League Foes Will Vie for Section Titles

It’s easy to determine the power-broker leagues in the Southern Section playoffs. In four of the 13 divisions, teams from the same league will face each other for section championships that will be decided Friday and Saturday.

Top-seeded Ventura St. Bonaventure (12-1) should have a psychological edge in the Division IV title game Friday at Channel League runner-up Ventura (11-2).

The Seraphs didn’t exactly steamroll opponents the way most expected en route to a sixth consecutive appearance in the finals. They allowed 14, 18 and 21 points in consecutive playoff victories and had to come from behind to beat San Luis Obispo, 28-21, on Saturday.

St. Bonaventure beat Ventura, 42-28, in Week 8. An optimistic statistic for Ventura: It has allowed fewer points in the playoffs, 29, than the Seraphs.

In Division V, Mountain View League champion Corona Centennial (12-1) delivered a scoring onslaught on its way to the title game Friday at Norco, where it will play the league runner-up Cougars (12-1).

Centennial beat Temecula Valley, 63-19, in its semifinal Saturday. The Huskies scored on their first seven possessions, and Brandon Minor rushed for five touchdowns against the Golden Bears, who lost in the semifinals for the fourth year in a row.

Centennial scored a 37-6 victory over Norco in Week 5, but the Cougars’ standout running back, Toby Gerhart, didn’t get through the first quarter before he re-injured his ankle. A couple of injuries to offensive linemen added to Norco’s troubles that night.

Gerhart ran for a season-high 323 yards in a 35-21 victory over previously undefeated Lake Elsinore Temescal Canyon.

In the Division VII final, San Antonio League champion West Covina South Hills (9-4) will play Friday at West Covina (10-2-1), which finished third in the league standings.

West Covina avenged a 13-10 loss to runner-up Walnut with a 31-27 victory in a semifinal. The difference was provided by junior Xavier Tucker’s second interception, returned 45 yards for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, and the Bulldogs came back from a 27-17 deficit with 8:50 left.

Two-time defending champion South Hills (9-4) reached the finals on the strength of Marquis Winbush’s two touchdown runs and Kevin Mort’s four touchdown passes in a 41-18 victory over top-seeded, and previously unbeaten, El Monte Arroyo.

South Hills defeated West Covina, 17-10, in Week 9.

In Division XI, Tri-Valley League champion Westlake Village Oaks Christian (13-0) will play runner-up Oak Park (12-1) at Thousand Oaks on Saturday. In Week 4, Oaks Christian won, 54-20.

To reach the final, Oaks Christian defeated the league’s third-place team, Ojai Nordhoff, 42-6, when Jimmy Clausen passed for 279 yards and four touchdowns, all in the first half.

Oak Park reached its second consecutive final by defeating Cerritos Valley Christian, 40-13, on Friday behind quarterback Doug Deakin, who passed for a touchdown and ran for two.

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When it comes to key plays, few were bigger than those at the end of the first half in Norco’s 35-21 victory over Temescal Canyon. The Titans, holding a 21-14 lead and driving at the Norco 35-yard line, failed to convert a fourth-and-10 with 18 seconds left.

Two plays later, Norco was in the end zone. Gerhart ran for 20 yards, and a personal foul added 15. Then, Tommy Martin scored on a reverse that covered 30 yards and tied the score, 21-21.

That wasn’t the only costly personal foul of the weekend. Lakewood’s Terrell Cole intercepted a pass at the Los Alamitos 30 and returned it to the seven-yard line, putting Lakewood in position for a fourth-quarter touchdown.

But Cole was flagged for excessive celebration. That moved the ball back to the 22, Lakewood’s field-goal attempt was blocked, and Los Alamitos hung on for a 14-9 victory.

“I would have celebrated too,” Lakewood Coach Mike Christensen said.

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Three dots and a cloud of dust: Top-seeded Phelan Serrano (13-0) was more physical and dominated quicker Pomona Diamond Ranch, 38-14, behind the play of Carl Uhl, who rushed for 147 yards and a touchdown in a Division VIII semifinal. Serrano will play host Saturday to third-seeded Palm Springs, which advanced to its first final with a 31-18 victory over Ridgecrest Burroughs behind the play of quarterback-kicker Scott Saunders and tailback-safety A.J. Scott.... Burroughs’ Karsten Sween passed for 296 yards and two touchdowns against Palm Springs. He finished the season with 4,345 yards, the fourth-highest total in state history, and 46 touchdowns, which is tied for 10th.

Matt Wabby’s three touchdowns helped Encino Crespi score a 25-8 Division X semifinal victory over two-time defending champion Lompoc and end the Southern Section’s longest active winning streak at 23 games. The longest streak now belongs to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, which has won 21 in a row, followed by Oaks Christian, which has won 17.