No. 2-seed Birmingham gets a scare but prevails over Palisades

Entering the City Section Division I football playoffs, Harbor City Narbonne was considered the overwhelming favorite.

Perhaps feeling a bit overlooked, second-seeded Birmingham wanted to show it doesn’t belong in the “and everyone else” category. Instead, the Patriots got all they could handle from 15th-seeded Palisades, needing a six-yard touchdown run from Sterling Salguero with 20 seconds left to escape with a 26-21, first-round victory Friday night in Lake Balboa.

“I got hurt earlier in the game but my team was counting on me to score and I used that adrenaline,” said Salguero, who began the game as the leading rusher in Division I, having amassed nearly 1,800 yards and 17 touchdowns but was held to less than 100 yards by a stingy Palisades defense.

“We ran a counter and I was hit, but I ran him over and stretched across the goal line.”

Tylin Scott set up the score with a 60-yard kickoff return, followed by a 28-yard completion to Palisades’ two-yard line. A false start penalty pushed Birmingham back, setting the stage for Salguero’s winning run.

“We had three downs and we were going to let him win it for us,” Birmingham Coach Jim Rose said. “Either they were going to stop us or we were going to score.”

Birmingham’s seniors were honored in a brief ceremony after the game but Palisades’ All-City quarterback P.J. Hurst almost spoiled the party. On fourth and 10, he connected with receiver Pierre Kaku for a 32-yard touchdown to give the Dolphins a 21-20 lead with 1:34 left.

“This was a good lesson for us not to take anyone lightly, even if it’s the 15th seed,” said Salguero, who opened the scoring on a two-yard run late in the first quarter and added the two-point conversion to give the West Valley League champions an 8-0 lead. “They hit us in the mouth and we didn’t expect it.”

Gabriel Cruz completed 13 of 20 passes for 186 yards and Ricky Clemons scored on a six-yard run to increase Birmingham’s lead to 14-0 early in the second quarter.

Scott caught five passes for 120 yards, but was stripped of the ball by Palisades safety Aaron Butler, whose teammate Donald Cook caught it out of the air and ran 90 yards up the sideline for a touchdown to get the visiting Dolphins (6-5) back in the game but cutting their deficit to 14-7 late in the first half.

“That play was a huge momentum changer,” Rose said. “Instead of us being up 21-0, they’re within a touchdown. Our defense played great until the end, but that’s a good football team and I give them a ton of credit.”

Hurst and Kaku hooked up on a 40-yard touchdown pass play and Hurst found Innocent Okoh for the two-point conversion to give Palisades its first lead, 15-14, with 4:47 left. Hurst finished 15 of 27 for 206 yards while Kaku and Gersan Osorio each had four catches for the Dolphins.

Eric Flowers returned the ensuing kickoff 64 yards for a touchdown to put Birmingham (8-3) back in front, 20-14.

On the final play, Hurst completed a pass to Kaku and he lateraled to Osorio, who was tackled at Palisades’ 33-yard line as time expired.

“We were one play away... we just turned it on a little too late,” Hurst said. “If we had another 30 seconds we know we could’ve scored.”

The second seed is the Patriots’ highest since they earned the top seed on their way to finishing 13-1 and winning the City’s upper division crown in 2007 under former coach Ed Croson, and they hope this season has a similar ending.

It was the third consecutive Division I first-round road loss by a touchdown or less for Palisades, which won its last four regular season games to earn a share of the Western League title with Venice.