LOS ANGELES - Everyone in the neighboring cities near the Pacific Ocean of San Pedro and Wilmington, California calls it The Battle Of The Harbor.

Everyone at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Friday, October 18, 2024 called this 88th all-time meeting, The Harbor Classic.

San Pedro and Banning High on this night provided all the elements of both... a battle, and a classic.

It all came down to one final play.

Once Banning scored their overtime touchdown, everyone in the vicinity knew the Pilots were not going to settle for the casual kick between the uprights. It was no guts, no glory time. However, San Pedro called for a blitz package on the ensuing two-point conversion to stall Banning's awesome three-position standout senior Steven Perez's designed quarterback draw.

San Pedro held, survived, and celebrated a 34-33 triumph that earned the Pirates' their first Marine League victory of 2024 and all but guarantees a berth in the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Open Division playoffs.

This was San Pedro's sixth time playing in the home of the USC Trojans in program history, improving their Coliseum lifetime record to 4-1-1, joining the 1996 and 1997 back-to-back CIF-LACS Division 4A championship teams, and the 2016 Coliseum Gridiron Classic 2 team... that also was victorious over Banning.

San Pedro (6-3 overall, 1-2 league) started the extra session on offense, and on a fourth-and-four situation from the Banning six-yard line, senior quarterback Marcus Jeronymo instinctively found junior wide receiver Elias Redlew just in front of the goal line for the go-ahead touchdown.

Sophomore kicker Dylan Moreno perfectly splits the uprights for a 34-27 San Pedro edge, but as always in this rivalry, Banning (4-5, 0-3) was quick to provide a rebuttal.

Junior QB/MLB Noah Tuvalu struck for a 10-yard touchdown pass to senior WR/DB Adrian Guzman, his third scoring grab of the night, brought the Pilots to within a single point, prompting the coaching staff to immediately put two fingers up, signifying they were going for the win.

It was a direct snap to Perez, but the Pirates' defense, sparked by a surging senior RB/LB Pete Eneliko, junior linebacker K'Shawn Davis, senior linebacker Blake Spanjol and senior defensive lineman Lorenzo Saluzzi, stood their ground for the game-winning stop.

Both teams traded punts on their opening possessions, but San Pedro struck first with Eneliko's 18-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 lead with 6:58 left in the first quarter. Banning responded quickly with Perez's 20-yard touchdown pass to Guzman to knot the score at 7 apiece with 2:14 to play before the quarter ended.

Right as the first quarter ended, a high punt snap by San Pedro provided the Pilots a bonus red zone opportunity, which they cashed in with Perez's 10-yard quarterback draw run for a 13-7 lead on the first play of the second quarter, but the PAT missed.

San Pedro's offense then countered with an 8-play, 80-yard drive, regaining the lead at 14-13 on Jeronymo's 9-yard touchdown strike to Redlew.

Perez's goal-line jump pass touchdown to sophomore RB/LB Kody Galloway created another lead change, but Eneliko's two-yard touchdown run capping off a 14-play, 90-yard drive aided by two defensive pass interference penalties gave San Pedro a 21-20 lead with 16 seconds remaining in the second quarter, which stayed that way until the break.

Senior cornerback Abe Radisic’s interception to start the third quarter led to a 27-yard field goal by Moreno, increasing San Pedro's advantage to 24-20. On Banning's next possession, senior OL/DL Krishna Moore makes a pivotal stop on fourth down in San Pedro territory for a turnover on downs.

Moreno's second field goal of 31 yards once again boosted the Pirates' lead to 27-20 ten plays later with 1:06 to play in the third quarter, but with 6:41 showing on the fourth quarter clock, Tuvalu's first of two touchdown strikes to Guzman, a 21-yard connection on fourth down evened things up again at 27.

San Pedro appeared to have taken the lead again on the ensuing kickoff with sophomore WR/DB Jaxon Brown's 96-yard return, but offsetting penalties on both schools forced a do-over. San Pedro marched past midfield on Jeronymo's first-down pass over the middle to Redlew, but the Pilots' defense was able to strip Redlew of the ball and recover the fumble.

Then, a handoff from Banning six plays later was bobbled, and Eneliko recovered the loose ball for another San Pedro defensive takeaway with just over two minutes to play in the ballgame.

Neither team threatened the other offensively for the remainder of regulation play.

San Pedro has now won the last three meetings with Banning, and four out of the last five since the pandemic shutdown, now breaking ahead in the series which is still relatively close at 44-41-3.

Next week is a bye for the Pirates, while Banning concludes the regular season with another rivalry tilt, hosting Carson.