The final game of the 2016 regular season was a struggle for San Pedro High football.

Two critical turnovers, several penalties, and a slow start to the offense for the first 25 minutes, but the Pirates, as they have done all season, fought through them and eventually found their footing to defeat visiting Carson. 26-10 in the Marine League finale to finish second behind eventual champion Narbonne of Harbor City.

With this victory on Friday, the Pirates (8-2 overall, 4-1 league) really set themselves up for a pretty decent seeding in the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division 1 playoffs, currently ranked No.3 by MaxPreps.

Second place was secured when Narbonne (10-0, 5-0), who routed the Pirates 41-3 last week, completely obliterated host Banning of Wilmington, 66-7 earlier on the night.

With 29 seconds left in the first quarter, San Pedro would draw first blood on junior running back Sean Davenport's 10-yard touchdown run, but the botched PAT snap afterwards kept the score at 6-0 in the Pirates' favor.

Carson (5-5, 2-3) would inch closer on senior kicker Agustin Delgadillo's 28-yard field goal with 8:13 left in the second quarter, which ended a near five-minute drive that was aided by two pass interference penalties, and a facemask penalty. 

San Pedro was not themselves offensively in the first half as they were penalized a dozen times, most specifically on multiple holding and block in the back infractions, the botched PAT, and even sure-handed senior WR/DB Mikey Hernandez Jr. fumbled away what would have been a 64-yard punt return for a touchdown late in the second quarter while making a cutback on the Carson 20-yard line.

It seemingly took a turn for the worse on the first play of the third quarter when Davenport fumbled an exchanged handoff from senior quarterback Austin Jackson, which allowed the Colts to recover and grab their first and only lead two plays later when sophomore quarterback Jaja Bellinger threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Brian Keskeys for a 10-6 lead 59 seconds into the quarter.

It took only three minutes for the Pirates to snap themselves back into focus for their next offensive series, and it was Davenport who would be the catalyst.

San Pedro would take a 12-10 lead with 8:57 left on Davenport's second touchdown, a 19-yard run, which was set up by his own 37-yard run the previous play. On that short five-play, 80-yard drive, Davenport ran for 75 yards of that offensive possession on his own, but missed PAT kick from senior kicker Tanner Carcamo kept the score close.

Soon enough, the defense would continue to come up on some big plays.

Senior safety Luis Padilla picked off a deep pass from Bellinger, and that would lead to Jackson's 27-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Raymond Geha, and the Pirates would take a 19-10 lead with 3:46 to play in the third quarter. Senior defensive lineman Nick Ford would create massive havoc on the Colts' offensive line, as he would sack Bellinger three times. Also getting a sack was senior linebacker Justin Escoto.

Then in the fourth quarter, junior running back Kai Kaneshiro would rush for a 13-yard touchdown to seal the deal with 6:34 left to play, and a second interception from Hernandez (who picked off Bellinger's first pass of the game in the opening seconds) on fourth down with over four minutes left would be the final big play of the night.

Davenport would rush for a career-high 222 yards on 19 carries and two touchdowns to pace San Pedro, who faced three teams out of league that ended up as outright or co-league champions in Downey, Redondo Union and Lawndale, with the Pirates getting victories over the latter two in September. That should strengthen the Pirates' hopes of potentially getting home field advantage for the first two rounds.

Carson is still expected to get a spot in the CIF-LACS Division 1 playoffs, but as the fourth place team in the Marine League they will likely open on the road.