Carson Spoils Perfect Matchup

It seemed a forgone conclusion that two undefeated teams, Los Angeles Dorsey and Venice, would meet for the City Section football championship.

But someone forgot to tell Carson. The Colts intercepted two passes late in the fourth quarter and held on to upset the second-seeded Dons, 19-18, Friday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Carson (10-3) will play top-seeded Venice (13-0) at the Coliseum at 8 p.m. Friday in a rematch of a season opener won by Venice, 34-14.

Dorsey (12-1) led, 18-13, with five minutes to play, but Jamar Dawson intercepted a slant pass at Dorsey’s 42-yard line and returned it to the four. Bo Napoleon scored on a two-yard quarterback sneak three plays later to give the Colts a one-point lead with 4:01 left.

The Dons drove from their 25 to the Colt 37, but Elisha Mueller intercepted another slant pass with 57 seconds to play.

Robert Miller rushed for 48 yards in 19 carries and caught five passes for 72 yards, including a 32-yard touchdown reception that gave Carson a 7-6 lead in the first quarter. Dorsey led, 12-7, at halftime after Joey Rucks’ four-yard run early in the second quarter.

Dorsey was without half of its running back tandem after Jeremiah Johnson was sidelined late in the second quarter with an ankle injury. Johnson finished with 13 yards in four carries. Stafon Johnson gained 72 yards in 24 carries and ran 38 yards on a trap play in the fourth quarter to give the Dons their 18-13 lead.

After holding Dorsey to five yards in three plays on its first possession of the second half, Dwayne Sanders blocked Albert Russell’s punt at the eight-yard line and Trent Charles caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from Napoleon three plays later to give the Colts a 13-12 lead.

Steve Galluzzo

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Venice 62, Sylmar 21 -- The top-seeded Gondoliers, who have cruised to three playoff victories, will play in their first City Section championship game after Beau Davis threw three long touchdown passes and Byron Ellis rushed for 177 yards and four touchdowns.

A late hit by Sylmar in the first quarter seemed to spark the Gondoliers. After Davis escaped from a heavy rush, Sylmar’s C.J. Gable drilled the quarterback well out of bounds to draw a penalty. Ellis finished the drive with a one-yard scoring run on fourth down with a momentarily shaken Davis on the sidelines.

Davis came back to throw scoring passes of 29 and 34 yards to Gerold Rodriguez and 74 yards to Ryan Graves.

“I tried not to let [the play] affect me,” said Davis, who threw for 227 yards in three quarters. “It kind of turned our switch on, but we were ready to play today anyway.”

Venice led 41-0 at halftime after Mesphin Forrester returned an interception 98 yards for a touchdown. The lead grew to 55-0 on third-quarter touchdown runs of 74 and 55 yards by Ellis.

-- Eric Stephens