PREP FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT / FACTS, FIGURES AND COMMENTS FROM LAST WEEK’S GAMES

FIGHTING WORDS

As a first-year coach, David Williams of Carson is bound to make mistakes. But you had to wonder what Williams was thinking when he questioned San Pedro’s toughness in a Times article this week.

Feeding your opponent bulletin-board fodder isn’t the smartest thing, and San Pedro made Williams eat his words Friday night by beating the Colts, 10-7, at Gardena High. It was the Pirates’ first victory over Carson since 1968, breaking a 19-game losing streak to the Colts, who lead the series, 20-2-1.

Williams was quoted in a Times article Friday saying, “(San Pedro) hasn’t played the level of competition that we have played. It remains to be seen whether they’re ready for a tough, physical game, which we plan to bring.”

San Pedro Coach Mike Walsh said he read the quote to his team at their lunchtime meeting Friday. Safety Willie Birl, who led the Pirates with eight tackles, said he took offense to Williams’ comments.

“What they said about us made us work even harder,” Birl said. “They thought we were little girls or something. We showed them.”

Said Walsh: “I don’t know where (Williams) came up with toughness. I don’t know how much film he has watched, but if you’ve watched any of our games, we’ve definitely been tough all year. (Carson has) a little bit more skill, but we have some tough kids.”

The victory gave San Pedro the best record in the Southern Pacific Conference at 6-1, a nice accomplishment considering that the Southern League champion Pirates (9-1 overall) are a City Section 3-A Division team and the four teams in the Pacific League--Carson, Banning, Dorsey and Crenshaw--are 4-A schools.

San Pedro’s only loss was to Banning, a game in which starting quarterback Chris Pappas sat out because of a knee injury. After Friday, the Pirates are 16-0 in games Pappas has started. He was steady against Carson, completing 10 of 18 attempts for 106 yards and, perhaps most importantly, had no passes intercepted.

Carson (6-4, 5-2) committed four turnovers, including three interceptions thrown by quarterbacks Ramon Rogers and Steve Faupusa. Williams blamed the mistakes for the loss.

“That made all the difference,” he said. “We defensed them pretty well otherwise.”

SOWING SEEDS

As expected, defending champion San Pedro was seeded No. 1 in the 3-A Division playoffs when the pairings were announced Saturday. The Pirates will play host to Chatsworth in a first-round game Friday.

Carson, the Pacific League champion, was seeded fourth in the 4-A playoffs and will play host to the winner of Monday’s tie-breaker between Kennedy and El Camino Real.

The three teams that tied for second in the Pacific League--Banning, Dorsey and Crenshaw--also earned spots in the 4-A bracket. Banning will travel to Garfield in a rematch of last year’s playoff opener won by Garfield, 7-6. If Carson and Banning win, they will meet in the second round.

The top-seeded teams in the 4-A playoffs are, in order, defending champion Sylmar, Taft and Belmont.

TURF CURSE

Don’t expect Banning to schedule any more home games at Daniels Field. The San Pedro facility has not been kind to the Pilots, who were upset by Crenshaw, 9-6, Thursday night at Daniels Field after losing there earlier in the season to Washington, 7-6, also on a Thursday night.

Both upsets came after impressive victories over San Pedro, 17-0, and Dorsey, 33-0.

“We played one of those bad games, just like against Washington,” Banning Coach Ed Paculba said of the loss to Crenshaw. “Maybe we were overconfident.”

Paculba is 0-3 in games at Daniels Field, having also lost there last season to San Pedro, which uses Daniels as its home field. Banning scheduled two home games at Daniels this season because its own field, which has stands on only one side, has inadequate seating, and the fee to rent Daniels ($125) is considerably cheaper than other facilities in the area.

But even a bargain no longer looks good to Paculba.

“We’re not going to schedule any more home games there,” he said.

PLAYOFF WISH

After Mira Costa beat visiting Redondo, 10-7, to finish second in the Ocean League, Mustang Coach Don Morrow looked ahead to the Southern Section Division VII playoffs and a possible rematch with the only team that has beaten the Mustangs.

“I think everybody’s wish would be to play Culver City again,” Morrow said.

The Centaurs beat Mira Costa, 21-20, last week and won the Ocean title outright Thursday with a 36-21 victory over Beverly Hills.

Mira Costa (9-1, 3-1 in league) rallied from a 7-0 deficit against Redondo behind tailback Dennis Hughes, a junior subbing for injured starter Ronnie Hand. Hughes had a 66-yard touchdown run on third-and-two in the second quarter and finished with 114 yards in 20 carries.

“All he needs are more reps,” Morrow said of Hughes. “Sometimes he looks for the big run, especially on sweeps. He needs to learn that you are not always going to get 65 yards, that you need to turn it up the field and get five.”

Mira Costa broke a 7-7 tie on Julio Rosales’ 31-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. An offside penalty against Redondo on fourth-and-five at the Sea Hawk 26 prolonged the drive, which started after Mira Costa lineman Tate McCallister recovered a fumble by running back Bob Cracknell at the Redondo 49.

Redondo (4-6, 2-2) finished third to secure the league’s last playoff entry.

GROUNDED

If Redondo wants to make an impact in the playoffs, it will need a more balanced offense than the one it showed Friday.

Cracknell, the area rushing leader, had another strong game, rushing for 158 yards and a touchdown in 33 carries, but quarterback Scott Albin completed only two of nine passes for zero yards.

Redondo Coach Chris Hyduke was disappointed, but looked ahead to the playoffs.

