Division Ii

The speed of Gardena Serra was bottled up for a half, but once they broke out there was no stopping the Cavaliers, who exploded for 20 unanswered points in the final two quarters to defeat host Huntington Beach Edison in the inaugural CIF state south regional Division II bowl game Friday night at Orange Coast College. The Cavaliers (13-2) advanced to their third state bowl in four years and will meet Oakdale for the Division II championship next Saturday at Home Depot Center in Carson.

Quarterback Cristian Solano helped deliver the first City Section football championship for San Fernando High in 37 years on Saturday night, running for two touchdowns and passing for three touchdowns in a 42-35 victory over Canoga Park in the Division II championship game at East Los Angeles College. "Party like 1975," read a poster a San Fernando fan was waving in the stands. Solano, a junior, completed 15 of 22 passes for 320 yards. Daemon Thompson had two interceptions and scored a touchdown.

When it's time to look back on the high school career of South East quarterback Jonathan Santos, people will remember him as the teenager who was so poised and unyielding at a time of adversity that he inspired teammates and coaches alike. South Gate South East (11-1) has made it to the City Section Division II semifinals Friday night against San Fernando even though its coach was fired early in the season, its principal was briefly removed and 10 players were suspended, then reinstated, for an alleged hazing incident.

As expected, Harbor City Narbonne was made the top-seeded team for the Los Angeles City Section Division I football playoffs by a selection committee Saturday morning. The Gauchos (10-0) wrapped up the Marine League title with a 53-7 rout of Gardena and will host No. 16 Los Angeles Locke in the first round Friday. If seedings hold, they will face No. 4 Carson in the semifinals in a rematch of Narbonne's 26-20 win Oct. 5. "Winning league is nice, but any coach or player would gladly trade that for a ring," Narbonne Coach Manuel Douglas said.

Reporting from Sacramento -- Her name is Emily Dinger, but she might as well change her last name to Dagger, because her three-point shooting in the second half and clutch free throw in the final seconds were the daggers in helping San Jose Archbishop Mitty defeat Riverside North, 56-54, in the Division II state championship game for girls' basketball at Power Balance Pavilion on Friday night. North (30-6) kept coming back but couldn't overtake the Monarchs (28-5) after Dinger's free throw put her team ahead by four points with 11 seconds left.

State championships Friday at Power Balance Pavilion Boys Division IV Los Angeles Price (26-8) vs. Richmond Salesian (33-2), 1:30 p.m.: There might not be a better game all weekend than this clash of athleticism and big-time talent. Price has 6-foot-8 San Diego State-bound Skylar Spencer and 6-7 Khalil Johnson, but its guard play will be crucial. Chris Martin, Chance Murray and Trey Dickerson have to avoid turnovers and make free throws.

Pride. Passion. Perseverance. To see those qualities on display in the bleachers and on the court Friday night at the City Section Division II basketball championship game made me proud to say I'm a graduate of the much-maligned Los Angeles Unified School District. Listening to the deafening crowd noise, watching the magnificent jump shots being drained by El Camino Real's Julian Richardson and Garfield's Francisco Aguilar, feeling the genuine excitement throughout the gym — it was high school sports at the absolute best.

If dethroning seven-time San Diego Section champion Oceanside two weeks ago was the highlight of the season for La Mesa Helix, then its 35-24 victory over Loomis Del Oro on Saturday in the CIF Division II state championship bowl game Saturday at the Home Depot Center was the icing on the cake. After losing their opener to Eastlake of Chula Vista, the Highlanders reeled off 13 consecutive victories, the last against a team whose only loss had been in overtime to Westlake Village Westlake, which represented Southern California in Saturday night's Open Division bowl game.

CIF STATE BOWL GAMES at Home Depot Center Friday Division IV: Sierra Canyon (14-0) vs. Le Grand (12-0), 4 p.m. Division I: Santa Margarita (12-2) vs. San Jose Bellarmine (12-1), 8 p.m. Saturday Division III: Fresno Washington (13-0) vs. Moraga Campolindo (14-0), noon Division II: La Mesa Helix (12-1) vs. Loomis Del Oro (13-1), 4 p.m. Open Division: Westlake (14-0) vs. Concord De La Salle (12-1), 8 p.m.

Troy Starr turns 50 in February. How quickly the years have gone by. He was a fiery 25-year-old assistant coach at Carson High in 1987 when the team was upset by Granada Hills in the City Section football championship game. In 1992, he became head coach at Woodland Hills Taft, taking over a program that had a 0-8-1 record the previous season. He lasted 14 seasons and built the Toreadors into a City Section power. He resigned in 2007 to become the director of football operations for Urban Meyer at the University of Florida.