Just Preps : Area News : CENTRAL CITY

The City Section football game between Manual Arts and Venice on Friday was incorrectly stopped early when officials implemented the “sunset rule,” which halts a game 10 minutes after sunset. The game at Manual Arts was stopped at 5:16 p.m., which they believed was 10 minutes after the sunset time listed on their chart. But Barbara Fiege, section commissioner, said officials are supposed to add an hour to the chart’s times during daylight savings time. Manual Arts was leading, 27-7, when the game was called with 3:55 remaining. . . . Despite a defense that doesn’t have a player heavier than 200 pounds, Bell Gardens is giving up only nine points a game. One of the team’s biggest players, quarterback Eddie Negrete, is 6 feet 1, 170 pounds. He has passed for 900 yards and 13 touchdowns. . . . Bell running back Vern Benard rushed for 268 yards in a 34-28 victory over Huntington Park on Friday. Benard has 1,050 yards and eight touchdowns. . . . One-fourth of Pilgrim’s 100 students are out for football this season, and the Patriots (7-0) are going for their second consecutive Heritage League title in the Southern Section’s eight-man small division. Three-year starter Josh Stroud has rushed for 1,067 yards and 20 touchdowns in 102 carries. . . . Bell Gardens (23-2) is enjoying its best water polo season since it went to the Southern Section finals in 1978. Coach Bob Greenamyer, in his 16th year, said his team doesn’t seem to be hurt by being unable to practice together over the summer because the school’s pool was being refinished.