“We should have beaten them,” Hyduke said. “But we’re going to the playoffs. We’ll be a load for somebody.”

Hyduke, who kept sophomore quarterback Doug Francis on the bench even though Albin struggled, said he will evaluate the quarterback situation this week.

HANGING IT UP

Craig Cousins said he will not return as El Segundo’s coach in 1994 after directing the Eagles for the past two seasons.

“I’ll be back, but not as head coach,” Cousins said. “I don’t think of myself as a head coach. I thought we had the best talent in the (Pioneer League). We should have done some things differently, things a real head coach would have done.”

El Segundo (3-7, 1-4) beat Centennial, 28-6, Friday to finish fifth in the six-team league for the second year in a row.

Cousins, whose record was 7-13, said one of the candidates to replace him is Steve Shevlin, the El Segundo defensive coordinator.

OVERDRIVE

For Peninsula, getting to Friday’s game with Inglewood proved more difficult than the actual contest, which the Panthers won, 56-18.

Peninsula Coach Gary Kimbrell said he became worried when no buses had arrived by 1 p.m. to take the team to its afternoon game at Coleman Stadium in Inglewood.

“I called the bus company and they said they weren’t going to be there until 4,” Kimbrell said. “They thought it was a night game.”

At that point, coaches and players loaded up their own vehicles with equipment and drove themselves to the game.

“Luckily some of the kids have vans, and I have a van,” Kimbrell said. “We managed to get all our equipment and close to 60 kids there and back safely.”

Peninsula (9-1, 3-1 in the Bay League) rushed for 373 yards against Inglewood to secure second place in the conference. Hawthorne (9-1, 4-0) won the title outright Thursday with a 21-14 victory over Leuzinger (5-5, 2-2). Had Leuzinger won to force a three-way tie for first, Peninsula would have gone to the Division III playoffs as the No. 3 entry because it lost a coin flip.

Kimbrell said if Peninsula has a first-round home game, it will play at South Torrance. Peninsula cannot play postseason games at home because its field does not have lights.

HOLT’S BOLT

A kickoff return helped Gateway Christian rally from a 20-8 deficit to defeat visiting Christian Center Academy, 42-26, Friday in the first round of the Eight-Man Small Division playoffs.

Gateway assistant Giovani Ponciano said the team had trouble getting its offense untracked early because Christian Center Academy avoided kicking the ball to the Hawks’ dangerous return men, Ben Holt and Eugene Francis.

“They scouted us pretty good,” Ponciano said. “They wouldn’t kick it deep to us.”

But after Christian Center Academy took a 20-8 lead, Gateway coaches told Holt and Francis to move up. Holt fielded the kickoff and returned it 64 yards for a touchdown as time ran out in the second quarter. The Hawks took the lead for good in the third quarter on two touchdown passes by quarterback Marcel Dominguez covering 65 yards to his cousin, wide receiver Alex Dominguez, and 35 yards to Holt, who had three TDs to give him 26 on the season. Holt also intercepted his 10th pass of the year.

Gateway (9-1) will travel to play Lone Pine in a second-round game either Friday or Saturday. Lone Pine advanced with a 32-28 victory over Ambassador Christian.

CRUEL WORLD

Perhaps it was fitting that Gardena’s season ended on a cold afternoon at Washington High in front of empty visitor stands.

With the band and cheering squads already on their way home, Gardena quarterback Dejuan Moore was dropped for an eight-yard loss as time ran out in the Mohicans’ 25-0 loss to Washington. Gardena finished 0-10 and will open the 1994 season with a 19-game losing streak.

First-year Coach Donald Threatt still managed a smile.

“It’s over now,” Threatt said. “I knew we had a long way to go, I just didn’t realize how far. I’m proud of the ones who stuck it out, though. We started with 57 (players) and now we have 33. I just feel bad for the 12th graders. They’re not going to be around for what we’ve begun.”

NOTEWORTHY

* El Segundo lineman Matt Jasik blocked an extra point, his seventh blocked kick of the season, as the Eagles broke a six-game losing streak with a 28-6 Pioneer League victory over Centennial. Eagle safety Zeandre Davis had an interception, his fifth of the year.

* Bishop Montgomery (3-7, 2-3) lost to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, 28-0, to finish fourth in the Mission League and miss the Southern Section playoffs for the 10th consecutive season.

* Hawthorne linebacker Alex Estrada had two interceptions in a 21-14 victory over Leuzinger that avenged last year’s loss to the Olympians and clinched the Bay League title outright for the Cougars.

IN QUOTES

San Pedro Coach Mike Walsh on 5-foot-6, 140-pound receiver Bryan Castaneda, who had eight catches for 94 yards in a 10-7 victory over Carson: “That’s why we call him Houdini. He’s the greatest player I’ve ever seen.”

Hawthorne Coach Dan Robbins after the Cougars won the Bay League title outright with a 21-14 victory over Leuzinger: “Winning the league title was a goal for us. But it was only one step toward our ultimate goal, winning (the Division III title).”

Torrance Coach Bill Bynum, whose team was eliminated from playoff contention for the second year in a row by West Torrance, 35-14, in its last Pioneer League game: “I hope that I’m back next year. They may run me out of town on a rail.”

INJURIES

* San Pedro tailback Jeff Williams, the team’s leading rusher, sat out a 10-7 victory over Carson with a leg injury. He is expected back in the lineup for the start of the 3-A Division playoffs Friday.

* Carson quarterback Ramon Rogers aggravated a shoulder injury in the second quarter and did not return. The injury is not considered serious.