Los Angeles, – CA The Banning Pilots (6-1) were simply unstoppable against the Carson Colts (2-3) in their rivalry homecoming game with a 56-24 victory in Wilmington on Friday night.
It’s a rivalry that started in 1963 and is still going strong today.
Both sides of the crowd showed up and showed out for their respective teams on this special night.
“You know it always feels good whenever you’re able to beat your rival,” said Banning Head Coach Raymond Grajeda. “Hats off to Carson. They came in and really played a hell of a game. They didn’t back down. They came in and went man to man with us. Hats off to Carson coming out and giving us a force.”
Banning was up 14-0 at the end of the first quarter, but Carson soon responded in the second quarter.
Carson junior quarterback Jelani Parker zipped it to senior receiver Jaden Jones for a 20-yard touchdown reception to put Carson on the board, 14-7 at the 11:39 mark in the second quarter.
False start penalties plagued Carson in the first half to give Banning the advantage at halftime 20-14.
In the second half, Banning’s offense kicked into second gear. The running backs ran hard and hit the open holes. Banning sophomore quarterback Robert Guerrero led his team and efficiently connected on his passes.
Due to injuries, Banning’s back-up players were able to fill in the gaps.
“The offense did a great job because everybody played. Our running back went out. Top receiver went out. Our second running back went out. And we had a mix of guys playing football that don’t normally get that kind of shine. So, when we practice together as a team, win as a team, and the guys that we didn’t expect to show up showed up today,” said Coach Grajeda.
Even though Carson was outmatched, they didn’t bow down.
“It always is a hard-fought game,” said Carson Head Coach Michael Christensen. “I loved our effort. I thought we hung in there. You know we were a little bit under manned. They had more guys. They were just bigger than we were upfront. More physical. But we hung in there and our guys did the best they could. So, I was proud of their fight. We did a good job.”
Coach Grajeda commented on how big this win was for his team and what he wants to carry over going forward.
“We just want to keep our heads up. We want to clean up our mistakes and go forward. For us this was big. This is our third year in a row beating Carson. This hasn’t happened since 1991-1992, so we’re talking about almost a thirty-year streak of not being able to beat them. Now we have a pattern, and hopefully we keep that momentum going through the rest of the season,” said Coach Grajeda.
The Banning Pilots host the Sierra Vista Dons next Friday, October 15th at 7 p.m.
