San Pedro Got Back on Course After Receiving Dose of Reality

San Pedro High’s football team was cruising along with an 18-game winning streak when the defending City Section 4-A Division champion visited winless Washington for a Southern Pacific Conference game in October.

Final score: Washington 12, San Pedro 10.

“It’s probably the best thing that has happened to us in the last seven years,” San Pedro Coach Mike Walsh said earlier this week. “Sometimes, you have to be hit in the face with reality.”

San Pedro went on to win the rest of its regular-season games and the conference title. After three playoff victories, the Pirates (12-1) are in position to repeat as City champion.

Tonight at the Coliseum, San Pedro will defend its title against unbeaten Woodland Hills Taft in a rematch of the 1996 finalists. San Pedro won last year, 22-20. No team has won consecutive major division championships since 1981, when Banning won the last of six in a row.

“I’m not sure which side has the advantage,” Walsh said. “Sometimes, being so close and not getting there adds a little extra desire in your kids. But our kids have plenty of desire too.’

Both teams have plenty of skill.

San Pedro is averaging 25.1 points a game. Senior Holmon Wiggins is one of several talented ballcarriers in the Pirates’ double-wing T offense. Walsh and his staff installed the formation after the loss against Washington because the Pirates’ multiple-set attack was stalling, even in victories.

Wiggins has rushed for 1,176 yards, has a team-high five interceptions and is also the Pirates’ top return specialist. Senior linebacker Ryan Solomona leads a bruising defense that surrenders 10.8 points a game.

“We haven’t faced the double-wing this year so that presents some problems,” Taft Coach Troy Starr said. “They’re drilled well. They cross the Ts and dot the I’s in everything they do.”

Taft (12-0), which has never won a City Section football title, defeated San Fernando, Palisades and Sylmar en route to the championship game. The Toreadors average 31.8 points. Taft’s offense features two outstanding running backs in junior Marquis Brignac and senior Sedric Hurns. Brignac has rushed for 1,347 yards. Hurns gained 130 yards and scored the winning touchdown in Taft’s 8-6 semifinal victory over Sylmar last week.

Senior linebacker Tyler Brennan and Hurns, who also plays free safety, lead a defense that gives up 10.4 points a game.

“They have the two good backs, some solid offensive linemen and a lot of speed on defense,” Walsh said. “We have more bulk up front on our offensive line to match up against their defense.

“Can we drive the ball down their throat? I don’t know. They probably have a little more skill. We probably have a little bit more brawn and enough skill.”

San Pedro also believes it has something to prove. And it all goes back to the Washington loss, which haunted the Pirates when playoff pairings were made.

The Southern Pacific Conference is annually the toughest in the City Section. The conference has produced at least one major division finalist every year since 1974.

Starr, whose team plays in the Northwest Valley Conference, scheduled Southern Pacific members Banning and Dorsey as preconference opponents because, he said, “Everyone knows the road to the City championship goes through the Southern Pacific.”

Nevertheless, San Pedro was seeded sixth behind Taft, Coastal Conference champion Westchester, Southeastern champion Fremont, Valley Pac-8 champion Sylmar and Northern champion Franklin. The seeding position made Walsh irate. But it ultimately motivated the Pirates. San Pedro beat Harbor City Narbonne and Fremont in the first two rounds of the playoffs, then defeated Westchester, 12-6, last week in a rain-soaked semifinal at Westchester.

“I guess we’re not the sixth-seeded team,” Walsh said after the game. “We’re at least No. 2.”

Tonight, the Pirates will try to lay claim to No. 1.

For the second year in a row.