Gardena Serra

Junior guard Marqise Lee of Gardena Serra needs more room on his hand for championship rings. He was a starting defensive back for the 15-0 football team, and on Saturday at the Honda Center, he earned another ring by making the decisive plays in the final 30 seconds to help the basketball team defeat Compton Centennial, 62-58, to win the Southern Section Division 3A championship. "I'm going to wear both ones on both hands," he said. Lee scored 13 points off the bench. He scored on a layup with 27 seconds left to put Serra (30-2)

"Who's your Daddy?" That was the chant from the Gardena Serra student section on Thursday night at the Anaheim Convention Center, and Daddy Ugbede was enjoying every second of it. "That's my name," the 6-foot-7 senior from Nigeria said. "I hear it every game. I like it. " Ugbede came through with 32 points, making 14 of 20 shots, to help Serra (29-2) defeat La Verne Lutheran, 69-59, in the Southern Section Division 4AA championship basketball game. When it comes to size and athletes, Serra is near the top in Southern California.

It's a Fab Four with a show-stopping frontman and a pivotal presence in the background. And it wouldn't be complete, of course, without Paul and George. Gardena Serra's magical mystery tour of a season will make a final stop at the Home Depot Center on Saturday because of what might be the finest foursome of high school receivers in the nation. Robert Woods, Lindsey Anderson, Paul Richardson and George Farmer are receivers for the unbeaten Cavaliers, who will play Kentfield Marin Catholic in the Division III state championship bowl game.

More competitive divisions and all-out battles brewing between private schools are the highlights from the Southern Section-Ford boys' basketball playoff brackets released Sunday. Usually, the strongest divisions rank from 1 to 6, but that can be ignored because 4AA has been labeled the "Super Division," with its cast of ambitious private schools, all of whom have enrollments of no more than 1,250 students. It's going to be a demolition derby before a champion is crowned. 1AA Top-seeded teams: 1. Santa Ana Mater Dei (24-2)

When Francisco Olloqui booted the conversion kick in pouring rain late Friday night to give Gardena Serra a 42-41 win over Westlake Village Oaks Christian in overtime, bedlam erupted. Serra players charged onto the field, and its fans were not far behind. The Cavaliers had pulled off a feat no team had accomplished since 2002 -- beating Oaks Christian in a playoff game. Conner Preston's one-yard touchdown plunge gave Olloqui the chance to end it in a classic game between two 13-0 teams for the Northwest Division championship.

There was no downplaying the historic moment that Gardena Serra achieved Saturday with its 63-59 overtime victory over Oakland Bishop O'Dowd in the state Division III boys' basketball  championship game. The Cavaliers became the first school in California to win football and basketball state titles in the same school year. Not Santa Ana Mater Dei, not Concord De La Salle, not Los Angeles Crenshaw — no athletic powerhouse, private or public, had done it until Saturday.

Quarterback Eugene Davis engineered two first-quarter touchdown drives and Gardena Serra defeated Century in a Southern Section Division VII first-round playoff game, 14-12, Friday night at Serra High School. Serra will play La Mirada in the second round Friday night. Davis threw a 61-yard touchdown pass to Rashaan Shehee with 7 minutes 18 seconds left in the first quarter to give Serra a 7-0 lead.

There are so many prolific offensive weapons for Gardena Serra quarterback Conner Preston to work with that Coach Scott Altenberg has to warn him to stop trying to produce a touchdown on every play. "It's not going to happen," Altenberg tells Preston and Serra fans. That doesn't mean the Cavaliers can't put together offensive highlights worthy of a SportsCenter viewing, such as Friday night, when Paul Richardson Jr. made two acrobatic catches for touchdowns, Domonique McGee broke off a 62-yard touchdown run and Preston displayed a level of toughness critical for a championship run. It all came together in a 27-17 victory over No. 18-ranked Carson in a game that was physical, hard fought and full of fast, versatile athletes.

Before he could catch George Farmer in the state-title hunt, Covina's Remontay McClain had some ground to make up on the sprinter from Gardena Serra in the 100 meters. McClain trailed Farmer with 15 meters to go Saturday night at the state track meet at Clovis Buchanan High. Even McClain wasn't sure he could make up the difference. "It's hard catching someone who's as fast as you," McClain said. McClain surged down the stretch to win in a wind-aided 10.448 seconds — one-thousandth of a second ahead of Farmer.

