes, which kept the pressure on the Olympians all night.

Leuzinger, after turning away Palos Verdes’ last drive on an interception by cornerback Quang Banks with 1:16 remaining, took a safety and kicked the ball away with three seconds left to preserve the win.

“We just couldn’t put them away,” Leuzinger Coach Steve Carnes said. “We kept letting them back in the game.”

Palos Verdes (5-2, 2-2) converted two fourth-down plays on its final drive. Jon Jacobson ran 11 yards with a fake punt on fourth-and-10 and quarterback David Walsh hit tight end Spuds Powell with an 18-yard pass on fourth-and-12 to give the Sea Kings first down at the Leuzinger 38.

But that’s where the threat ended. Two plays later, Walsh lofted an ill-advised pass into the middle of the field, where Banks swooped in and made his fourth interception of the season at about the 5.

The interception was the only turnover of the night for Palos Verdes, which fell into a fourth-place tie with Beverly Hills (5-2, 2-2) in the Bay League standings, two games behind Leuzinger and one game behind Hawthorne (5-2, 3-1) and Santa Monica (4-2, 3-1).

The top three finishers will earn spots in the CIF Division II playoffs, and it’s possible a fourth team could gain a wild-card berth.

Carnes has not been particularly pleased with the play of quarterback Zak Odom this season, but the Leuzinger coach admitted he was encouraged by the junior’s performance Friday night.

Odom connected on an 80-yard touchdown pass to Banks that put the Olympians ahead for good, 13-7, late in the second quarter and his 62-yard touchdown run in the third quarter made it 26-14 after Palos Verdes had just scored on a 97-yard kickoff return by Lance Haworth.

Odom also scored on a 2-yard run that was set up by a 37-yard pass to wide receiver Richey Jacobs.

Rolling Hills won the battle of the statistics but lost the war on the scoreboard Friday afternoon in dropping a 21-7 Bay League game to visiting Hawthorne.

The Titans outgained Hawthorne in total yards, 320-292, but twice failed to score after mounting long drives.

With the game tied, 7-7, Rolling Hills marched 84 yards on 16 plays to the Hawthorne 8. On fourth-and-one, quarterback Rick Judge threw incomplete in the end zone for tight end Robert Patterson. Then, with Hawthorne leading 14-7 in the third quarter, the Titans drove 75 yards to the 19, where the possession bogged down.

“We didn’t punch it in when we had the opportunity,” Rolling Hills Coach Gary Kimbrell said.

The loss lowered Rolling Hills’ record to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in league play.

Quarterback Robbie Zeller and wide receiver Ronnie Brooks hooked up for two touchdown passes to help Redondo pull off a mild surprise with a 19-13 victory over West Torrance.

As a result, two games separate the top six teams in the Ocean League. West (3-4, 2-2), Redondo (2-5, 2-2) and Centennial (3-4, 2-2) are tied for fourth place, two games behind league-leading Morningside (4-2, 4-0) and one behind South Torrance (4-3, 3-1) and North Torrance (4-3, 3-1).

South came through with a crucial 22-0 shutout over Centennial as receiver John Morton caught two touchdown passes from quarterback Dan Jenkins, who threw for more than 200 yards and also scored a TD.

North scored 22 points for the third straight week in a 22-6 decision over winless Mira Costa.

Banning tailback Keith Mims became the first South Bay rusher to go over the 1,000-yard mark for the season by gaining 126 yards in a 24-6 win over Washington. Mims unofficially has 1,010 yards in seven games for the 6-1 Pilots.