Football: City Section Division I predictions

The City Section football playoffs begin on Friday. Some first-round Division I predictions:

No. 16 Eagle Rock at No. 1 Narbonne. This will not be pretty. Eagle Rock won the Northern League title but a running clock will be needed at some point.

No. 9 South Gate at No. 8 San Pedro. San Pedro’s offense hasn’t been very consistent. South Gate’s offense has been scoring lots of points. If the Rams turn it into a shootout, they will win.

No. 12 Sylmar at No. 5 Taft. Chris Duncan has had an All-City season at quarterback for Taft, passing for 2,645 yards and 34 touchdowns. Sylmar is a dangerous opponent with lots of speed and lots of weapons. The Spartans are capable of pulling off the upset if their running game controls the clock.

No. 13 Carson at No. 4 Dorsey. The Dons had a breakthrough win last week against Crenshaw and figure to keep their momentum going.

No. 14 El Camino Real at No. 3 Garfield. The Bulldogs can’t take ECR lightly. They will need to tackle Ladell Atkins and prevent big plays. But their offensive line should create enough opportunities to win this game.

No. 11 Banning at No. 6 Crenshaw. The Cougars have been a little disappointing. It’s a new season and time to start making a title run.

No. 10 Venice at No. 7 Arleta. Both teams have huge, effective offensive lines. It’s going to come down to which team can run the ball best. The edge goes to Arleta.

No. 15 Palisades at No. 2 Birmingham. Linebacker Alec Simpson is headed to Nevada and is going to have to make it his personal obsession to contain Sterling Salguero. If the Patriots can block him or use Salguero as a decoy, they’ll pass this first test.

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