Banning Back on Track, so Carson Rivalry Resumes Being City’s Best

When Los Angeles high school football rivalries are rated, Carson versus Wilmington Banning normally is at the top.

For years, this matchup between the neighboring South Bay schools gained notice nationally as well as locally because both teams had been consistent winners. Blue-chip players on both teams traditionally played, and often for a City championship. Seventeen City titles have been won by those schools.

In recent years, however, Carson has become the dominant team, and the rivalry has lost some of its edge. The Colts have won the schools’ past five meetings and have a 20-16 lead in the series. In their past two games, Carson has outscored Banning, 96-7.

This season, even the element of anticipation is gone. The Carson-Banning game, normally played late in the season, is scheduled Friday night at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

“Everyone knew that this game was coming up early this season,” Banning Coach Joe Dominguez said. “Maybe people are tired of hearing about the rivalry and we may not get 20,000 people at the game, but to the players it is still the big game. To them, it may be their first time playing in a Banning-Carson game.

”. . . There is not a league title or City championship at stake, but they could play this game in July and both communities will show up. The kids will be just as excited because they all live in the same neighborhood, went to the same junior high school and use the same shopping malls.”

Carson and Banning are meeting so early in the season because of the City’s rotating schedule.

“By rules, all (league) games are rotated every season,” said Lee Joseph, City Interscholastic Athletics Specialist. “Occasionally, leagues will move a big rivalry game to the end of the season because it is a big draw. They decide that they will have the game late instead of early in the season.”

With Dorsey, the defending City Division 4-A champion, emerging as Carson’s main opponent, however, the Pacific League decided to play all games according to the rotation. Dorsey will travel to play its neighborhood rival, Crenshaw, Friday afternoon.

Friday’s Carson-Banning matchup may be the most interesting in years. Carson (3-1) will not be at full strength, because quarterback John Walsh went down with an ankle injury in last Friday’s 56-0 victory over Gardena. Walsh, a transfer from West Torrance, had completed 13 of 18 passes for 222 yards and four touchdowns before leaving.

“He stepped backwards and stepped on someone else’s foot,” Carson Coach Gene Vollnogle said.

Walsh has completed 68 of 114 passes for 1,278 yards and 12 touchdowns in four games.

Tarriel Hopper, a two-year starter at safety and regarded as one of the top defensive backs in the area, will replace Walsh at quarterback. Hopper, whose brother Darrell played at USC and now is in the Canadian Football League, has completed three of five passes for 12 yards in limited time this season.

Carson, which entered the season as a favorite to reach the City 4-A final for the 10th consecutive year, will have to stop a revived Banning team.

After opening last season with a 6-0-1 record, Banning lost its last four games, one of them a playoff tiebreaker against Crenshaw, and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1974. Banning then opened this season with one-point losses to Long Beach Poly and Pasadena Muir.

But Banning, which last won a City title in 1985, has bounced back. The Pilots beat Woodland Hills Taft and San Pedro and are 2-2. Quarterback Anthony Nicholson rushed for 141 yards and two touchdowns against Gardena, and tailback Travis Davis has rushed for 311 yards the past two weeks, so Banning feels it is geared for an upset.

“We are where we want to be going into this game,” Dominguez said. “Last season we were undefeated for most of the early season, but I’d rather be with this team with an 0-2 record than with that one. (This) team’s overall personality is so different from last year’s. They have more fire, intensity and determination because they know what it is like to lose a couple of games.”

With Banning back on the winning track, Dominguez said that he never gave in to the notion that the Pilots’ program had gone bad.

“We knew that we’d get it going here,” he said. “The coaching staff had the kids playing too tight. We had to give them more freedom to be aggressive and make the plays. Maybe it is our turn now to end (Carson’s winning) streak.”

In the Southern Section, two Citrus Belt League teams are on a collision course, and their game Nov. 9 may well yield the best Division I team in the regular season.

Perennial power Fontana, the defending Division I champion, is undefeated in five games and has won 19 consecutive games. The biggest threat to end the Steelers’ streak is league rival Rialto Eisenhower, which also is 5-0. League play will begin this weekend.

Even though Fontana has struggled at times, the Steelers are still regarded as the Southland’s best team after defeating San Bernardino Cajon last Friday, 35-0. Eisenhower routed Troy, 28-0.

Last season, Eisenhower finished 6-6 but defeated La Puente Bishop Amat in the first round of the playoffs, 13-11. Already the Eagles, who are ranked sixth in the Times’ Southern Section poll, have defeated Long Beach Poly, Hawthorne and Carson.

“We knew that we’d be pretty good this season, so I’m not surprised by our early success,” Eisenhower Coach Tom Hoak said. “We have the potential to be very good, but we have a lot to improve on.”

Eisenhower and Fontana are expected to be undefeated for their showdown.

“In the past, everyone in this league had to play well every week because every team was good,” Hoak said. “However, in comparative scores, the league is not as strong as (in) years past, but it is still hard to tell. I know that fans and support groups are pointing to the (Fontana) game, but we can’t be too preoccupied with it. We all know that Fontana is as good as anyone in the state.”

Prep Notes

Lamont Warren, Dorsey’s standout tailback, missed his second consecutive game with an ankle injury as the Dons defeated Washington, 34-8. . . . El Toro (5-0) and Capistrano Valley (5-0) play Friday night at Mission Viejo High in a battle between the top rated teams in Orange County.

TIMES’ TOP TEAMS

Southern Section

No. School, League/Division, Record

1. Fontana, Citrus Belt/Div. I, 5-0-0

2. CC Canyon, Golden/Div. I, 5-0-0

3. El Toro, South Coast/Div. II, 5-0-0

4. Bishop Amat, Angelus/Div. I, 4-1-0

5. Loyola, Angelus/Div. I, 5-0-0

6. Eisenhower, Citrus Belt/Div. I, 5-0-0

7. Paramount, San Gab. Valley/Div. III, 5-0-0

8. Capistrano Valley, So. Coast/Div. II, 5-0-0

9. Lompoc, Northern/Div. VII, 5-0-0

10. Westlake, Marmonte/Div. II, 5-0-0

11. Canyon Springs, Ivy/Div. IV, 5-0-0

12. Tustin, Sea View/Div. VI, 5-0-0

13. Hawthorne, Bay/Div. II, 4-1-0

14. Edison, Sunset/Div. I, 4-1-0

15. Esperanza, Empire/Div. III, 5-0-0

City

No. School, League/Division, Record

1. Dorsey, Pacific/4-A, 4-0-0

2. Carson, Pacific/4-A, 3-1-0

3. Granada Hills, West Valley/4-A, 3-1-0

4. Banning, Pacific/4-A, 2-2-0

5. Kennedy, North Valley/4-A, 3-1-0

6. San Fernando, North Valley/4-A, 3-1-0

7. Wilson, Northeastern/3-A, 4-0-0

8. Garfield, Eastern/3-A, 4-0-0

9. Locke, Central/3-A, 3-1-0

10. Taft, West Valley/4-A, 2-1-0