Teams From Coliseum, Ocean Leagues Thrive

The City and Southern Section playoff selection committees try to keep teams from the same leagues away from each other in the early rounds of the postseason. But that strategy has not prevented a logjam from occurring in the semifinals in two divisions.

Crenshaw, Dorsey and Fremont of the Coliseum League are among the final four in the City Section Championship division. Santa Monica, Inglewood and North Torrance of the Ocean League are semifinalists in Southern Section Division X.

Crenshaw defeated Sylmar, 39-17, Dorsey beat fourth-seeded Westchester, 20-14, and Fremont upset top-seeded Van Nuys Birmingham, 24-21. Woodland Hills Taft, a 17-14 winner over Carson, is the only non-Coliseum League team with a chance to win the City title.

Taft (9-2) plays Crenshaw (11-0) and Fremont (9-2) plays Dorsey (8-3) on Friday. Winners advance to the championship game Dec. 7.

“It’s a major achievement for our team and our league,” said Fremont Coach Pete Duffy, whose team lost to Dorsey, 21-6, in the regular-season finale on Nov. 9. “The Marine League is traditionally the best in the City, but this shows that the Coliseum League deserves that kind of respect this year.”

Santa Monica defeated La Canada, 49-3, Inglewood beat top-seeded Temple City, 45-21, and North Torrance defeated Morro Bay, 23-20.

Inglewood (10-2) plays North Torrance (11-1) Friday. North Torrance defeated the Sentinels, 23-22, on Oct 5. Santa Monica (9-2) plays defending champion Paso Robles (9-3) Saturday.

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Gobbling up victories: Bert Esposito, second-year coach at Riverside Ramona, implored his players not to eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day, fearing the bird might sap them of their strength for their game the following day against Phelan Serrano.

Esposito did not want L-Tryptophan, an amino acid in turkey meat, to induce a sleepy state when the Rams took the field.

“Kids overeat and the next day they don’t feel as sharp,” Esposito said. “I told them they could eat as much as they wanted after the game. They looked at me like, ‘Yeah, right.’ I think almost all of them listened. I even asked the parents at the booster club meeting to help out.”

Ramona, which had lost 22 consecutive games before Esposito took over last season, defeated Serrano, 14-13, to improve to 8-4 and is in the semifinals for the first time since 1989.

“After the game, the players were saying, ‘I am going to pork out,”’ Esposito said. “I told them to go ahead. They earned it.”

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Working overtime: Three quarterfinals required extra time to decide the outcome and three key defensive plays preserved the victories.

In Division II, Alta Loma defensive lineman John Parada brought down Chino Hills Ayala running back Chaz Brewer short of the goal line on a two-point conversion attempt, sealing a 41-40 four-overtime victory that set up a semifinal against top-seeded Mission Viejo.

In Division V, brothers Dion and Damon Morton led Riverside North to a 35-28 double-overtime victory over defending champion Corona Centennial. Dion threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Joshua Barnett in overtime and Damon preserved the victory with an interception in the end zone.

The Huskies will play Temecula Valley.

In Division VI, Laguna Hills linebacker Travis Bengard caused Orange El Modena running back Daniel Dixon to fumble at the Laguna Hills 10-yard line. Linebacker Brad Bollhagen recovered for Laguna Hills, sealing a 31-24 overtime victory over the top-seeded team in the division and setting up a semifinal against Lakewood Mayfair.

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All in the family: The El Modena-Laguna Hills quarterfinal was also noteworthy because its officiating crew came from one family.

Referee Richard Smith wore the white hat for a team of officials that also included sons Steve, Shane, Scott and Stanford Smith.

The Smiths, who officiate in San Bernardino County during the regular season, had worked together only once before in a regular-season game in 1993.

“They are all excellent officials who were going to go out [to playoff games] so I decided to send all five together,” said Lloyd Nixon, an area liaison for the Southern Section who assigns officials. “I just thought it would be a neat thing to do. This might have been the last chance for them to work together.”

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Unsung heroes: Kris Vasquez and Brandon Bailey might not be household names, but they are two key reasons why Ventura (9-3) has advanced to the Division IV semifinals for the second consecutive year.

Vasquez, a 6-2, 295-pound center, and Bailey, a 6-2, 250-pound guard, are the only returning players from an offensive line that helped Tyler Ebell rush for a national-record 4,494 yards last year.

Ventura’s Joaquin Real rushed for 213 yards and three touchdowns in 40 carries Friday in a 28-21 victory over Thousand Oaks. Real scored the winning touchdown with 28 seconds left.