san pedro

A look at two of this week’s top high school football playoff games in the Southland:

FRIDAY

Leuzinger (8-1) at Crean Lutheran (10-0), 7 p.m.

Leuzinger, the Bay League champions, has a top offensive line and an aggressive, hard-hitting defense that will try to contain Crean Lutheran’s athletic quarterback, Caden Jones, who has 29 touchdown passes. This Division 2 opener is part of a division loaded with tough first-round matchups. The pick: Leuzinger.

Laguna Beach (9-1) at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (5-5), 7 p.m.

Can Laguna Beach deal with Notre Dame’s huge offensive line? That’s the big question in this Division 3 playoff opener. Versatile quarterback Wyatt Brown has run for 19 touchdowns. If the Knights can throw around their weight, things will look good. Laguna Beach has talented junior quarterback Jack Hurst, who has 41 touchdown passes. The pick: Notre Dame.

Carson High, an 11-time City Section champion, has been seeded No. 1 for the City Section Open Division playoffs under first-year coach William Lowe.

Birmingham, which has a 54-game winning streak against City Section opponents, was seeded No. 2. San Pedro is No. 3 and unbeaten Palisades is No. 4.

Carson will host No. 8-seeded King/Drew on Nov. 14. Palisades is the home team against No. 5 Garfield, while San Pedro hosts No. 6 Crenshaw and Birmingham hosts No. 7 Kennedy.

There was no City Open Division champion last season after Narbonne had to vacate the title for rule violations.

Venice is seeded No. 1 in Division I. Cleveland is No. 1 in Division II and Santee is top seeded in Division III.

In girls’ flag football, San Pedro was given the No. 1 seed for the Open Division. Games begin on Friday, with San Pedro hosting No. 8 Verdugo Hills; No. 4 Marshall is at No. 5 Banning; No. 6 Wilson visits No. 3 Panorama; and No. 7 Narbonne travels to No. 2 Eagle Rock.

This week’s City Section top 10 high school football rankings by The Times:

1. BIRMINGHAM (4-3): The Patriots have 51 consecutive victories against City Section opponents, so any computer rankings that don’t have them at the top are ignoring history.

2. CARSON (4-3): The Colts are on collision path to face San Pedro on Oct. 30 to determine the Marine League championship.

3. PALISADES (7-0): Jack Thomas had 460 yards passing and five touchdowns in a 56-54 win over Venice.

4. SAN PEDRO (4-4): Pirates quarterback Seth Solorio has passed the 2,000-yard mark this season.

5. GARFIELD (5-2): The Eastern League championship will be decided Friday night at South Gate.

6. KENNEDY (6-1): In Diego Montes the Golden Cougars trust.

7. EAGLE ROCK (5-2): Northern League title showdown at Franklin on Friday night.

8. KING/DREW (5-1): Sophomore defensive lineman Kenneth Webb is having big season.

9. VENICE (3-4): Joshua Aaron rushed for 170 yards and four touchdowns in loss to Palisades.

10. FRANKLIN (6-1): Senior Albert Cardenas is coming through at quarterback.

FRIDAY’S RESULTS

CITY SECTION

Bell 27, Garfield 14

Bernstein 27, Hollywood 6

Eagle Rock 7, L.A. Marshall 0

L.A. Hamilton 36, Fairfax 12

L.A. Wilson 26, Franklin 12

Legacy 12, L.A. Roosevelt 6

Panorama 26, Granada Hills Kennedy 6

Roybal 22, Mendez 13

South East 18, Huntington Park 0

Sylmar 31, Van Nuys 6

Venice 20, L.A. University 0

SOUTHERN SECTION

Beverly Hills 12, Immaculate Heart 0

Brentwood 19, Providence 7

Cerritos 40, Whitney 0

Mira Costa 18, Peninsula 7

Orange County Pacifica Christian 41, Garden Grove Santiago 6

Torrance 19, North Torrance 8

St. Bonaventure 28, Del Sol 14

SATURDAY’S RESULTS

SOUTHERN SECTION

Ayala 19, Highland 6

Bellflower 31, Corona 7

Bellflower 19, Fullerton 12

Castaic d. Fillmore, forfeit

Castaic 18, Knight 6

Corona 25, Crean Lutheran 0

Corona del Mar 27, Inglewood 18

Corona del Mar 35, St. Paul 0

Corona Centennial 13, Riverside Poly 6

Fullerton 25, Corona del Mar 19

Hart 12, Ayala 6

Hueneme d. Canyon Country Canyon, forfeit

Hueneme 6, Lompoc Cabrillo 0

Huntington Beach 46, Buena 0

Huntington Beach 41, Channel Islands 7

Knight d. Fillmore, forfeit

Knight 19, Castaic 6

Lompoc 20, Windward 18

Lompoc Cabrillo 19, Saugus 7

Oxnard Pacifica 18, Saugus 13

Segerstrom 20, Garden Grove 6

Segerstrom 20, St. Paul 18

Simi Valley 34, Hueneme 12

Simi Valley 28, St. Bonaventure 12

Simi Valley 26, Valencia 12

Ventura 39, Ayala 0

INTERSECTIONAL

Fullerton 18, San Pedro 14

Gilbert (Ariz.) Campo Verde 34, Western Christian 7

Huntington Beach 23, LA Marshall 0

L.A. Marshall 27, Hart 7

L.A. Marshall 18, Ventura 14

King/Drew 21, Buena Park 13

King/Drew 42, Nuview Bridge 7

Madera 12, Windward 7

Narbonne 31, Destiny Christian Academy 0

San Pedro 27, Corona 7

San Pedro 34, Inglewood 13

Segerstrom 20, King/Drew 6

Vacaville 27, Narbonne 7

Panorama High‘s flag football team won the Valley Mission League last season, and there’s even more excitement when the season begins this month because the passing duo of quarterback Yadhira Hermenegildo and receiver Livier Andrade returns.

