City Section Playoffs Venice Holds on to Beat San Pedro 27-24

Story by Erin Giddens

Venice hosting San Pedro in a quarterfinals city section playoff game.
Photo by Eric Wade/T.G.Sports.

When San Pedro and Venice met in the playoffs last year, police use pepper spray after an altercation broke out during the post game handshakes after Venice's 35-10 victory. Friday night both teams were friendly after No.3 seed Venice shocked the the Pirates in a 27-24 win in the L.A. City Section Division I quarterfinals at Venice High.

In the first half, Venice (10-2) went 80 yards in eight plays, finish the drive off by a yard touchdown run by Alijah Lee to take a 20-14 lead on San Pedro. It was the first the Gondoliers first lead since going up 3-0 early in the first quarter. San Pedro (8-4) came back on the next drive, which ended with a 27 yard field goal for Christian Gonzales.

San Pedro's #36 Darrell Santiago. Photo by
Eric Wade/T.G.Sports.

The Pirates went back ahead early in the fourth quarter when Darrell Santiago scored on a 15 yard touchdown run to put San Pedro up 24-20. Santiago carried the ball 23 times for 132 yards and two touchdowns. San Pedro defense had to step up and make plays after punting the ball with 1:42 left in the game. The pirates had force Venice to a three-and-out on it's previous three possessions.

With no timeouts, Venice took the ball on their own 17 yard line. Venice showed composure by quickly moving the ball down field. They went 83 yards in eight plays. Venice's quarterback Alexander Diamont connected with Kaelin Jones on a 10 yard touchdown pass, after a corner back from San Pedro gave him a big cushion, forced himself into the end zone with 40 seconds left.

Venice's #8 Kaelin Jones scored the winning touchdown catch from
10 yards out to help defeat San Pedro 27-24. Photo by
Eric Wade/T.G.Sports.

 Venice quarterback Alexander Diamont was 7 of 8 for all 83 yards on the drive. The Pirates got the ball back with 40 seconds left on the clock, but quarterback Jimmy Bryant's pass was intercepted by Dajuan Parham with 17 seconds left to seal the game for Venice. For more photos from this game go to our website at www.tgsportstv.com ,click on the Prep/JC Gallery and scroll down to San Pedro @ Venice. All Photos are by Eric Wade/T.G.Sports and EW Gems Images.