Taft’s Firepower Is Too Much for Banning, 41-29

No victory will ever be sweeter or more meaningful for Coach Troy Starr of Woodland Hills Taft High than the Toreadors’ 41-29 upset of 10-time champion Banning Friday night in the City championship game 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 last two seasons to San Pedro in the City final.

Starr, 36, was able to put players in the right positions and make the necessary adjustments after a season-opening 41-13 loss to Banning 13 weeks ago. The impact of his decisions and the improvement in his players was visible throughout Friday night.

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

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

No individual player performed better in Taft’s successful four-game playoff run than Hance, who was intercepted once, threw eight touchdown passes and scored four himself.

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

In knocking off a Banning (10-4) team that came within one point of beating unbeaten Long Beach Poly earlier this season, Taft also received a strong defensive performance, led by linebacker Michael Adams, who dropped standout Pilot tailback Chris Howard for a five-yard loss, then sacked quarterback Mike Garrison for a four-yard loss during one series in the fourth quarter.

It was a wild, crowd-pleasing scoring duel in the third quarter.

First, Lawrence Wallace of Taft caught a short pass from Hance, then raced 67 yards for a touchdown. Banning came back to put together a 55-yard drive, with Mike Limosnero scoring on a one-yard run.

Tailback Marquis Brignac gave Taft a 34-14 lead with 4:09 left in the third quarter by running 76 yards for a touchdown.

Less than 30 seconds later, Banning responded again, this time Gene Guerrero catching a 29-yard touchdown pass from Mike Garrison.

Howard finished with 202 yards rushing in 29 carries for the Pilots.

Taking advantage of Banning breakdowns on defense, Taft opened a 20-7 halftime lead. Twice, the Pilots left Andrews uncovered on pass plays, and Hance found him for touchdowns on throws of 39 and 38 yards.

Hance, showing maturity from 13 weeks of on-the-job training, completed nine of 11 passes for 129 yards in the first half.

Andrews was Taft’s key player on defense. Playing cornerback and assigned to Cockrell, he did not give up any long gain and intercepted a pass from Garrison in the end zone on the first play of the second quarter to wipe out a potential Pilot scoring opportunity.

Banning trailed, 20-0, until Howard scored on a five-yard run with 1:18 left in the second quarter.

Howard, who came into the game with 2,303 yards rushing and the reputation for having the speed to race into the secondary, was limited to 64 yards in 16 carries in the first half. The Toreadors were able to catch him early on handoffs, then wrap him with two and three players swarming to the ball.

DIVISION

After opening the season with a three-touchdown victory over Reseda, Chatsworth again beat the Regents, 34-7, to win the Division Championship at the Coliseum.

The Division playoffs were for City Section teams ranked Nos. 17-32 at the end of the regular season.

Seventh-seeded Chatsworth (9-5) won its first title since 1979.

Chatsworth quarterback Matt Cassel completed 16 of 30 passes for 243 yards and three touchdowns. Cassel also gained 99 yards in 12 carries, scoring on runs of four and 13 yards.

Reggie Lee had six receptions for 102 yards and one touchdown, Mark Harris caught four for 74 and one touchdown and three other receivers caught two passes.

Reseda committed four turnovers and gained only 111 yards in the first three quarters.

By halftime, Chatsworth was winning 21-0.