Column: It’s blowouts all around on opening night of prep football playoffs
Westlake receiver Vincent Corso hauls in a touchdown pass in front of Serra’s Max Williams in the first quarter of their Pac-5 Division playoff game on Friday night in Gardena.
It was blitz city on opening night of the Southern Section Pac-5 Division football playoffs. No. 1-seeded Corona Centennial (11-0) and No. 2-seeded Bellflower St. John Bosco (11-0) could have scored 100 points if not for running clocks.
J.J. Taylor had seven touchdowns in Centennial’s 70-29 win over West Hills Chaminade. Jared Harrell had six catches for 165 yards and three touchdowns in St. John Bosco’s 72-7 win over Corona.
Then there was Westlake Village Oaks Christian routing Long Beach Jordan, 56-8; La Puente Bishop Amat beating Norco, 72-36, and Santa Ana Mater Dei defeating Lakewood, 66-14.
It’s not supposed to be this way in what is considered the toughest playoff division in California. Except it was predictable. Blame much of it on 19-time champion Long Beach Poly’s not making the playoffs after forfeiting four victories because of an ineligible player. It left three outmanned teams from the Moore League to be easy pickings.
There are eight teams moving on to next week’s quarterfinals. You’ll keep hearing, “Anything can happen on a given day,” but the truth is Centennial and St. John Bosco will be tough to stop en route to a likely Dec. 5 championship meeting at Angel Stadium. The only question is whom they will face in the semifinals.
No. 4-seeded Gardena Serra (9-2) fell behind, 14-0, on Friday night against Westlake Village Westlake (7-4), then scored 31 consecutive points to come away with a 38-20 victory.
“We’ve been real sporadic on offense and had to get it going,” Serra Coach Scott Altenberg said.
Quarterback Khalil Tate passed for three touchdowns, ran for one and finished with 222 yards passing and 165 yards rushing.
Grant Bunker attempted 56 passes for Westlake and finished with 369 yards passing. Theo Howard had 11 catches for 145 yards and one touchdown. Vincent Corso caught nine passes for 145 yards and two touchdowns.
Missing for Serra was heavily recruited defensive lineman Oluewole Betiku, who’s likely gone for the season because of a shoulder injury. Kudos to Serra’s Brandon Burton, who had a big punt return to set up a touchdown, caught two passes and showed lots of toughness on defense while also playing with an injured shoulder.
The big question is, can Serra rise up next week in a quarterfinal against Mater Dei?
“We have a chip on our shoulder,” Tate said. “We have something to prove.”
All the remaining teams have chips on their shoulders, because no one thinks any of them can get past Centennial or St. John Bosco.
Next up for Centennial is Orange Lutheran, a 54-44 winner over Ventura St. Bonaventure. Next up for St. John Bosco is Los Angeles Loyola, a 48-16 winner over Long Beach Wilson.
Tate made it clear what he and everyone else must do.
“We have to play our hearts out,” he said.
Twitter: @LATSondheimer
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