Westchester Upends Granada Hills, 26-21

Running the ball again and again with its punishing wishbone attack, Westchester High rallied with two fourth-quarter touchdowns Wednesday night to upset top-seeded Granada Hills, 26-21, in a City Championship quarterfinal game at Granada Hills.

Westchester (10-2) closed to within 21-20 with 4:14 left on a three-yard touchdown run by Charles Drake, who gained 166 yards in 15 carries. A two-point conversion attempt failed.

Granada Hills needed one first down to run out the clock. But quarterback Jason Winn was dragged down for a 12-yard loss on his own five, forcing a Highlander punt. Westchester took over on the 23 with 1:43 left.

Three plays later, Dunne Bowden scored the winning touchdown on a two-yard run with 1:06 remaining.

Taft 35, Venice 28--Taft’s K.C. Bounds caught the game-winning touchdown pass and helped stop Venice running back Jaime Moreno on fourth down from the Toreador 10 with less than two minutes to play to give Taft the victory at Venice.

Seventh-seeded Taft (10-2), which has played for the major-division title the last two years, will play Dorsey, a 28-20 winner Wednesday over Franklin, in the semifinals Dec. 4.

Bounds could have put the game away late in the third quarter, but he dropped a pass when he was wide-open on a trick play that could have given the Toreadors a 35-21 lead.

Venice quarterback J.P. Losman completed 15 of 28 passes for 239 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions. He also rushed for two touchdowns.

Taft running back Marquis Brignac gained 209 yards in 26 carries and scored on runs of one and three yards.