Like Old Times: Switched-On Carson Will Battle Banning for City Title

On the night the lights went out in Long Beach, Carson High running back Errol Sapp found his way to the end zone just fine.

Sapp’s two touchdown runs in the second half rallied the Colts to a 14-13 win Friday night over Dorsey at Veterans Stadium and set up a second meeting with archrival Banning next Friday for the L.A. City 4-A football title. The site of the game will be determined Monday.

Sapp, who rushed for 137 yards on 14 carries, became nostalgic when he thought about facing Banning in the finals. It will be the eighth time since 1978 that the teams meet for the City championship.

“I want to play Banning,” he said. “This brings it back to the way it used to be. It’s like it was in ‘84, ’85 and ’86.”

In each of those years, the team that won the regular-season meeting lost in the City finals. Carson beat Banning, 24-13, a month ago, but Sapp is not the least concerned about the no-repeat jinx.

“We’re going to show (Banning) that history starts over in ‘88,” he said. “We’re going to win it this time.”

Carson Coach Gene Vollnogle, who has lost five championship-game rematches with Banning, wasn’t as cocky as his star running back.

“No question, it’s going to be tough,” he said.

Reaching the finals was tough for both teams. Carson (11-1) appeared headed for elimination after Dorsey opened a 13-0 lead late in the third quarter, and visiting Banning (11-2) needed a fourth-down touchdown on a 7-yard option pass from tailback Keith Mims to quarterback John Ma’ae with 2:37 left to pull out a 36-34 win over San Fernando.

The Carson-Dorsey game was delayed for 20 minutes in the third quarter after the lights at Veterans Stadium went out because of a power failure. Both teams spent the blackout in the locker room, and Sapp said it gave Carson a chance to regroup.

“I think the lights went out for a reason,” he said. “It gave us the opportunity to get the team together and think about the game.”

However, once play resumed, Dorsey completed an 88-yard scoring drive to take a 13-0 lead on a 30-yard pass from quarterback Roman Foster to wide receiver Aaron Copeland with 47 seconds left in the third quarter. The Dons missed the extra point because of a high snap.

“When they missed the extra point, that’s when I told our guys, ‘Hey, the game is ours,’ ” Vollnogle said.

Sapp must have taken his coach literally, because on the first play after the kickoff he twisted and danced his way up the left side of the field for a 62-yard touchdown run. Louis Perez kicked the PAT to make it 13-7 with 17 seconds left in the third quarter.

After Dorsey failed to convert a fourth-and-12 situation at the Carson 23, the Colts took over and drove 77 yards for the tying touchdown, a 7-yard sweep around right end by Sapp with 5:29 remaining. Perez added the extra point to put Carson ahead for good.

Dorsey threatened to regain the lead, driving to the Carson 15, but the Colt defense stood its ground. Running back Beno Bryant lost 5 yards after recovering his own fumble, defensive end Eric Bender batted away a pass by Foster and linebacker Marlon Brooks sacked Foster back to the 25. Foster’s pass on fourth-and-20 fell incomplete.

Carson played the second half without quarterback Fred Gatlin, who was taken to the hospital after complaining of chest pains. Vollnogle said Gatlin was feeling the effects of an injury he suffered in the first meeting with Dorsey, which Carson won 34-20 on Nov. 4.

“Before the game he had a difficult time breathing,” Vollnogle said. “After the lights went out (in the third quarter), I saw him in the locker room, and he was really in bad shape. I told him that was it. He argued. He wanted to stay in the game.”

Perry Klein, the Colts’ other alternating quarterback, played the entire second half and performed well. He completed 13 of 16 passes, including 11 of his last 12, for 117 yards. But his biggest play came on a run.

Faced with third-and-6 at the Dorsey 31, Klein rolled right before cutting upfield for a 24-yard gain to give Carson a first down at the 7. Sapp scored the tying touchdown, his 18th of the season, on the next play.

Klein has completed 77 of 110 passes (70%) this season.

Dorsey (9-3) would have to be the considered the hard-luck team of the year. The Dons led in the second half of all three of their losses, twice to Carson and once to Banning, but failed to hang on.

In Friday night’s game, Dorsey missed two scoring chances when Foster fumbled out of the end zone for a touchback in the second quarter and an apparent touchdown pass from Foster to Copeland in the fourth quarter was disallowed because Copeland was ruled out of bounds.

“I couldn’t see it, but our coaches in the press box said (Copeland) was clearly in,” Dorsey Co-Coach Paul Knox said. “But I can’t take anything away from Carson. It just didn’t turn out for us.”

Vollnogle, who was on the side of the field where Copeland caught the ball, said the receiver was clearly out of bounds.

Westchester’s basketball team played more than half the game without its best player, 6-7 forward Zan Mason, but still had more than enough to put away visiting Cleveland of Reseda, 88-74, in a season opener Friday matching the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the state, according to Cal-Hi Sports.

Westchester Coach Ed Azzam said it was his own blunder that led to Mason picking up his fourth foul with 6:30 left in the second quarter.

“It was my fault,” he said. “Zan knew he had three fouls; everybody in the stands knew he had three fouls but me.”

Guards Damian Wilson and Sam Crawford picked up the slack for Mason, who did not return to the game until the start of the fourth quarter. He fouled out with 1:23 left after scoring only 9 points.

Wilson, a 6-0 junior, scored a game-high 23 points, and Crawford, a 5-9 senior, added 19, with several baskets coming on acrobatic drives to the basket.

The Comets, ranked sixth nationally by USA Today, also got a big game from their bench. Reserve forward Julian Brame, a 6-4 senior playing in his first varsity game, scored 7 of his 11 points in the third quarter when Westchester extended a 3-point halftime lead to 62-51.

“This is a good team with a lot of depth,” Azzam said.

It also was a big night for the Westchester football team, which reached the L.A. City 3-A title game with a convincing 27-0 win over two-time defending champion Franklin at L.A. Wilson High.

Running back Tim Holliday rushed for 172 yards on 18 carries, including a 70-yard scoring run in the first quarter that helped the Comets (10-3) snap Franklin’s 20-game winning streak.

Westchester, last year’s City 2-A champion, will meet South Gate--a 14-0 winner over Washington--in Friday’s finals.

Redondo baseball Coach Harry Jenkins and South Torrance football Coach Joe Austin, two of the winningest prep coaches in the South Bay over the last two decades, resigned this week, as did Gardena football Coach Dale Hirayama.

Jenkins, who guided Redondo to a 339-179-14 record and 10 league titles in 19 years, said that he was granted a 1-year leave of absence by the district but that Redondo Principal Jerry Davis would not guarantee his coaching position upon his return.

“That wasn’t acceptable to me,” Jenkins said.

Redondo enjoyed its best season under Jenkins last spring when it finished 30-3 and reached the CIF 4-A semifinals. It was the Sea Hawks’ 12th straight playoff appearance.

Austin, who had a career record of 108-63-2 in 16 seasons at South, said he is taking a semester’s leave to join his brother, Jeff, in a new business. The Spartans made their eighth straight CIF playoff appearance this season.