For the third time since 2011... the San Pedro High football team has survived and advanced into the quarterfinals of the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division 1 playoffs.

Not without a fight from visiting Palisades Charter, and in some cases... themselves.

Overcoming a slew of penalties and not scoring a touchdown on offense, third-seeded San Pedro would somehow manage to win 13-10 over the Dolphins in a hard-fought CIF-LACS Division 1 quarterfinal at Pirate Stadium, as the Pirates' best offense of the night, was their solid defense.

In fact, it was junior safety Corey Fausto who would make the most impactful play of the night for San Pedro (10-2 overall), as he recovered a fumble by Palisades senior running back Marrio Lofton and would rumble 61 yards for the touchdown to give the Pirates a 7-0 lead with 9:17 to play in the first quarter, which came after both teams' were held to three plays and out on their opening possessions of the contest.

Palisades (9-3) wasted little time in tying things up at 7-7 on a five-yard touchdown run from senior running back Innocent Okoh with 6:55 left in the first quarter, and the score would remain that way until San Pedro senior kicker Tanner Carcamo gave the Pirates a 10-7 edge on a 31-yard field goal to begin the second quarter.

Fortunately, San Pedro still remained ahead at halftime in spite of their last offensive possession ending in a punt after three straight penalties: a delay of game, and two straight false starts.

The defense continued to make plays in the second quarter, with senior cornerback Mikey Hernandez Jr. picking off his sixth pass of the season, and on another Palisades possession, it ended on downs.

The third quarter started with the Dolphins recovering an onside kick, and it eventually led to a 23-yard field goal by senior kicker Jake Taitelman with 8:53 to play that knotted the score at 10-10.

San Pedro would counter with a drive of their own that could have ended up better than it did... senior quarterback Austin Jackson scrambled for a 21-yard touchdown, but a holding penalty wiped out the score, and then an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty pushed the Pirates further back. Still, Carcamo blasted a line drive 40-yard field goal with 6:02 remaining in the third quarter that ended up being the final scoring tally.

Penalties not only hampered San Pedro, but they were a problem for Palisades as well.

One drive in the second quarter, Palisades drove the ball to San Pedro's six-yard line, but back-to-back holding penalties led to that drive stalling on downs. Midway through the fourth quarter, senior quarterback Jonah Manheim completed a 31-yard pass inside San Pedro's five-yard line, but a holding penalty followed by a six-yard loss on a sack from San Pedro senior defensive lineman Nick Ford forced a punt.

Two first-down runs from Jackson eventually was enough for San Pedro to run out the clock and survive.

Probably the most telling stat of this game was: San Pedro didn't turn the ball over offensively even though they were not able to produce a touchdown for only the second time this season. The other was a 41-3 loss to two-time defending CIF-LACS Division 1 champion Narbonne, and in that game, the Pirates didn't turn the ball over.

Junior running back Sean Davenport ran for a team-high 115 yards on 20 carries, while Jackson added 106 yards on 15 carries for San Pedro. Okoh ran for a game-high 124 yards and a touchdown for Palisades, who were tri-Western League champions with Venice and Westchester.

San Pedro will now travel to face an old adversary... in second-seeded Dorsey of Los Angeles next Friday at Rancho Cienega Park in the semifinals. Dorsey routed No.10 Garfield, 49-14 in their quarterfinal tilt.