The city section used to produce many top runners, from Charles White in San Fernando to Milton Knox in Birmingham. This season, Garfield's Cesar Reyes set a school record with 420 yards rushing in a game, and Santee's Darnell Miller set a city section record with 502 yards against Jefferson.
The talent level has dropped significantly at all positions, but the quarterbacks are shooting hard this season and putting up big numbers. There will be some tough competition for All-City quarterback honors.
The likely Open Division playoff quarterbacks are all having outstanding seasons: Carson's Chris Fields, San Pedro's Seth Osorio, Palisades' Jack Thomas, Eagle Rock's Liam Pasten, Birmingham's Kevin Hawkins and Kennedy's Diego Montes. Junior guard Bennett Dome of Venice was making significant progress before an injury forced him out of the game on Friday.
Freshman Thaddeus Breault of Hamilton passed for 2,551 yards and 26 touchdowns. South Gate junior Michael Gonzalez is a two-way threat. Last week against Huntington Park, he passed for 305 yards and five touchdowns and rushed for 131 yards and one touchdown.
All these competent quarterbacks mean that when the playoffs begin in two weeks, no game is necessarily over because they are capable of perfecting a two-minute drill and turning a loss into a win.
This is a daily look at positive developments in school sports. To report any news, email [email protected].
