Mira Costa Crushes Redondo, 34-8

Mira Costa kept its slim playoff hope alive and must now wait until Sunday to hear about possible postseason play by dominating Redondo, 34-8, in an Ocean League contest Thursday at Redondo High.

The CIF at-large committee will meet Sunday morning to determine Mira Costa’s future as a Division VII at-large entry.

Senior running back Mike Clairemont rushed for 159 yards and two first-half touchdowns in the easy win. His first score was set up by a 53-yard interception return by Bill Stock.

Clairemont’s 22-yard touchdown with 3:34 remaining in the first period opened the scoring for Mira Costa. Clairemont scored again in the second period on a seven-yard run as the Mustangs led at halftime, 17-0.

Mira Costa opened the second half with a 12-play, 60-yard drive capped by Jose Cervantes’ one-yard run to build the lead to 24-0.

Mira Costa’s defense completely bottled up the Sea Hawks, forcing two interceptions and piling up five quarterback sacks. The Sea Hawks’ only score came with 4:03 left in the third quarter on a three-yard run by Steve Delis to finish an 80-yard drive.

Sea Hawk quarterbacks completed three of 13 passes for 33 yards, and standout running back Antoine Humble was limited to 85 yards, 80 in the first half.

Mira Costa finished the season at 4-3 in Ocean League play and 6-4 overall. The Sea Hawks ended at 3-3-1 and 4-5-1.

South Torrance 35, North Torrance 7--Quarterback Kevin Fitzpatrick rushed for four touchdowns and passed for a fifth to help the host Spartans clinch second place in the Ocean League and a berth in the Southern Section Division VII playoffs.

Fitzpatrick rushed for 84 yards on 13 carries and completed five of nine passes for 85 yards as South ended the regular season with a 5-5 overall record and 5-2 league mark. The victory snapped a two-game losing streak.

Fitzpatrick passed to Brian Lee for a five-yard touchdown and ran nine yards for another score in the first quarter. He added a six-yard TD run in the second quarter to give South a 21-7 halftime lead and added scoring runs of eight and 20 yards in the second half.

All of Fitzpatrick’s scoring runs came on option plays.

North (2-8, 2-5) scored its only touchdown on a 67-yard pass from Brian Jurado to Eric Hansen in the first quarter. Hansen finished with five catches, giving him 85 on the season and ranking him eighth on the all-time Southern Section list.

West Torrance 15, Culver City 14--The Warriors, who took a 15-0 lead into the fourth quarter at Culver City, had to stop a two-point conversion with 1:47 left to register their ninth straight win and finish as undefeated Ocean League champions.

An 18-yard touchdown pass from Culver City quarterback Troy Dunlap to Dameron Rickets pulled the Centaurs within one, but Dunlap couldn’t find an open receiver on the two-point try and was tackled by linebacker Jae Kim.

West (9-1 overall, 7-0 in league play) was led by quarterback John Walsh, who completed 15 of 22 passes for 169 yards and hit wide receiver Ryan Berry with an 11-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter.

The Warriors’ other points came on field goals of 28, 30 and 30 yards by Tom Dallen.

Culver City (5-4-1, 2-4-1), which was 0-4-1 in its last five games, came back behind the play of Dunlap, who had an interception and two TD throws in the fourth quarter.