PREP FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT : FACTS, FIGURES AND COMMENTS FROM LAST WEEK’S GAMES : CARRYING ON

For Leuzinger, Friday night’s 20-6 loss to Orange County powerhouse Anaheim Esperanza was an exercise in emotional strength.

Marvin Chincilla, a senior defensive end for the Olympians, died Tuesday after being shot Sept. 18, Coach Fred Boehm said. Leuzinger’s practices the rest of the week were short and strained, as the players tried to cope with the death of a teammate.

“It got to the point where we didn’t know if we wanted to play the game,” Boehm said. “This kind of stuff (violence) is all around you, and when it hits a kid who is part of a team it really hurts everybody.”

Chincilla was one of two Leuzinger students shot last month. Senior Justin Sagato, a former football player who is academically ineligible this season, was shot twice in the left shoulder by a reputed gang member Sept. 20 at Leuzinger. He is recovering from his wounds.

Despite carrying that emotional baggage, visiting Leuzinger trailed Esperanza by only 14-8 with eight minutes left. The Aztecs (3-1) put the game away when running back Tom Joyner scored his third touchdown of the game on a two-yard run, capping a 12-play, 53-yard drive.

Leuzinger (2-2) missed a chance to take an early lead when it failed to score after driving to the Esperanza four-yard line on the game’s first series.

Boehm said after Chincilla’s funeral Tuesday, he hopes to get things back to normal and prepare for Friday’s game against Morningside.

“These kids are really super,” he said. “They showed a lot of heart the past week.”

GROUND HOGS

Never mind that Peninsula Coach Gary Kimbrell says his team spends a lot of time working on its pass offense in practice.

When it’s game time, Kimbrell thinks a football team needs a forward pass about as much as a fish needs a bicycle, to borrow a line from the rock group U2.

Peninsula attempted five passes Friday night. Four were incomplete and one was intercepted. But what did it matter?

With the offense generating 425 yards rushing in 62 attempts for an average of nearly seven yards a carry, it’s not as if the Panthers (4-0) needed to pass in a 38-21 victory over host North Torrance (1-3).

“They did to us exactly what I would have done to us,” North Coach Tony Uruburu said. “They had a size advantage on us and they just kept pounding and pounding.

“Kimbrell is smart, that’s why he’s won so many games. He takes advantage of what they have, and what they have are big linemen and hard-running running backs.”

Peninsula tailback James Durroh led all rushers with 213 yards in 17 carries, including second-half touchdown runs of 41 and 28 yards to help the Panthers open a 38-14 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

Durroh was one of five Peninsula backs who rushed for more than 35 yards behind a physical line anchored on the right side by 6-foot-7, 285-pound tackle Matt Redman and 6-5, 275-pound guard John Welbourn. Even quarterback Peter Krogh got into the act, rushing for 36 yards and a TD in seven carries.

But Krogh’s 0-for-5 passing effort was a far cry from last week, when he passed for 131 yards and two TDs in a 45-14 victory over Culver City.

“We didn’t throw the ball very well,” Kimbrell said, laughing. “People were starting to worry about me anyway. They thought something was wrong because I threw the ball 11 times last week.”

ALL WET

The Peninsula-North game was delayed for about 20 minutes early in the fourth quarter after the sprinklers went off near the Peninsula sideline. Apparently the timer, which a North assistant said is regulated by the Torrance school district, was not adjusted properly.

So how come the sprinklers didn’t go off on the North side of the field? Hmmm.

When play resumed, North completed a 98-yard scoring drive capped by a five-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Rocky Jackson to slotback Lacy Watkins. The two seniors also teamed up on a 20-yard scoring pass in the first quarter that gave the Saxons a short-lived 7-3 lead.

North used a no-huddle offense for most of the game, but after having some early success passing, Peninsula seemed to adjust defensively.

Jackson passed for 242 yards and the Saxons finished with 314 yards, but nearly two-thirds of that total came after Peninsula had taken a 31-7 lead in the third quarter.

ON A ROLL

How does San Pedro compare to the 1992 Pirate team that won the City Section 3-A Division title?

San Pedro was at least a point better Friday night, rallying for a 21-20 victory over Dorsey in a Southern Pacific Conference opener at Daniels Field. Last season, the teams battled to a 20-20 tie. Since then, San Pedro (4-0) has won 13 games in a row.

Tailback Jeff Williams tied the score with an eight-yard touchdown run with 3 minutes 33 seconds left and Mike DiMassa’s extra point provided the winning margin.

Dorsey (3-1) moved the ball to the San Pedro 45-yard line, but safety Mike Lennox intercepted a pass with 1:24 remaining to secure the victory. The Pirates rallied from a 14-6 halftime deficit.

“I was a little nervous about playing Dorsey, but I knew we were going to come back,” said Williams, who rushed for 122 yards. “We weren’t going to go down.”

