City Semifinalists Fight Over Site

The newest football rivalry in the City Section is a heated one.

Without having played a down, officials from San Pedro and neighboring Narbonne exchanged bitter words this week about the site of tonight’s Division 4-A semifinal. The game will be played at Harbor College beginning at 7.

Said San Pedro Coach Mike Walsh: “The people of San Pedro have been snubbed and taken advantage of. We were wronged by Narbonne and the city athletics office.”

Narbonne Coach Leroy Wilson fired back that San Pedro officials didn’t properly plan for the game by getting a site that could accommodate everyone.

The debate began Monday when San Pedro, the host school, said it wanted to play the game at Daniels Field, which seats about 2,500. The Pirates play their home games at Daniels Field, which is two blocks from their campus.

Tim Moriarty, Narbonne’s athletic director, said the stadium was too small. When the teams played there earlier this season, several hundred fans were turned away, he said. San Pedro won, 21-7.

Moriarty suggested Gardena High or Veterans Stadium in Long Beach, which are considerably larger and were available for the playoff game. Those venues weren’t acceptable to San Pedro officials, who feared losing the home-field advantage.

Barbara Fiege, the section’s athletic commissioner, heard both sides and chose Harbor College, which seats about 3,000. She said portable bleachers were being brought in to boost seating by 1,000 or so more.

Walsh, who has made San Pedro’s program a winning one since taking over five years ago, is not happy. He said the home team should have the right to play a game on its own field.

“I think it sets a very bad precedent when a school can cry foul when they don’t want to play somewhere and then successfully get a game moved,” he said. Wilson said a field is the same size no matter where the game is played, but added he’s not in favor of turning fans away at the gate.

The interest is being generated by schools that have little tradition in football. Narbonne has been one of the section’s worst teams in the last decade and, at 10-2, is in the playoffs for the first time since 1982. San Pedro is 9-3 this season but has never played in a major division title game.

The winner will play either Dorsey or Granada Hills Kennedy in the final next Saturday at 1 p.m. at El Camino College in Torrance.

Playoff Notes

Each of the Southern Section’s 11 divisions will play one semifinal game tonight at 7:30 and the other Saturday night. . . . In Division I, Loyola will play host to Los Alamitos at Glendale High tonight and Long Beach Poly will play La Puente Bishop Amat on Saturday at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach. The winners meet next Saturday night at the Coliseum. The Division II game between Palos Verdes Peninsula and Newhall Hart tonight at College of the Canyons figures to be high scoring. Hart is averaging 442 yards a game in total offense, and Peninsula is coming off a 43-6 victory over Arcadia.