HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS

In the other Southern Section semifinals:

Santa Ana Mater Dei 28, Rialto Eisenhower 21--Junior Palacios gained 122 yards and scored two touchdowns and Matt Grootegoed gained 121 yards in 12 carries for the Monarchs at Santa Ana Stadium.

“That,” Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson said, “was ugly.”

Eisenhower scored 14 points in the final five minutes, forcing Mater Dei to sweat out a needlessly tense outcome.

“When we scored early, we lost a little bit of our fire,” Rollinson sad. “I’m sure we thought it was going to be a runaway.”

That is exactly what the game was midway through the third quarter. When Junior Palacios scored his second touchdown, the Monarchs led 28-7.

Newhall Hart 34, La Canada St. Francis 14--Hart (13-0) sacked St. Francis quarterback John Sciarra six times and pressured the Golden Knights throughout the Division III victory at College of the Canyons.

Kyle Matter of Hart competed 17 of 25 passes for 300 yards. Sophomore Tim Gregory rushed for 98 yards in 17 carries and scored one touchdown.

Sciarra completed 29 of 43 passes for 329 yards and one touchdown.

Newport Harbor 49, La Palma Kennedy 0--Andre Stewart gained 227 yards and scored three touchdowns in 28 first-half carries for Newport Harbor in the Division VI victory at Newport Harbor.

Bloomington 14, Temescal Canyon 0--Ronnie Adams and Artie Allen rushed for first-half touchdowns and high winds helped neutralize Temescal Canyon’s passing attack in a Division VIII semifinal at Colton.

Pasadena Poly 26, Flintridge Prep 0--Faisal Dittu ran for 124 yards and a third-quarter touchdown and Morgan Booth threw a 46-yard first-quarter touchdown to Marshall Duncan for the Panthers (10-2) in a Division XIII victory at South Pasadena.

CITY SECTION

Wilmington Banning 41, Reseda 21--Chris Howard rushed for 213 yards and three touchdowns in 17 carries for Banning, which scored the final three touchdowns in the Invitational semifinal at Huntington Park.

Reseda (9-4) led the top-seeded Pilots, 21-20, after a 14-yard touchdown run by Eddie Robinson with 29 seconds left in the third quarter.

But Banning (7-5) reeled off the first of three big plays in the second half, James Carter turning a short pass to the flat into a 70-yard touchdown. Carter broke several tackles on the way to the end zone. Reseda never scored again.

Howard scored on runs of 33 and 60 yards in the fourth quarter.

Gardena 46, Palisades 20--Gardena’s Tyone Gilmore rushed for 102 yards in 22 carries and scored three touchdowns to lead the Panthers (9-3-1) to the victory at Santa Monica College.

Donnie Johnson completed 10 of 17 passes for 216 yards and a touchdown for Gardena.

Azzaam Stallsworth had seven receptions for 185 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown pass play.

David Korral passed for 333 yards and three touchdowns for Palisades (10-3). Charles Ealy caught six passes for 178 yards and two touchdowns.