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

ALL FOR ONE

When Peninsula tailback James Durroh sprained an ankle in the second quarter Friday night against Diamond Bar, some may have thought the Panthers’ chances of winning were dashed, too.

They would have been wrong.

With Durroh sidelined in the second half, Peninsula again proved that it can win without its leading rusher by rallying from 14-6 deficit to defeat Diamond Bar, 24-14, in the first round of the Southern Section Division III playoffs at Torrance High.

“For all those newspaper people who (wrote) that if you stop Durroh, you stop Peninsula, I guess we proved them wrong tonight,” said senior co-captain Tony Persichina, referring to an article in a local paper. “It’s a team effort. It’s not one person.”

Persichina, a starting fullback, took over at tailback after Durroh was injured and rushed for 190 yards in 25 carries. His three-yard touchdown run with nine minutes 36 seconds left to play broke a 14-14 tie. Keith Harter added a 42-yard field goal with 3:27 left.

Peninsula Coach Gary Kimbrell pointed out that the Panthers have won before without Durroh, who has missed several games in the past two seasons because of injuries.

“Everybody picked up the slack,” Kimbrell said. “Tony (Persichina) just played a typical Tony game. Everybody else picks up on that and rallies around that kind of attitude and effort. It gave everybody a lift.”

The Panthers also got a lift from safety Bryce Currence, who made the play of the game when he intercepted a pass and returned it 82 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter. Quarterback Peter Krogh’s two-point conversion run tied the score, 14-14.

“This is so great,” Currence said afterward. “My coaches say (the interception) turned the game around, but really it was the whole team.”

The teams combined for nine turnovers, six by Diamond Bar (7-3-1).

Peninsula (10-1) will travel to play Bell Gardens (8-2-1) in the quarterfinals Friday in a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal game won by Bell Gardens, 23-6.

CHEAP SHOTS

Hawthorne Coach Dan Robbins was not all smiles after the Cougars (10-1) rolled to a 59-17 victory over visiting Baldwin Park (6-4-1) in a Division III playoff opener. He accused Baldwin Park players of intentionally hitting Hawthorne players in the knees.

Offensive tackle David Camacho and wide receiver Justin Stallings did not return after suffering knee bruises in the second and third quarters, respectively. Stallings was sidelined earlier in the season with a strained knee ligament.

“One guy would hit one of our players with their helmet and the other would dive at his knee,” Robbins said. “When they’re running plays like that, it really bothers me as a coach.

“I was disappointed in their lack of class. They were making some hits that were planned to injure us. But that’s OK. We made a statement and showed what we’re supposed to do.”

Said Stallings: “They wouldn’t even look at my face. They just went straight for the knee. They were really playing dirty and I was surprised about that. But they didn’t do a good enough job because I’ll be back next week.”

Camacho is also expected back in the lineup for Friday’s quarterfinal game at Westlake (8-2-1), which advanced with a 42-26 victory over Santa Barbara.

TOUGH TIMES

With time expiring on Banning’s first losing season since 1974, senior quarterback London McBride could only watch from the sideline as the Pilots fumbled away a chance to tie the score. McBride injured his left ankle early in the fourth quarter of the Pilots’ 28-20 loss to host Garfield.

“I feel like I let the team down,” McBride said. “I know people will tell me different, but even if your arm or leg is broken, you want to get in there. It’s so hard to watch.”

It was hard to watch for all Banning fans. It was the second year in a row that the Pilots were eliminated by Garfield in the first round of the City Section 4-A Division playoffs.

Banning (5-6) fell behind by 14 points, but rallied for a 20-14 lead at the end of the third quarter. Two quick Garfield touchdowns, one coming after it recovered a Banning fumble at the Pilot 17, gave the Bulldogs a 28-20 lead.

“We made more mistakes, but I’m not going to say they have a better team,” Banning Coach Ed Paculba said. “I’m not going to take anything away from our kids. I’m proud of the way they played.”

With starting tailback Sean Turner ailing, junior Ricardo Diaz (185 yards, two TDs) matched rushing numbers with Garfield’s Armando Figueroa (183 yards, one TD), but committed a costly fumble at the Garfield 10 with 1:52 left to play.

Diaz, who was inconsolable after the game, summed up Banning’s disappointment.

“I can’t believe it,” he said, over and over.

Garfield (10-1) will play host to Carson (7-4) in a quarterfinal game Wednesday night.

DELAYED DEBUT

Senior cornerback J.J. O’Neil made his season debut for Mira Costa in the Mustangs’ 28-7 Division VII playoff victory over visiting Pomona and played well in a reserve role, Coach Don Morrow said.

That O’Neil is playing at all is a surprise. The Mira Costa team doctor would not clear O’Neil to play after detecting an irregular heartbeat in a preseason physical. O’Neil, who was a projected starter, continued to work out with the team in non-contact exercises and sought a second medical opinion.

“It was basically a case of finding a doctor that would clear him,” Morrow said.

After consulting a specialist in the San Francisco area, O’Neil was cleared to play Nov. 2 and became eligible this week after practicing for the required 10 days.

“He did fine, but it’s going to take him a while to get his legs,” Morrow said. “I hope we’re around a few more weeks to get him some practice.”

