PREP FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT : Facts, Figures and Comments From Last Week’s Games

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After a poor week of practice, South Torrance came out and played “horrendously” Friday night at Mira Costa, Coach Don Morrow said. The Spartans fumbled the opening kickoff out of bounds on their one-yard line, and things had not improved much by the fourth quarter as Mira Costa took a 17-3 lead.

“We were dead,” South tailback Ryan Brady said. “Then we fired up.”

Brady helped revive the Spartans, scoring two touchdowns in the final 3 minutes 1 second to turn what appeared to be a sure defeat into an 18-17 victory. Brady’s 10-yard touchdown run on a draw play and a two-point conversion run by quarterback Alan Hook with 1:35 left provided the winning points.

The last scoring drive was set up after South’s Doug Dossey recovered an onside kick at the Mira Costa 39. Prior to the kickoff, Hook and Brady hooked up for a 19-yard scoring pass on fourth and 10 to pull the Spartans within 17-10.

“We were never going to give up,” Brady said. “That’s the way we are.”

A disappointed Bill Lysle, the Mira Costa coach, gave credit to South for coming back after Mira Costa seemingly was in command after scoring two touchdowns in the third quarter.

“I know Donny Morrow, and that doesn’t surprise me one bit,” Lysle said. “He’s a class act, he runs a class program and there was never a doubt in my mind that his kids wouldn’t be fighting right up until the end.

“I’m not going to say the better team won, but it just so happens tonight, they won.”

Mira Costa’s offense lost its main threat early in the fourth quarter when running back Miguel Garcia was sidelined because of an ankle injury. Garcia led all rushers with 108 yards in 19 carries.

“When Miguel went out we didn’t have a running game,” Lysle said.

SHOT IN THE ARM

Morrow said he didn’t have much confidence in South’s ability to come back because of its woeful passing attack. Hook completed only one of three passes last week against Bellflower and he was zero for nine with an interception midway through the fourth quarter Friday.

“We were thinking, ‘If we have to throw to win, we have no chance,’ ” Morrow said. “And then (Hook) starts putting the ball on the money. He’s a gutty kid.”

After his inauspicious start, Hook completed seven of 11 passes for 103 yards in the final 4:39. The most successful play was a crossing pattern to Brady that resulted in South’s first touchdown and a 24-yard completion to the Mira Costa 15 that set up the winning touchdown and two-point conversion.

“I just faked (running to the) flat and came right across the field underneath the (line)backers,” Brady said. “It was there.”

Lysle said Mira Costa should have defended the play better.

“Somebody should have been on (Brady),” he said. “One of my inside linebackers should have had him man-for-man.”

RUNNING WILD

Bishop Montgomery tailback Koury Clark and the Knight offensive line proved too much for North Torrance in a 36-24 victory. Clark, a senior transfer from Carlsbad who did not play football last season, rushed for 308 yards and two touchdowns in 27 carries and the Knights finished with 390 yards rushing.

Coach Steve Carroll said Clark’s rushing total could be a school record.

“We physically dominated them,” Carroll said. “There’s no other way to put it.”

Carroll said guards Matte Zovich (6-foot-4, 270 pounds) and Jai Choi (6-0, 235) were standouts in the offensive line.

RISING STAR

Banning Coach Joe Dominguez says his team has no stars, but senior running back/defensive back Shayzar Hawkins had the look of one Friday night.

Hawkins was a catalyst in the Pilots’ 34-6 victory over Long Beach Poly at Veterans Stadium, rushing for 117 yards and two touchowns, returning a fumble for a touchdown and intercepting a pass. His 77-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter was Banning’s final score.

“That one really put the game away,” Hawkins said. “It feels good because (Poly) beat us last year, so we came to play.”

PUNTING WOES

A breakdown in the punting game contributed to Carson’s 30-18 loss to San Diego Morse at Mesa College.

Of the Colts’ three punts, two were blocked and led to Morse touchdowns and a third was returned 67 yards for a touchdown by Gary Taylor, whose running style reminds some of another former San Diego prep standout--Marcus Allen.

Carson outgained Morse in total yards, 262-145, but the Colts dug a hole for themselves by falling behind 30-12 in the first half. Morse gained 137 yards in the first quarter, but only had eight the rest of the game.

GETTING DEFENSIVE

* The San Pedro defense was all over North Hollywood in a 41-0 victory at Daniels Field. The Pirates allowed only 22 total yards--14 yards rushing in 29 carries and eight passing yards. Junior linebacker Larry Cannon led the way with four sacks, five unassisted tackles and 10 assists.

* After giving up 45 points last week against Carson, Leuzinger buckled down and got its first victory for Coach Tom Jessee with a 7-0 shutout over host Paramount. The Olympians had a goal-line stand and stopped another drive with an interception by Jamal Dismuke.

