Advertisement

Football: Serra is the underdog against Narbonne

Share

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

They don’t play in the same league or even in the same playoff division, but there’s still plenty at stake when Gardena Serra hosts Harbor City Narbonne tonight. First and foremost is South Bay supremacy, but beyond that are postseason bowl aspirations and state rankings.

Narbonne is the defending Los Angeles City Section Division 1 champion and is the favorite to repeat. The Gauchos are rated fifth in the state by Cal-Hi Sports and #4 in the Southland by The Times. They enter this matchup as the favorites, having outscored their first three opponents 158-6. Washington-bound quarterback Troy Williams has 39 completions for well over 500 yards and four touchdowns.

Advertisement

If any team has enough speed and athletes to give Narbonne a game it could be the Cavaliers, who are also undefeated and are coming off a 39-0 victory over Wilmington Banning. They are ranked 10th in the state by Cal-Hi and #10 in the Southland by The Times behind quarterback Jalen Greene. Just like Williams, he has 39 completions--nine of them for TDs--and he has run for over 250 yards and three scores. Serra has lost only seven times over the last six seasons and won 29 straight games from 2009 through 2010.

Narbonne and Serra share a common opponent, each having beaten Long Beach Poly, but the Gauchos did so far more convincingly. The Cavaliers began the season with a 26-23 victory over Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (ranked #24 by The Times) and have home field advantage, but can they pull the upset?

The teams split two meetings the last two seasons, each winning on its home field. Narbonne wants to stay on track for a berth in the CIF Open Division regional bowl game and Serra is currently the South frontrunner in Division 2.

-- Steve Galluzzo

Advertisement