High school football: Elijah McDaniel leads Dorsey

Shortly before Monday afternoon’s City Section Division I quarterfinal soccer sport between host Eagle Rock and Dorsey was set to start in the pouring rain, referee Patrick Riley ruled the center of the grass area unsafe.

City Section Commissioner Vicky Lagos was in attendance and acted shortly to get the competition, scheduled to start at 4 p.m., moved to an alternate website, which turned out to be Contreras Learning Complex — seven and a half miles away in downtown Los Angeles. When all was said and carried out, Dorsey moved on to the semifinals after a dominant 26-0 shutout.

“When the referees ruled the field unplayable we immediately called Sotomayor and Contreras because they have turf fields and are the closest in proximity to Eagle Rock,” Lagos said. “We had to arrange busing and we’re thankful to the officials — it was the same crew that was going to do the game Friday. If we couldn’t find a facility [today] then we would’ve had to play the game tomorrow.”

The sport was supposed to be performed Friday evening along with the full slate of City Section contests, but it was postponed until Monday afternoon after a transformer downside left the school without energy.

“We were told at 3:45 that we weren’t going to be able to play,” said Dorsey coach Stafon Johnson, a Dorsey alum who performed at USC from 2006-09. My main concern at that level was whichever group wins would have a short turnaround for the next sport.”

When the sport finally kicked off at 6:45 p.m. the rain was still pouring. Eleventh-seeded Dorsey managed the tempo from the start, marching 65 yards in 5 performs on its first possession, which ended on a five-yard run by Mahkai McCluster.

Nathan Schiebler fumbled on the second play of Eagle Rock’s first possession and defensive lineman Draysean Mixson recovered for Dorsey at the Eagles’ 47. Jamell Edmond capped the Dons’ ensuing drive with an 11-yard sweep and Deuce Johnson caught the two-point conversion cross to make it 14-0 late in the first quarter.

“We were ready to get down and dirty in the mud,” Dorsey quarterback Elijah McDaniel said after speeding for 120 yards and engineering all 4 of his group’s scoring drives. “We wanted to play [at Eagle Rock]. We wanted to play Friday even but the longer we had to wait the more time it gave us to prepare.”

Liam Pasten, one of the best passers in the City, accomplished only three of seven makes an attempt for 22 yards in the first half and completed seven for 24 for 53 yards. Even as the rain subsided in the second half, the third-seeded Eagles (8-4) couldn’t get their offense on monitor.

“I had 100% attendance at practice Saturday in the rain,” Johnson said. “This is the first time all year we’ve been fully loaded. This is Jamell’s first game back and he made a significant impact. That team averages over 40 points a game and we give them full credit. We just wanted to play … we didn’t care where it was.”

Edmond completed with 87 yards in 10 carries.

De Anthony Young-Jones scored on a two-yard run to increase the lead to 20-0 late in the third quarter and Jaziel Hernandez-Cruz closed the scoring with a one-yard run with 3:48 left in the fourth quarter. The Eleventh-seeded Dons (7-5) will probably be on the street again in the semifinals against No. 2 South Gate, a sport that has been pushed back to Saturday.

Eagle Rock gamers didn’t get a likelihood to play one last time at Don Mengel Field. In February, construction is scheduled to start on the school’s new artificial turf area, eight-lane rubber monitor and scoreboard.