HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL : Banning Is Flexing Its Might Early

Banning trounced Taft, 49-19, Thursday night in a City Section nonleague opener, but what does it prove?

Last year Banning shot out of the chute with a lopsided victory over the Toreadors, and 13 weeks later Taft defeated the Pilots for the City Championship.

“Taft will be a diamond in the rough, just like last year,” Banning Coach Ed Lalau said. “We don’t want to see them later on.”

Taft defenders certainly hope they’ve seen the last of Banning running back Chris Howard. The senior rushed for 230 yards and three touchdowns in 20 carries.

Howard also returned a kickoff 85 yards for a score late in the third quarter that gave Taft the shaft. The Toreadors had scored on a 23-yard pass from Brandon Hance to Lee Marks to make the score 28-12, but Howard got the points back by picking up the kick near the sideline, faking one defender, slicing across the field and outrunning the rest.

“Big plays won it for us,” Lalau said.

Howard had five runs from scrimmage of at least 20 yards, including touchdowns of 54 and 20 yards in the second quarter. After several runs, he gestured to the Taft bench, prompting Toreador Coach Troy Starr to smile and point to the championship ring on his finger.

“We’ll get ours this year,” Howard said.

Rashawn Dukes produced the first big play for Banning, racing 67 yards with a punt return late in the first quarter for a 6-0 lead.

Banning’s blitzing defense confounded Hance, who completed 19 of 38 passes for 235 yards and ran for two touchdowns.