Hermenegildo passed for 47 touchdowns as a sophomore. Andrade caught 25 touchdowns.

Panorama opens its season Aug. 20 at Bishop Alemany.

Defending City Section Open Division champion Banning remains the favorite, with San Pedro and Birmingham expected to provide strong competition.

New rules that allow defenses to be within one yard of the line of scrimmage at the snap instead of seven yards will test quarterbacks in early season games as they perhaps need to rely more on using their legs to create time to throw or make quick outlet passes.

As City Section 11-man football coaches prepare for the official start of practices on Monday, there’s a noticeable change under way.

They’re not fighting one another. Rather, they are uniting as a group, understanding and embracing their similar challenges while trying to create environments to keep the players and their parents invested in the future.

They still gripe and complain, but it’s part of working in the Los Angeles Unified School District. They are sacrificing, many as walk-on coaches, for “little” victories that inspire them to keep coaching.

Whether they realize it or not, this is the only way forward — helping kids develop as players and students first. Worry about on-field wins and losses later.

All they want is a fair and equitable playing field, though sometimes even that can’t be achieved.

Coaches have had to put themselves out on a limb. There was courage displayed last season when the head coaches at San Pedro, Gardena, Carson and Banning decided to forfeit games against Narbonne while demanding an investigation by LAUSD into alleged rule violations. Families were not happy at losing the opportunity to play games. Purists who believe forfeiting is never acceptable were aghast. Coaches involved received strong criticism by some.

It forced an investigation, resulting in players being declared ineligible and Narbonne vacating its City title and being declared ineligible for the 2025, 2026 and 2027 playoffs.

Every coach who signed on to the protest ended up resigning except for San Pedro’s Corey Walsh. They helped clean up a mess that shouldn’t had been allowed to fester.

When City Section coaches gathered for their annual meeting last month to discuss the season ahead, there were many hugs, handshakes and discussions of identical challenges (academic eligibility, increasing roster numbers, finding assistant coaches, concerns about federal immigration raids). The warmth was real because many of the older coaches have been mentors. Hamilton’s Elijah Asante used to coach L.A. Jordan first-year coach James Boyd.

So many families have left. The days when Carson, Banning, Dorsey and Crenshaw could compete against and beat the best of the Southern Section teams are gone. Remember when Crenshaw played De La Salle in the CIF Open Division state championship game in 2009? Coach Robert Garrett is still around with 290 career victories, but the Cougars’ roster hovers around 25 players with no JV team.

It doesn’t mean the former powers can’t rise again as champions within the City Section. Those who have stayed, from coaches to players, deserve praise for taking on an adventure that can be daunting. There are good, loyal people determined to help along the way.

New facilities have opened. All-weather fields and new grass fields are multiplying. Garfield, Roosevelt and Hamilton debut new stadiums this fall. A strong collection of City Section quarterbacks are ready to let the ball fly, from Eagle Rock’s Liam Pasten to Carson’s Chris Fields. There is no certain dominant team, though the usual contenders — Birmingham, Carson, San Pedro — are teams to watch. So far, 71 schools are playing 11-man football.

There’s a story line certain to provide inspiration — Palisades High trying to rise again after its campus was damaged during the Palisades fire. Even though its football field was largely untouched, the team is starting the season not allowed to play on the field and will be playing at Santa Monica College. Students have yet to return to the campus. TV cameras will be out en force to capture the drama if the Dolphins can put together a dream season.

Southern Section teams also begin practices on Monday. If you think you’re watching the movie “Groundhog Day,” you are correct. Every Division 1 title since 2016 has been won by Mater Dei or St. John Bosco. It’s almost certain to happen again in 2025.

It doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be some outstanding games in the Southern Section, starting with the Aug. 22 matchup of Santa Margarita and new coach Carson Palmer taking on Mission Viejo at Trabuco Hills.

There’s always excitement and intrigue when the pads first come on next week. Teaching kids who have never worn shoulder pads is both comedy and memorable. It will be just one more responsibility for City Section coaches who receive a $5,622 stipend over four months and are expected to be Superman every day.

To all coaches, thank you for your sacrifice and for providing teenagers the guidance, discipline and structure that will be needed when their playing careers are finished.

Granada Hills means business in the City Section softball playoffs that began Thursday. Beaten in the championship game the last two seasons, the Highlanders opened action with a 13-0, mercy-rule win over Banning in the Open Division.

Addison Moorman gave up no hits and struck out 11 in five innings. Lainey Brown and Elysse Diaz each had three hits. Granada Hills, seeded No. 1 in the eight-team tournament, will play host to Venice in Wednesday’s semifinals.

Venice 2, El Camino Real 1: In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Gondoliers won it when Abigail Acensio got a walk-off single with the bases loaded. Violet Acensio struck out four with no walks in nine innings. Sophomore Remy Glassman of El Camino Real struck out 12.

San Pedro 6, Kennedy 1: Caroline Baker scattered nine hits, while striking out eight with no walks, for the Pirates, who will have a rematch with Marine League rival Carson in the semifinals on Wednesday. Jenna Ortega had two hits and two RBIs.

Carson 16, Birmingham 5: The Colts picked up a mercy-rule win in the sixth inning. Rylee Gardner hit two home run and drove in six.