All Ball Sports: Sea Hawks dueling QBs, Dodgers fall hope
by Paul Teetor
A star was born Friday night at the Redondo-Banning football game – or at the very least a potential quarterback controversy was born.
Redondo came into the home game with a 3-1 record behind a quarterback, Niko London, who had managed the offense efficiently while the Sea Hawk’s suffocating defense carried the team.
Indeed, the Sea Hawks would have had an undefeated record if they hadn’t suffered an unlucky 14-13 loss to Mira Costa due to a last-minute fumble that the Mustangs turned into a touchdown and a one-point win over their archrival.
Quarterback Niko London (above) led the Sea Hawks to a 3-1 record going into last Friday’s game against Banning. Photos by Ray Vidal
But even as Redondo was rolling along in its early non-league games, they knew that Cole Leinart, the son of former USC quarterback Matt Leinart and former USC basketball player Brynn Cameron, was going to become eligible to play for them on September 27 against Banning High School after sitting out the first four games as a transfer from Newport Harbor.
Leinart, a 6-foot-3 gunslinger with plenty of self-confidence to go along with his abundant ability, was highly touted in the scouting report — but that was on paper. On the field, you’re measured by what you actually do.
Friday night Leinart lived up to all the hype that had followed him from Mater Dei to Newport Harbor and finally to Redondo.
On Redondo’s very first play from scrimmage, he connected with wide receiver Cadence Turner for a 57-yard touchdown that would propel the Sea Hawks to a 32-7 victory.
After Ethan Maleman ran for an 11-yard touchdown to give Redondo a 14-0 lead with four minutes still to play in the first quarter, Leinart hooked up again with Turner for a 16-yard touchdown pass that gave the Sea Hawks a 20-0 lead.
Redondo Coach Keith Ellison loved what he saw from his newly eligible quarterback, who connected on 7 of 13 passes for 142 yards and three touchdowns.
“What Leinart showed out there was his arm strength and accuracy,” Ellison said. “He’s a very good quarterback and him getting out there and being able to shake off some of that rust was great. It was great to see him have success, especially early on.”
Ellison and the coaching staff also used Niko London at quarterback, keeping Banning guessing as to who would be under center. London finished with 67 yards passing.
“London has done a great job this year and he deserved the opportunity to stay out there,” Ellison explained. “We wanted to show a few different looks to Banning, and we had the opportunity to play both of those guys and keep their defense guessing.”
Still, Leinart was the starter for this game and unless and until he has a bad game or two, it is likely he will remain the starter with London as a backup and occasional fill in to confuse the defense.
Turner had two touchdowns and caught 5 passes for 97 yards. He also had a 50-yard kickoff return and a 30-yard punt return. He is emerging as a two-way star for the Sea Hawks, he also plays defensive back.
Banning’s offense was limited to 173 yards on the night. Coach Ellison said Turner was matched up for much of the night with Pilots playmaker Steven Perez 1-on-1. Perez was held to 9 yards.
“Turner is one of the best players in the area, and for him to demonstrate what he can do offensively, and then on defense guarding Perez, he was great,” Ellison said. “A lot goes into defending a guy like that, but he was able to take on that role and play both sides of the ball. He’s awesome to coach.”
Redondo’s first-team defense has allowed just two touchdowns this season, and the Sea Hawks have allowed just 10 points over their last three games.
“Our defense is playing at a level that I couldn’t have predicted,” Ellison said. “We just have guys at every level playing out of their minds. They really push each other to get to a level where they want to dominate every week.”
Based on this one game – admittedly a small sample size — Leinart may soon raise the Sea Hawks offensive level to where it is equal to the team’s defensive level.
As they head into their first Pioneer League game next week at Torrance, Redondo is looking like an emerging powerhouse.
Mira Costa Shut Out
Meanwhile the Mira Costa football team was shut out Friday night for the first time since Palos Verdes did it in 2021.
The 18-0 loss to Villa Park means that Costa will head into its Bay League opener against Lawndale next Friday night on a two-game losing streak. After opening the season with a three-game win streak, Costa is struggling, especially on offense. They had a total of 160 yards of offense in this game.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow offensively,” Mira Costa quarterback Liam Meeker said. “That’s completely on me, but we just have to have a new focus. We have to change something for next week against Lawndale.”
Meeker completed six of his 21 passes, while running back AJ McBean rushed for a season-low 63 yards.
Nothing went right for Mira Costa. The Villa Park defense held the visitors to three three-and-out possessions, one turnover-on-downs, five punts and an interception.
Just as he did last week, Meeker failed to pass or rush for a touchdown after starting the season throwing two touchdown passes in two of the first three games and rushing for a score in the other.
“We have to move past this,” he said. “We have the Bay League coming up so it’s 0-0 and that’s what we’re focusing on now.”
Dodgers: All the way with Shohei
The Dodgers clinched their 11th National League West title in 12 years this week.
But in all that time and over all those post-season games, they have won exactly one World Series. That was in the pandemic shortened 2020 season, with all the playoff games played in a Texas Stadium with no fans and very little fanfare. Indeed, they haven’t won a real World Series title since 1988, when the famous Kirk Gibson home run set the tone for a thrilling win.
That was 36 years ago.
But there is plenty of hope that this year will be different, that this year is the year the Boys in Blue will finally deliver a real, genuine, authentic World Series title to their fans in Dodgers Stadium.
All that fresh hope is largely due to one man: Shohei Ohtani.
In his first year with the Dodgers, he carried them through a rough season filled with injuries and off-the-field drama.
He hit .310, smashed 54 home runs to set the franchise record and drove in 130 runs. He stole 59 bases – behind only the great Maury Wills and his incredible record of 104 stolen bases in 1962 – and he delivered in the clutch every time the Dodgers absolutely, positively had to have a win.
Thanks to a first-round bye earned by their best record in the National League, the Dodgers now have a week off before their playoffs start – and boy do they need it.
A harrowing end of the regular season has left them both exhausted and elated, and with good reason.
As recently as last week it looked like they could lose their season-long grip on first place to the onrushing San Diego Padres, who came within one game of them before the Dodgers won the last two of a three-game set with them to clinch the NL West.
“They all feel sweet, but I’ll tell you, man, with what we’ve gone through this year, this feels a tick sweeter,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I’m just so proud of these guys, the way that we’ve fought the adversity, stuck together and found a way to win this division again. It was hard-fought. We earned it. Today sort of epitomized our season — just kind of battling from behind, fighting, scratching, clawing and willing ourselves to victory.”
The Dodgers never trailed in the NL West. They went just 11-13 in July, but they came back to go 19-8 in August. Every time it seemed as if they might be vulnerable, they responded. Every time it seemed as if they might wilt under the weight of expectations, they met them.
“We like high expectations,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “We relish them. It beats the s— out of the alternative. People care, they’re passionate about the Dodgers. They have high expectations. So do we. We think that’s a great thing. And for us, this is step one. This is what we talked about in spring training. The first step was to win the division and put ourselves in position to get the bye. We’ve done that. And now the ultimate goal is in line. We need to do all we can to put ourselves in position to win 11 games.”
Ohtani was overjoyed, considering that he never came close to the playoffs in his six seasons with the Angels.
“It was an awesome feeling,” Ohtani, speaking through an interpreter, said of taking part in his first pennant clinching celebration. “I’m hoping to be able to continue popping champagne.”
You will, big guy, you will.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com. ER