* Although it was in a losing effort, Carson defensive back Dion Brumfield had a big night against San Diego Morse with an interception and 15 tackles, including two for losses.

* Torrance linebacker Jay Silverman returned an interception 90 yards for a touchdown to give the Tartars a 21-0 lead in the second quarter against Verbum Dei en route to a 28-8 victory.

LINEMAN’S DREAM

Torrance offensive lineman Eric Felis scored a touchdown in the second quarter against Verbum Dei by recovering a fumble by teammate Scott Hagerman in the end zone.

LAND HAWKS

Redondo, which passed effectively last week in beating Mary Star, stuck mostly to the running game Friday night in a surprisingly easy 41-17 victory over host West Torrance.

Three Sea Hawks rushed for more than 50 yards--John Hogrelius (11 carries, 77 yards), Scott Moore (10 carries, 66 yards, one touchdown) and Chris Curtis (12 carries, 52 yards, three touchdowns).

“We needed to run the ball,” Coach Chris Hyduke said. “We focused on the running. We know we can throw. We wanted to see different running backs in different situations.”

GROUNDED

The run proved mightier than the pass in Gardena’s 34-20 loss to Taft of Woodland Hills. Gardena quarterback Larry Roberts completed 12 of 18 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns, but the Mohicans couldn’t stop the punishing ground game of Taft, which attempted only three passes.

“We’re not big enough to play smash-mouth football,” said Gardena Coach Mike Sakurai, whose team slipped to 1-1. “We found our linemen can’t play both ways. They get too tired.

“It’s a shame we throw for 235 yards and can’t stop (Taft).”

TALENT SEARCH

After two games, Peninsula is still looking for a No. 1 quarterback. Juniors Scott Gordon and Matt Cheeseman split time at the position in the Panthers’ 19-18 victory over Culver City, but neither was particularly impressive.

“We have to come to grips with the quarterback situation,” Coach Gary Kimbrell said. “We fumbled the quarterback-center exchange four times last week (against Millikan), and we did it two or three times this week.”

PASSING GRADE

After two weeks of the season, North junior Frank Ramirez leads the South Bay with 607 yards passing. The quarterback completed 19 of 41 attempts for 325 yards and three touchdowns Friday night in a losing effort against Bishop Montgomery. Ramirez’s passing late in the game helped the Saxons rally within 30-24 before falling, 36-24.

RUNNING WILD, PART II

El Segundo running backs Chris Feeny and Jim Hurley combined for 317 yards rushing in 32 carries in a 31-13 victory over visiting Laguna Beach. Feeny, who gained 160 yards in only 14 carries, scored on runs of 10 and 55 yards as the Eagles evened their record at 1-1.

STREAKS

* Narbonne fell to Westchester, 22-20, extending its losing streak to 19 games. The Gauchos have lost 42 of 43 games.

* San Diego Morse beat Carson, 30-18, to snap the Colts’ 11-game winning streak.

* Bishop Montgomery beat North Torrance, 36-24, to open the season 2-0 for the first time since 1987, according to Coach Steve Carroll.

IN QUOTES

Banning Coach Joe Dominguez after his team’s 34-6 victory over Long Beach Poly: “I don’t know if a great, great player has emerged from our team yet. I’m not sure if we have any All-Americans yet. But as a team, we have showed some greatness.”

West Torrance Coach Kerry Crabb on his team’s 41-17 loss to Redondo: “Our preparation was poor. I did a terrible job as a head coach.”

Mira Costa Coach Bill Lysle on why he decided to attempt a 47-yard field with 37 seconds left in an 18-17 loss to South Torrance rather than try for a first down on fourth and three from the 30: “I can’t even answer that . . . We were out of timeouts and things were happening so fast. I don’t know.”

South Coach Don Morrow on quarterback Alan Hook, who completed seven of his last 11 passes after starting the game zero for nine: “I think he has enough confidence in himself that he hung in there until he got his rhythm going. Sometimes when a quarterback gets in a rhythm like that, he gets real hot, especially in a two-minute drill.”

Serra Coach Jon Dimalante on twin brothers Corey and Chris Long, who played big roles in the Cavaliers’ 60-25 victory over Bloomington: “The Long brothers are as good a pair of linebackers in high school as I’ve seen.”

Hawthorne Coach Dan Robbins on his team shutting out Santa Ana in the second half of a 21-14 victory despite the fact Santa Ana drove into Cougar territory four times: “Our defense gave up some big plays, but pulled together when we really needed it.”

INJURIES

* Mira Costa running back Miguel Garcia suffered an ankle injury early in the fourth quarter against South Torrance and sat out the rest of the game.

* North Torrance was missing several starters against Bishop Montgomery because of injuries, including top cornerback Larry Lopez (spinal contusion) and leading wide receiver Matt Aleman (hairline fracture of the arm).