LOS ANGELES - It was not meant to be for San Pedro High football on Friday at Jackie Robinson Stadium, but they went down swinging.

Without two key players, and losing two more along the way, the Pirates couldn't overcome an early first quarter surge from host Dorsey of Los Angeles and would suffer a 31-9 defeat in the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division 1 semifinals, which ended a better-than-expected 2016 season at 10-3 overall.

Third-seeded San Pedro played without junior RB/LB Kai Kaneshiro, who suffered a broken collarbone in last week's 13-10 quarterfinal win over Palisades, senior linebacker Sohl Gafa who hadn't played since suffering a season-ending knee injury in a Marine League victory over Banning of Wilmington, and then they would lose senior quarterback Austin Jackson in the second quarter with a shoulder injury, and later in the third quarter, senior linebacker Einar Ramirez to another injury.

The Pirates also brought back senior cornerback Brandon Johnson and senior linebacker Nick Zabatta who both missed the first two rounds of the playoffs due to injuries just for the chance at playing for a CIF-LACS Division 1 championship, which the second-seeded Dons (10-3) earned that right to face top-seeded Narbonne (13-0), a 54-20 winner over fifth-seeded El Camino Real next Saturday, 7 pm at El Camino College.

Dorsey's star sophomore running back Charles Mincy Jr. would rush for three first quarter touchdowns, including his last being a 53-yard burst up the middle for a 18-0 lead. Mincy Jr. finished with 117 yards rushing on just 12 carries for the Dons.

Jackson would go down with a bone separation in his shoulder on the opening play of San Pedro's next offensive drive, which ended with a 28-yard field goal from senior kicker Tanner Carcamo early in the second quarter to cut Dorsey's lead to 18-3 before the Dons added to it with quarterback Jerman Gotoy's 16-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Atoine Williams for a 25-3 advantage at intermission.

Wounded, but not yet defeated, San Pedro somehow managed to shutout Dorsey in the third quarter while the offense continued to struggle to manage drives, then Gotoy's three-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter all but sealed the Dons' first CIF-LACS championship appearance since their runner-up finish in 2004.

San Pedro's final drive of the 2016 season would end with a one-yard touchdown run by junior backup quarterback Matthew Marquez, which ended a 10-play, 70-yard drive with 2:53 remaining in the game. Junior running back Sean Davenport ran for 109 yards in 17 carries for San Pedro to cap off a stellar run of games for him since the start of the Marine League.

A promising season didn't end the way San Pedro wanted it, but they made their town proud by getting this far and exceeding all expectations that were put in front of them with first-year head coach Corey Miller.