Starry-Eyed Taft Buries Its Ghosts at the Coliseum

No victory will ever be sweeter or more meaningful for Coach Troy Starr of Taft High than the Toreadors’ 41-29 upset of 10-time champion Banning in the City Championship game Friday night at the Coliseum.

With the offense executing to perfection under the guidance of junior quarterback Brandon Hance, the Toreadors (12-2) exorcised their nightmarish memories of consecutive defeats the past two seasons to San Pedro in the City final.

Week by week, Starr was able to put players in the right positions and make the necessary adjustments after a season-opening 41-13 loss to Banning. The impact of his decisions and the improvement in his players were visible throughout.

Ronald Andrews, a cornerback and receiver who was briefly removed from the team because of poor grades, caught two touchdown passes, made two interceptions and wouldn’t let Banning’s big-play receiver, Michael Cockrell, roam unguarded in the secondary. Andrews caught five passes for 143 yards.

Hance, a transfer from Notre Dame who barely had time to hand the ball off in Taft’s earlier loss to Banning, burned the Pilots with precision passes. He completed 17 of 23 for 288 yards and four touchdowns. He also scored a touchdown.

“In the Southern Pacific Conference, they don’t see a lot of passing,” Starr said of the Pilots. “Granada Hills [which Banning defeated in a semifinal] exposed some things last week.”

Marquis Brignac, ending a brilliant three-year career at tailback, rushed for 182 yards in 22 carries and broke off a decisive 76-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

Afterward, Brignac remembered the Taft players from the previous two years who had fallen one game short and weren’t able to experience the thrill of a championship.

“They might not get rings, but they’re a part of it,” Brignac said.

No individual player performed better in Taft’s successful four-game playoff run than Hance, who completed 66% of his passes, 54 of 82, for 832 yards and eight touchdowns with just one interception.

“He has done a super, super job in the playoffs,” Starr said. “He’s made big throw after big throw.”

Hance had dreamed of playing and winning in the Coliseum since he was 10 and attended a championship high school final. “Kids fantasize and it’s amazing it happens,” said his father, Roger.

In knocking off a Banning team (10-4) that came within one point of defeating unbeaten Long Beach Poly earlier this season, Taft also received a strong defensive performance. Linebacker Michael Adams dropped star tailback Chris Howard, who had 202 yards in 29 carries, for a five-yard loss and sacked quarterback Mike Garrison for a four-yard loss during one series in the fourth quarter.

Lawrence Wallace of Taft caught 10 passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns.

Starr’s eight-year coaching record at Taft is a glittering 73-16-1, but he finally can say he won the big one, the first City football title in school history.