Serra Routs Verbum Dei, 54-14; Game Is Stopped After Brawl

The sun blazed down, the tempers flared and the fists eventually flew. And the air raid siren at Serra High--which sounds every time the Cavaliers score a touchdown--went off eight times.

It made for a wild Indian summer Saturday afternoon at Serra.

Serra stayed unbeaten in 22 games by hammering visiting Verbum Dei, 54-14.

But the game between the long-time Camino Real League rivals was called with 2:46 left after both benches emptied in a brawl that required referees, coaching staffs and Gardena police to break up.

The fight, the second of the game, broke out after Verbum Dei’s Charles Barnes was bounced out of bounds by safety Dwon Knighten on the Serra sideline.

“It’s too bad that (the brawl) happened,” Serra Coach Leo Hand said. “It wasn’t necessary. But there were a lot of things combined. This is a very intense rivalry, plus there was the disparity in the score and the heat.”

Brawl or not, Verbum Dei (3-7 overall, 3-2 in league) couldn’t knock Serra

out of first place in the Camino Real League finale. The Cavaliers (8-0, 5-0) will be the league’s No. 1 seed into the Division VII playoffs, which begin Friday. Serra will probably be the top-seeded team in the division.

Serra, the division’s defending champion, won with its punishing running game. Serra running back Jerald Henry--the South Bay’s leading scorer with 148 points--ran for 84 yards and a touchdown.

Backfield mate Louis Williams only carried five times, but he gained 90 yards and scored twice. Fullback Corey Jones (64 yards) scored Serra’s last three touchdowns and quarterback Alex Marcelin ran for a score and threw for another to flanker Clayton Cutrer.

The Cavaliers rolled up 317 yards on the ground and held Verbum Dei to only 19 yards of rushing.

“I was very pleased with the defense,” Hand said. “We’ve got to do something about the penalties, though.”

Verbum Dei’s second touchdown was aided by three Serra penalties. The score came on a two-yard pass from Gary Parks to Telly Moore.

Verbum Dei tailback Damian Scroggins ran 67 yards for a touchdown on the second play of the game and the Eagles added a two-point conversion, and held a short-lived 8-0 lead.

Scroggins was ejected after the first scuffle, which occured with 8:58 left in the game.