San Pedro Overpowers Franklin to Set Up Rematch With Crenshaw

Take San Pedro High out of the tough Southern Pacific Conference and the Pirates are a difficult football team to beat.

San Pedro continued its nonconference success Wednesday night, defeating Franklin, 27-0, in a City Section 3-A Division quarterfinal playoff game at Poly High in Sun Valley.

The Pirates (8-4), whose only losses came in conference play, will play Crenshaw in the semifinals Dec. 6. Crenshaw, which defeated Reseda on Wednesday night, 12-0, had defeated San Pedro for the Southern League title two weeks ago.

“The Southern Pacific Conference is not too bad a conference, but I don’t care who we’re playing as long as we’re winning,” San Pedro Coach Mike Walsh said. “We’re glad to be where we are.”

Fourth-seeded San Pedro, the Southern League’s second-place representative, held 12th-seeded Franklin (7-5) to 64 yards rushing and 164 yards overall.

The Pirates led, 14-0, at halftime and broke the game open in the third quarter on Ambrose Russo’s 78-yard touchdown run.

Russo, who broke out of the grasp of Leo Diaz and Marco Garcia at midfield on the play, finished with a game-high 171 yards in 16 carries. San Pedro rushed for 320 yards and finished with 402 yards overall.

Bryant Thomas scored on a 37-yard run in the fourth quarter to complete the Pirates’ scoring.

San Pedro dominated Franklin in the first half, limiting the Panthers to eight yards rushing and 57 yards overall.

The Pirates sacked Franklin quarterback Julio Merino three times in the first half and forced him to fumble in the first quarter. San Pedro’s Mike Coppola picked up the loose ball at the Panther 25 and rumbled 16 yards to the nine.

Franklin stopped Jeff Williams for a two-yard loss to the 11, but on third and goal, Rino Marconi found Coppola open in the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown pass. George Ortiz added the kick, and the Pirates led, 7-0, with 4:39 remaining in the first quarter.

San Pedro scored on its next possession as well. Coppola caught a 46-yard pass from Marconi to move the ball to the Franklin five. Three plays later, Marconi sneaked the ball over from the one for a touchdown.