FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS : Garfield Bulldogs Put Bite on Marshall

Three area teams survived the second round of the City and Southern Section playoffs this past week and will advance to the semifinals Friday and Saturday.

Garfield was the only area team from the City Section to advance and will play Friday at Sylmar. The Bulldogs beat Marshall, 17-7, in a 4-A Division quarterfinal game.

In the Southern Section, Bell Gardens will play Camarillo, a 19-0 winner over Baldwin Park, and Loyola will play Fontana. Both games will be played Saturday.

Eight other local teams were eliminated.

In Friday’s Southern Section games:

Bell Gardens 23, Peninsula 6--Quarterback Ricky Oropeza turned in a big play on defense to help lift Bell Gardens to victory in the second round of the Division III playoffs at Redondo High Friday.

Playing safety, Oropeza intercepted a pass from Peninsula quarterback Scott Gordon and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown with 6:27 to play. At quarterback, Oropeza was sacked four times, rushed 17 times for just 23 yards and completed three of five passes for 45 yards.

Bell Gardens finished with 253 yards in total offense, including 208 on the ground. The rushing attack was led by Francisco Samano, who had 113 yards on 17 carries and a touchdown.

Big Bear 35, Salesian 3--Salesian’s defense could not stop a strong rushing attack by Big Bear running back Aaron Craft and suffered a season-ending loss in the Division X playoffs at Roosevelt High School.

Craft rushed for 179 yards in 19 carries and scored three touchdowns for the Bears. The Mustangs also hurt themselves with costly turnovers and penalties and never mounted any serious offensive threat.

The Mustangs’ only touchdown opportunity came in the second half when wide receiver Willie Rocha caught a 25-yard pass from quarterback Jeff Martinez, but had the ball stripped from his arms by Bear defensive back John Wilson at the Big Bear 14-yard line. Jose Preza’s field goal with 14 seconds left in the first half turned out to be Salesian’s only score.

Salesian quarterback Jeff Martinez completed six of 12 passes for 60 yards. Mustang running back Mike Barragan had 53 yards in 10 carries.

In Wednesday’s City Section quarterfinal games:

Garfield 17, Marshall 7--Junior running back Armando Figueroa rushed for 142 yards in 28 carries to lead Garfield in a 4-A Division game at Wilson High School.

Ernie Manzo, who rushed for 58 yards in 12 carries, scored on a 17-yard run three plays into the game, and quarterback David Villalobos hit wide receiver George Contreras on a one-yard pass late in the fourth quarter to seal the win.

Marshall quarterback Shane Gerard was held to seven of 21 passing for 68 yards and three interceptions, but he did score the Barristers’ only touchdown on a one-yard run on the second play of the fourth quarter.

Carson 27, Jefferson 7--Receiver Melvin Wilson caught a 26-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Marcus Johnson, but Jefferson came up short in a 4-A Division game at Carson.

Johnson completed seven of 26 passes for 73 yards with three interceptions. Carson limited Jefferson to 17 total yards.

Van Nuys 36, Locke 30--Van Nuys running back Bill Calhoun scored on a one-yard touchdown as time expired to lift the Wolves to a dramatic victory over Locke in a 4-A Division game at Huntington Park High.

Calhoun took a handoff from quarterback John Peterson with four seconds to play and leaped high over the middle of the defense for his third one-yard touchdown run of the game.

Locke quarterback Akili Roberson passed for 166 yards and two touchdowns with three interceptions. His fumble with 1:30 left set up Van Nuys’ final scoring drive.

Saint receiver Brian Clark had five catches for 133 yards and two touchdowns.

Sylmar 28, Crenshaw 2--Quarterback Eric Scott provided what little offense Crenshaw had, rushing 13 times for 21 yards and completing seven of 19 passes for 55 yards in a 4-A Division game.

Sylmar scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, two on runs by Ibn(cq) Bilal, to break open the game.

Palisades 6, South Gate 3--South Gate’s season ended when Palisades quarterback Chris Kasteler hit Ray Abdelkader for a 41-yard touchdown pass with 3:12 remaining in a 3-A Division game.

On fourth down and 17 yards to go, Abdelkader ran down the right sideline and Kasteler passed into double coverage. Kasteler completed 10 of 25 passes for 131 yards with one interception. Felipe Escartin kicked a 27-yard field goal to put South Gate ahead, 3-0, with 10:42 remaining.

Chatsworth 31, Bell 6--William Mendez had 12 carries for 82 yards as top-seeded Bell was eliminated in a 3-A Division game.

The game was called because of violence between plays with 6:06 remaining in the fourth quarter. Officials halted the game early when the teams brawled after Chatsworth’s Robert Webb was kicked in the groin as he lay on the field after a play.

Taft 26, Fremont 14--Quarterback William Yates threw two touchdown passes to spot Fremont a 14-0 lead, but the Pathfinders could not protect their lead in a 3-A Division game.

Yates threw a 28-yard pass to Kory Jones for a 7-0 lead, then hit Jones on a 46-yard bomb to set up the second touchdown, a five-yard pass from Yates to Romell Knutt.

Yates completed 13 of 24 passes for 202 yards.