PREP WRAPUP : New-Look Carson Wins on Finesse; Erratic Banning Falls to Crenshaw

There’s a new look to the Banning and Carson football teams as they prepare for their annual showdown Thursday night at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

Banning looks uncharacteristically erratic, as evidenced by a 20-18 loss to Crenshaw on Friday.

And Carson, once the model of hard-running football, has developed into, of all things, a finesse team on offense.

Is nothing sacred?

Carson went to a four-receiver passing offense last year to take advantage of the talents of quarterbacks Perry Klein and Fred Gatlin. But the Colts kept defenses honest with a balanced attack that featured running back Errol Sapp and an outstanding offensive line.

This season, Carson is passing out of necessity because of an inexperienced group of running backs and offensive linemen. Through seven games, the Colts (6-1) have passed for 1,000 more yards than they’ve rushed for, 1560-560.

“There’s no way we can run over teams like we used to,” Coach Gene Vollnogle said. “We have to out-finesse them. We’d like to run the ball, but we’re just not physically able to do that.”

The Colts never tried to establish a running game Friday night in a 29-8 Pacific League-opening win over Dorsey at Veterans Stadium. Quarterback Armin Youngblood came out throwing and didn’t stop until he had shattered the school record with 40 attempts.

Unfortunately for Carson, most of the passes failed to find their way to Colt receivers. Youngblood was only 16 of 40 and was intercepted five times, setting a rather dubious school record in the process.

But with the help of a dominating defense and the sure hands of wide receiver Michael Ross, the Colts didn’t need many completions to destroy Dorsey. Youngblood finished with 298 yards passing and three touchdowns.

Ross became the most prolific pass receiver in Carson history with eight catches for 205 yards and touchdowns of 71 and 29 yards. The school records set by the senior included:

Most catches in a career, 65, breaking the old mark of 64 set by Jamie Williams in 1982-83.

Most receiving yardage in a career, 1,266, breaking the old mark of 1,241 set by Williams.

Most receiving yardage in a game, 205, breaking the old mark of 172 set by Melvin Smith in 1984.

Most touchdown catches in a career, 17, tying the record shared by Wesley Walker (1971-72) and Ron Carver (1966-67).

Most touchdown catches in a season, 10, tying the record shared by Walker (1971) and Michael Wilson (1976).

“I’m a little surprised,” said Ross, when informed of his 205-yard night. “But I had a feeling I was close to 200. I just try to make the big plays.”

Vollnogle says Carson will be more capable of making big plays when Tydus Winans, the Colts’ other starting wide receiver, returns to the lineup. Winans sat out his second consecutive game with a strained achilles tendon, but might return for Thursday’s 7 p.m. game with Banning.

“Hopefully we’ll get the other half of our offense going (next week) with Winans,” Vollnogle said.

Somewhat overlooked, except to the coaches, has been the excellent play of Carson’s defense.

Led by linebackers Edgar Ta’Ase and Nkosi Littleton, the Colts held Dorsey to 46 total yards and just two yards rushing. They have allowed only 106 yards rushing this season, but are a long way from the school record.

The 1987 Carson defense gave up minus 90 yards rushing in 12 games. If you are wondering how a team could hold opponents to minus yardage for an entire season, remember that sacks count against rushing totals in prep football.

In 1987, outside linebacker Arnold Ale, who is redshirting at UCLA after playing for Notre Dame’s national championship team last year, set Carson records for most sacks (22), most tackles for losses (43) and most yards tackled for losses (222) in a season.

Banning, after building an 18-0 lead midway through the third quarter, eventually lost to Crenshaw when Kevin Hicks returned a punt 79 yards for a touchdown with 4:37 left to play at Gardena High.

Vollnogle said he will try to keep the ball away from Hicks when Carson meets Crenshaw on Nov. 17.

“That guy is super,” the coach said. “He’s the best running back I’ve seen. We’re not going to kick the ball to him. He’s like the Rocket (Raghib Ismail) they have at Notre Dame.”

Vollnogle didn’t think Banning’s first loss (the Pilots are 6-1-1) would have much of an effect on either team heading into Thursday’s game.

“I don’t think it will bother them,” he said. “The Banning-Carson game is still the Banning-Carson game. Banning is going to play their best game, and hopefully we’re going to play our best game.”

The message on the marquee outside Hawthorne High on Friday night read, “This is the big one!”

Unfortunately for Hawthorne, it turned out to be a big one for the Leuzinger football team.

The Olympians assured themselves of a spot in the Southern Section Division II playoffs with a 23-14 victory, handing Hawthorne its first loss of the year and dropping the Cougars into a first-place tie in the Bay League with Palos Verdes.

“They kicked our butts, that’s all there is to it,” said Hawthorne Coach Goy Casillas, whose team, ranked No. 1 in Division II, fell to 8-1 overall and 5-1 in league play.

Quarterback-defensive back Zac Odom was perhaps Leuzinger’s most determined player. After allowing Hawthorne wide receiver Jermaine Jones to slip past him for a six-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter, Odom tripped and fell on the Hawthorne track. This led to some finger-pointing by Jones.

Odom responded by leading Leuzinger to 16 unanswered points in the second quarter, including a two-yard touchdown run. Hawthorne pulled within 16-14 on a 39-yard run by tailback Chris Alexander in the third quarter, but Odom again gave Leuzinger a cushion with a 54-yard touchdown pass to receiver Donald Byrd.

With one game remaining, Leuzinger (7-1-1, 4-1-1) pulled a half-game behind co-leaders Hawthorne and Palos Verdes (8-1, 5-1) in the Bay League race. All have clinched playoff berths.

Still fighting for a post-season bid are Rolling Hills (6-2-1, 3-2-1) and Santa Monica (5-3, 3-3). With only four possible spots available, counting a wild-card berth, the last playoff position will be determined in Thursday’s Palos Verdes-Rolling Hills and Leuzinger-Santa Monica games.

Most teams play on Thursday this week because Veterans Day will be honored on Friday.

West Torrance clinched its first league title in three years Friday night with a decisive 52-14 win over visiting North Torrance.

The Ocean League champions were led by running back Josh Moore, who scored three touchdowns on runs of 34, 7 and 93 yards to help the Warriors improve to 8-1 overall and 6-0 in league play. North (2-7, 2-4) was eliminated from playoff contention.

The lone bright spot for North was wide receiver Eric Hansen, who caught eight passes to give him a South Bay single-season record of 80. He also moved into the No. 10 spot on the all-time CIF-Southern Section list.

After West, four Ocean League teams are contending for the two remaining guaranteed spots in Division VII playoffs. In games Thursday, second-place South (4-2 in league) faces North, third-place Redondo (3-2-1) meets Mira Costa (3-3), and Morningside (3-3) plays last-place Centennial.