Taft Defenseless, San Pedro Wins

After watching his team suffer the frustration of its third playoff loss in four years to San Pedro, Taft Coach Troy Starr tried his best to hide his emotions.

But his quarterback, Brandon Hance, couldn’t.

A few minutes after Taft had fallen short in a 28-25 loss to San Pedro at Daniels Field in the first round of the City Championship playoffs Thursday night, Hance broke down in tears.

The reality that the Toreadors would not defend their City title and their season was over was too hard for Hance to take.

Never mind that Hance completed 20 of 31 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns. He was more concerned about the three passes he had intercepted in the first half.

“I gave them three interceptions in the first half, and any time you do that you’re in trouble,” Hance said.

Taft (5-6) drove into San Pedro territory four times in the first half, only to have three of its possessions end with interceptions.

But Starr wasn’t about to place the blame on his quarterback. Not after his team’s defense struggled to stop San Pedro’s rushing attack all night.

Behind running back Jabari Meador, who finished with 215 yards and three touchdowns in 35 carries, the Pirates built a 21-7 lead in the third quarter before Taft’s offense started to click.

After Meador scored on a two-yard run to make it 21-7, Lee Marks responded with a 90-yard return for a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff to make it 21-13.

The Toreadors made it 21-19 on their next possession, scoring on a 54-yard pass from Hance to Greig Carlson early in the fourth quarter.

But Hance was stopped short on a run for a two-point conversion and the Toreadors never got closer.

Trailing, 28-19, Taft did manage to make it interesting on a 23-yard pass from Hance to Marks with 1:40 remaining but Anthony Ploesch missed the extra point. The Pirates ran out the clock.

Instead of showing his frustration from another loss to San Pedro--the fourth time Taft has lost in the playoffs to the Pirates this decade--Starr remained positive.

“We came up on the short end but our kids played their hearts out,” he said. “With the kids we have coming back next season, this is the foundation for what we do in the future.”

One of the players he was referring to is Carlson, a junior receiver who had 10 catches for 145 yards and touchdown.

Another is Marks, a junior who had four catches for 41 yards and rushed for 47 yards in 10 carries, giving him 1,404 yards rushing.

Carlson finished with 55 catches for 1,070 yards and 11 touchdowns.