The lights came on for high school football last week, and not all teams looked like they were ready for gametime.
In recent history the City Section has come down to Narbonne and Crenshaw high schools. Since the 2006 season, these two teams have met in the playoffs every year except for 2011. In three of the last five years, the teams have met in the City Championship game and have won every City title since 2008. Both teams have won the championship three times, with Crenshaw knocking off Narbonne last season.
In the opening weekend of the season, Narbonne looked like a team ready to get back to the City title game, but Crenshaw did not look as good as their championship team from a season ago. They were playing powerhouse Long Beach Poly, who won the game 54-14. Narbonne knocked off Palos Verdes 49-28. This Friday Narbonne will get their shot against Poly.
Crenshaw fans should not worry at this point because it was a non-league game. Crenshaw, and Narbonne, typically play tough non-league schedules to prepare themselves for league play, which determines playoff seedings.
At this point, Crenshaw is still the favorite to win the Coliseum League, but Dorsey looks like this may be the year that they can give Crenshaw some competition. Dorsey has reached back into their past by bringing Stafon Johnson onto their coaching staff. Johnson is one of the greatest running backs in the history of the program, and he could bring back a tough style of football. That may be exactly what the team needs to compete with Crenshaw.
Dorsey’s offense looked good last week, as they knocked off Hamilton 50-13. They’ll have a tougher opponent this Friday night, as they travel to Palmdale to take on Paraclete.
In the Western League, Venice is another team that plays a tough non-league schedule, but that did not work out for them in the season opener. They played powerhouse Chaminade, who dominated the game winning 70-23.
That is not a good look for Venice, but until they lose a league game, they are still the clear favorite. They have not lost a league game since 2005. Usually Fairfax appears to have a chance to end Venice’s dominance, but they did not get off to a good startthis season either. They lost last week to Roosevelt 31-13. Fairfax was without their starting quarterback, and they lost one of their two starting running backs in practice. That was too much for them to overcome, and it does not get any better for them, as they travel to Carson this Friday night.
This week’s schedule
(all games are Friday at 7 p.m. unless noted)
Crenshaw at South East
Dymally at Washington
Fairfax at Carson
Locke at San Pedro
University at South Gate
Wilson at Santee
Manual Arts at Chatsworth
Palisades at Marshall
Dominguez at Jordan
Roybal at Fremont
View Park at Hollywood
Compton at Centennial, 5 p.m.
Culver City at West Torrance
Inglewood at Laguna Hills
Leuzinger at El Segundo
Jordan at Dominguez
Lynwood at Hawthorne
St. Bernard at Lancaster
St. John Bosco vs. Norwalk at Cerritos College
Animo South Los Angeles vs. Morningside at Coleman
Stadium
Dorsey vs. Paraclete
Hamilton at Newport Harbor
McAuliffe at West Adams
Narbonne vs. Long Beach Poly at Veterans Stadium
Verbum Dei at Gardena
Westchester at Bishop Montgomery
Banning at Torrance
Bellevue (Wash.) vs. Gardena Serra at Oceanside