There's no need to inspect the expense accounts of USC Coach Pete Carroll or UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel to figure out the epicenter of their recruiting battle over the next two years. They'll be hanging out at Gardena Serra, a 300-student all-boys school that's stocked with football talent. With apologies to Long Beach Poly, Westlake Village Oaks Christian and Mission Viejo, Serra is the school with a group of skill-position players who rank as can't-miss college prospects.

Jahmal Wright was a 17-year-old starting free safety in 1994 for No. 1-seeded Culver City when the Centaurs were beaten in the opening round of the Southern Section Division VII football playoffs by No. 16 Santa Maria. On Friday night, Wright was able "to get rid of that memory" after Culver City, seeded No. 16 in the Western Division playoffs, turned the tables and upset No. 1 Gardena Serra, 21-14. "To be on the other side is sweet redemption," said Wright, in his third year as coach.

Gardena Serra players tried to celebrate Friday night after an improbable 35-29 upset victory over West Hills Chaminade to claim the Mission League title. Guess what happened? "They tried to dump me with water, tripped and dumped it on themselves," Coach Scott Altenberg said. "That's us in a nutshell. " Yes, it wasn't pretty. Serra had nine fumbles caused by bad snaps or dropped balls. There were penalties and chaotic moments that left their fans in a frenzy and their coaches scrambling.

It was a rare day of carnage for the private (school) sector. The lofty coaching salaries, nonexistent attendance boundaries and financial-aid packages for some players couldn't boost Mission Hills Alemany, Gardena Serra, Encino Crespi and Los Angeles Loyola in high-profile matchups with public counterparts. Southern Section private schools were a combined 19-10 in head-to-head meetings with public school opponents Friday, a significant drop-off from the 34-7 record they posted three weekends ago. What in the name of air-conditioned charter buses and perfectly manicured fields was going on?

They're the biggest teenagers on a high school football field, the offensive linemen, and no one seems to notice them until they're called for a holding penalty. But after an exhausting weekend of driving around Southern California and watching five games in three days while getting about six hours of sleep each night, my first impression is there are some very good offensive lines this season. The quarterbacks and running backs at Anaheim Servite, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, Orange Lutheran and Gardena Serra are going to appreciate the big bodies up front.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame has produced two state 100-meter track champions who were 2,000-yard rushers in football, Justin Fargas and Rodney Glass, and now the Knights have a running back even faster than those two speedsters at a similar age. Khalfani Muhammad is his name, and when he gets some daylight, the end zone suddenly doesn't look very far away. The junior rushed for 151 yards in 22 carries and scored two touchdowns on Friday night as the Knights wiped away the memories of a 2-8 season in 2010 by knocking off Gardena Serra, 35-13.

Top high school games Santa Ana Mater Dei at Carson, 7 p.m., Friday: Last season, Carson upset the Monarchs in the debut of new Coach Elijah Asante. The Colts have offensive fire power with USC-bound receiver Darreus Rogers and new quarterback Kevin McMahon, a transfer from South Torrance. But Mater Dei won't take the Colts lightly this time, and new quarterback Ryan McMahon was impressive in summer competitions. The pick: Mater Dei. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame at Gardena Serra, 7 p.m., Friday: Notre Dame lost several close games last season en route to an uncharacteristic 2-8 record.

It's a new era in City Section football, a changing of the guard and perhaps a changing of tactics. The days of domination by quick, big-play running backs such as De'Anthony Thomas of Crenshaw and Milton Knox of Lake Balboa Birmingham could be ending, with a new emphasis on spread offenses that rely on athletic, versatile, strong-armed quarterbacks. The face of the future is Troy Williams, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound junior at Harbor City Narbonne (10-3), which plays Carson (8-5)

As football coach at Gardena Serra High, Scott Altenberg has developed dozens of players who earned college scholarships. It didn't take him long to recognize that Robert Woods, Marqise Lee and George Farmer would keep the tradition going. He just never envisioned all three Serra stars would end up as USC receivers. "I'm a UCLA graduate," Altenberg said, laughing, "so that would have been a nightmare, not a vision. " USC Coach Lane Kiffin clearly saw the possibilities.

As football coach at Gardena Serra High, Scott Altenberg has developed dozens of players who earned college scholarships. It didn't take him long to recognize that Robert Woods, Marqise Lee and George Farmer would keep the tradition going. He just never envisioned all three Serra stars would end up as USC receivers. "I'm a UCLA graduate," Altenberg said, laughing, "so that would have been a nightmare, not a vision. " USC Coach Lane Kiffin clearly saw the possibilities.