Mira Costa (10-1) won a coin flip and will play at home Friday in the quarterfinals against third-seeded Lompoc (8-3).

COMING UP SHORT

Ojai Nordhoff used a handful of big plays and a 17-point fourth quarter to defeat host West Torrance, 30-24, in a Division IX playoff opener.

The biggest play came late in the third quarter when Nordhoff’s Archie Jackson recovered an onside kick at the West 41. The Rangers scored seven plays later to cut West’s lead to 24-22.

“I think we just came up short a couple of times,” West Coach Kerry Crabb said. “That onside kick was a real back-breaker for us. We had a feeling they were going to do that, and our kid just wasn’t able to scoop up the ball.”

Nordhoff’s running game also produced several big plays. James Colborn rushed for two fourth-quarter touchdowns, including the game-winner on a 15-yard run with 2:26 left. Josh Hawkins led the Rangers (8-3) with 176 yards in 20 carries and scored two TDs, including a 91-yard run late in the second quarter.

For West (6-5), junior quarterback Kirk Bolling carried the offensive load, completing 21 of 34 passes for 248 yards and three TDs.

WATCHING IN AWE

Leuzinger Coach Fred Boehm saw first-hand why Newbury Park is the No. 1-ranked team in Division III. The Panthers (11-0) scored 29 points in the first half en route to a 39-6 romp over the visiting Olympians (5-6).

Newbury Park quarterback Keith Smith baffled Leuzinger with his passing and scrambling, completing 16 of 27 attempts for 288 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for 101 yards and a TD in nine carries.

“I’m glad I won’t have to watch him run around anymore,” Boehm said. “I underestimated his speed. Our kids did a good job on coverage, but he would just out-run us on third-down plays.”

NEAR UPSET

Redondo gave top-seeded and unbeaten Baldwin Park Sierra Vista a scare, rallying from a 21-7 deficit to tie the score in the fourth quarter before losing, 28-21, in a Division VII playoff opener at Sierra Vista.

After a 49-yard scoring pass from sophomore quarterback Doug Francis to wide receiver Brian Mahanke pulled the Sea Hawks even, 21-21, Sierra Vista’s Guy Horcasitas returned the kickoff 90 yards for the winning touchdown with about two minutes left. Sierra Vista improved to 11-0.

“We had them,” Redondo Coach Chris Hyduke said. “We wanted to get into a tie-breaker. We had been stopping them on defense.”

The Sea Hawks (4-7) rallied from a 21-7 third-quarter deficit behind running back Bob Cracknell, who scored on a 79-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter. Cracknell rushed for 207 yards and two TDs in 24 carries to finish his senior season with an area-leading 1,709 yards and 18 TDs.

In the past two seasons, Cracknell rushed for 2,769 yards and 28 TDs.

GIVING IT AWAY

South Torrance appeared in good shape after a 53-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Mike Rosato to wide receiver Ryan Chung and a two-point conversion run by Rosato gave the visiting Spartans a 22-21 lead over Moorpark with 3:29 left in a Division IX playoff opener.

But South’s come-from-behind effort was wasted on the next series when Moorpark took advantage of two penalties to pull out a 27-22 victory on a seven-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Dritz to Jared Kira with 23 seconds left.

Moorpark (9-1-1) faced a third-and-10 situation at the South 25 with 27 seconds left when the Spartans were penalized for having 12 players on the field. On the next play, South was called for offside, moving the ball to the seven and setting up the winning TD.

“It’s frustrating,” said South Coach Mike Christensen, whose team finished 7-3-1. “I felt we still were the better team.”

REPEAT DEFEAT

Serra’s tumultuous season ended with a 21-0 loss to host Bellflower, the second year in a row the Cavaliers were beaten in the first round of the Division VIII playoffs by Bellflower.

Interim coach Charles Nash said a struggling offense was Serra’s undoing.

“Our timing on offense just wasn’t there,” Nash said. “When we couldn’t pass, (Bellflower) used an eight-man line.”

Nash took over as coach when Kevin Crawley was fired after a 1-3 start. Serra (6-4) won four of six games under Nash, who said he would like to continue coaching the team when it moves to the Division IV Mission League in 1994.

NOTEWORTHY

* Junior wingback J.R. Redmond had an interception to set up one touchdown and returned a punt 85 yards for a TD in a 19-6 victory over Woodland Hills El Camino Real in a 4-A Division playoff opener at Gardena High. Redmond became the 51st player in Carson history to gain more than 1,000 all-purpose yards in a season.

* San Pedro defensive lineman Jerry Vrbanovic had three sacks in a 29-0 victory over Chatsworth in a 3-A Division playoff opener at Daniels Field, giving him five sacks in the past two games.

* Running back Glen Gates scored on a six-yard run on the last play of the game to give Masada, a school for wayward youth in Lawndale, a 24-20 victory over Ribet Academy in the Eight-Man Small Division quarterfinals at Redondo High.

* Gateway Christian running back Eugene Francis scored five touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough as the Hawks (8-2) lost to host Lone Pine, 44-34, in an Eight-Man Small Division quarterfinal. Running back Benny Herring scored six TDs for Lone Pine (6-4).