San Pedro fullback Lindsey Moore, who rushed for 100 yards, said it a little more emphatically.

“We were hyped up and just did it,” Moore said. “We’re going all the way now. We can’t be stopped.”

Banning will try to end the Pirates’ streak when the teams meet Friday night at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

GLAD IT’S OVER

Mary Star Coach Mike Marinkovich and his players let out a mammoth-sized sigh of relief Friday after ending a 19-game losing streak by beating host Pius X of Downey, 14-6, in a Camino Real League opener.

“We’ve been playing well,” said Marinkovich, whose team had not won since beating St. Monica in the third game of the 1991 season. “We’ve just been making mistakes at the crucial points of the game.”

Not on this night. After scoring their first touchdown, the Stars (1-3) nearly botched the extra-point attempt. But holder Iggy Galaz took a high snap and ran into the end zone for two points.

“When things start happening like that, and the kids are fighting so much, you start to think that the game might go your way,” Marinkovich said.

Mary Star controlled the ball throughout the game, with running backs Danny Pulu and Phillip Trutanich combining for 138 yards rushing. Pulu scored two TDs.

MR. RELIABLE

Redondo lost its tailback this week, but the Sea Hawks proved they still have one of the South Bay’s best running backs.

Senior Bob Cracknell rushed for 216 yards and three touchdowns in 13 carries to help Redondo beat Inglewood, 40-9, at Coleman Stadium and get its first victory in four games. Cracknell’s longest scoring run was a 77-yarder on a quick trap 36 seconds into the game.

“Cracknell ran hard, he made people bounce off of him,” Inglewood Coach Angelo Jackson said. “He doesn’t go down on first contact. He’s more physical than we thought.”

Redondo, which rushed for 312 yards, didn’t miss a beat without tailback Nigel Greer, a senior who transferred to Masada after being removed from Redondo on Monday because of his involvement in an on-campus fight.

THREE’S COMPANY

With Redondo and Mary Star getting their first victories of the season, only three area teams remain winless--Gardena (0-4), Bishop Montgomery (0-4) and Morningside (0-3).

The good news for Bishop Montgomery is that it finally scored after being shut out in its first three games. The Knights lost to Littlerock, 21-14.

Meanwhile, Gardena ran into a one-man block party Friday in a 20-6 loss to Crenshaw. The Cougars’ Dennis Fomond blocked a field-goal attempt and returned it 84 yards for a touchdown, and he blocked a punt and recovered it at the Gardena one-yard line to set up a TD.

EARNING A SHOT

Carson, which averaged only 66 yards rushing in its first three games, got a boost Thursday from running back Robert Johnson in a 34-8 victory over Washington. The senior rushed for 41 yards and two touchdowns in 10 carries, all in the second half, as the Colts gained 107 yards on the ground.

Johnson had carried the ball only seven times for 11 yards in the first three games.

“Early in the season, he needed to do several things to be more productive,” Carson Coach David Williams said. “He had a tendency to go outside, to shy away from where the play was designed. He also had a tendency to fumble.

“He rededicated himself to (correcting) some of those things. Consequently, when he had his shot, he came through.”

SECONDARY ITEMS

* Banning defensive backs Eric Whitfield and Ramiro Morales each returned an interception for a touchdown in a 39-12 victory over Narbonne. Morales scored on an 11-yard return on the first play from scrimmage, and Whitfield, who intercepted two passes, had a 25-yard scoring return.

* West Torrance defensive back Mike Chavez had two interceptions and blocked a punt and returned it 11 yards for a touchdown in a 20-7 victory over Beverly Hills.

* Hawthorne cornerback Kelvin Hunter had two interceptions and deflected a pass that led to an interception by safety Omarr Morgan in a 31-21 victory over Culver City.

* San Pedro defensive backs Willie Birl and Bryan Castaneda combined for 20 tackles, 13 unassisted, in a 21-20 victory over Dorsey. Castaneda also broke up a two-point conversion attempt.

IN QUOTES

* Torrance Coach Bill Bynum after quarterback Tony Brown passed for 260 yards in a 26-9 loss to Mira Costa, dropping the Tartars to 2-2: “The only stat that counts is the one that’s on the scoreboard. We’re still a .500 team.”

Hawthorne quarterback Kenji Tatum after the Cougars struggled to a 31-21 victory over Culver City: “We had a bad week of practice and it showed in the game. Maybe it’s good that we had a game like this now because it will help us prepare for league.”

North Coach Tony Uruburu, explaining why he used a no-huddle pass offense in a 38-21 loss to Peninsula: “We just couldn’t line up and play smash-mouth football with them.”

INJURIES

* West quarterback Kirk Bolling suffered a shoulder injury in the first quarter against Beverly Hills and did not return. He is questionable for Friday’s game against Culver City.