The madness between San Pedro and Narbonne of Harbor City will once again attract heavy attention, with more than the Marine League championship at stake Friday night, 7 pm at San Pedro High. 

On paper and in concept, the defending CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division I champion Gauchos are overwhelming favorites, but anyone would be foolish to count out the Pirates, who are on a surge of their own going into the 2015 season finale.
These two neighboring foes have battled tooth and nail with each other since 1928, where San Pedro won the first battle with Narbonne, 8-6. To be honest, this rivalry has been evenly matched with one glaring exception, San Pedro’s 22-game win streak over Narbonne from 1984 to 2003, a streak that saw several amazing showdowns between the two in the late 1990’s, when San Pedro won four CIF-Los Angeles City Section titles (two in Division 3A, two in Division 4A).
San Pedro leads the overall all-time series, 52-32-3.

This rivalry reached its peak in 1996 when Melvin Yarbrough's short five-yard touchdown pass to Jose Bojorquez with zero ticks on the clock gave the Pirates a 16-14 victory at Daniels Field... only after a pass interference penalty on the Gauchos as time expired gave San Pedro that opporunity. Two game-ending celebrations were evident at Daniels Field except, it was San Pedro's that stood up. The Pirates eventually went 14-0 and won the Division 4A title.
Starting with Narbonne ending the 22-game jinx with a 43-24 victory in 2004 with a five-touchdown explosion by running back Travon Titus, the Gauchos have had San Pedro’s number, going 8-3-1 during that span with four CIF-LACS Division I crowns. That one tie, is still the most controversial, yet most talked about game between the two, when San Pedro and Narbonne battled it out for the 2008 City Division I title at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
When Barry Heads scrambled and found Benny Weischedel for a 15-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone as time expired, the two rivals, who don’t like even sharing the spotlight, ended up sharing the 2008 City title with a 21-21 draw. Of course, the City Section didn’t have the overtime procedure in place then. Earlier that year, Narbonne defeated San Pedro, 27-24 in triple overtime which ultimately decided the Marine League title and ironically enough, both were the top two seeds of the playoffs.
The 2010 battle would see San Pedro battle from a 31-21 deficit in the fourth quarter by scoring two touchdowns in the final three minutes, spearheaded by Kenny Potter’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Dominic Camacho with 42 seconds left to give the Pirates a 35-31 win at Narbonne in a battle for second place in the Marine League.
In a classic struggle the very next season where Narbonne was No.1 in the City by MaxPreps, and San Pedro was No.2 with an undefeated record, the Pirates used their home field advantage to good use as Potter’s signature mad dash to the end zone on a 71-yard read option with 1:20 left in the fourth quarter gave the Pirates a dramatic 49-42 victory, on a night where massive media coverage from CBS, NBC, MaxPreps and ESPN-LA covered the game. Thank you NBA lockout.
Last year’s battle at Narbonne provided another great duel, as Roman Ale’s 83-yard screen pass to Lewis Citizen for the winning touchdown with, can you believe it, 1:20 left in the fourth quarter, gave the Gauchos a 28-24 victory, where like the 2010 Pirates, they rallied from a ten-point fourth quarter deficit.
So far in 2015, both San Pedro (6-3 overall, 3-1 Marine League) and Narbonne (7-2, 4-0) come into this 88th all-time meeting on a roll after both started their respective seasons 1-2. The Gauchos have beaten their Marine League predecessors 253-26, all with a running clock, and will no doubt look to do the same here. However, the Pirates’ defense has also surrendered just 26 points in league and have looked like a team possessed after a shocking 10-9 league opening loss to Banning of Wilmington on October 9.
San Pedro will be paced by the likes of senior WR/DB Antonio ‘A.J.’ Frazier Jr., senior QB Jacob Miller, sophomore RB Kai Kaneshiro, senior TE/DE Mike Spinosa, junior WR/DB Mikey Hernandez Jr., senior DE Danny Tanielu-Talilulu, junior linebacker Nick Zabatta and junior WR Raymond Geha, but senior running back Brian ‘Beejay’ Halsey, a Narbonne transfer, may be the wild card in this battle.
Narbonne is a team full of stars and multiple Division I recruits on it, with reigning CIF-LACS Offensive Player Of The Year Ale, a talented left-handed senior quarterback, and the speedy Arizona-bound senior running back Sean Riley leading the way. Ale has several targets to find in the Gauchos’ high-powered Oregon-style no-huddle spread attack in senior WR/CB Devaughn Cooper, senior WR Lewis Citizen (last year’s hero) and junior Tre Walker, while the defense is loaded with impact players in senior linebacker Lawson Hall, junior defensive end Anthony Pandy, senior cornerback Vincent Heard, senior free safety Jamal Hicks. Senior OL Alex Akingbulu is a mountain of a young man at 6’6’’, 265.
A victory for Narbonne clinches the outright Marine League championship and assuredly gives them the top seed of the CIF-LACS Division I playoffs, but if the Pirates can pull an upset, both end up share the league crown and chaos likely ensues Saturday morning in the playoff seeding meeting.
Last week, the Pirates defeated Carson, 35-7 on the road, while the Gauchos throttled Banning, 60-7.
The junior varsity battle at 4 between San Pedro and Narbonne will be for the outright Marine League championship, as both teams sport 4-0 league records. The Pirates’ JV have impressed lately with two big road wins, 31-2 at Banning, and last week’s 34-0 shutout at Carson.
This game will be broadcast live on Time Warner Cable Community (Channel 84).