Carson’s Crusade Continues vs. Granada Hills

This is an emotional time for wide receiver Latario Rachal of Carson High, which takes on Granada Hills at 7:30 Friday night in an L.A. City 4-A Division semifinal at Long Beach Veterans Stadium.

Rachal is still excited about his five-touchdown performance in a 54-0 quarterfinal victory over El Camino Real on Friday. And he, like all the Colts, is caught up in a crusade to send retiring Coach Gene Vollnogle out a winner.

“There is a lot of pressure on us to bring (Vollnogle) a championship in his last season,” said Rachal, who has a school-record 23 career touchdown receptions. “It’s not only that we want to do it for him, but we’ve had a lot of the older guys who used to play here talking to us.

“They’re saying, ‘You’ve got to send him out on top.’ We feel like we can’t let him down.”

Rachal said that the Carson (10-1) offense matches up well with the tough Granada Hills (10-1) defense.

“Their guys up front and in the middle are strong--maybe the best we’ve played--but we’re not that impressed with their cornerbacks,” said Rachal, who set a preseason goal of 1,000 yards and surpassed that mark last week. “We think we can get deep on them.”

Rachal burned the El Camino Real defense for three scoring receptions and he also returned a punt and a kickoff for touchdowns.

“It was a thrill, something that doesn’t happen very often,” Rachal said. “I wasn’t expecting all that, especially since I had only returned about three punts and three kickoffs all season.”

Granada Hills Coach Darryl Stroh’s offense is led by running back Brett Washington (1,550 yards, 23 touchdowns) and quarterback Bryan Martin (1,710 yards, 19 touchdowns). Stroh said safety Derrick Stewart and linebacker Curt Hulshizer are his top defensive players.

In the other City 4-A semifinal, Friday night at Gardena High, Banning (8-3) will meet Dorsey (9-2), a team the Pilots beat, 21-0, in the regular season.

Conventional wisdom says that when teams meet for the second time in a season, the team that lost the first game has the advantage of additional motivation. But Banning Coach Joe Dominguez doesn’t totally subscribe to that thinking.

“The fact that is a playoff game will have both teams pumped up,” Dominguez said. “We both have the incentive to get to the City championship, although they very well may try to use that loss to create even more motivation.

“They can say, ‘We know Banning and how they play now.’ But it all comes down to who blocks and tackles better.”

The game features two of the City’s most versatile players.

Banning has Travis Davis, a 1,600-yard rusher who is also a top defensive back who had two interceptions last week.

Dorsey has Lamont Warren, the 1989 City 4-A Player of the Year at running back who is now the Dons’ quarterback.

In a regular-season loss to Carson Nov. 9, Dorsey’s regular quarterback, Ronald Peebles, injured a thumb on his right (throwing) hand and was lost for the season, forcing Warren to switch positions. Ironically, the change has seemed to spark the Dons’ offense, which was struggling as Warren’s play at tailback was hampered because of a sore ankle.