Centennial High School’s strong turnaround under second-year coach Eric Scott reached a high point last Friday when the Apaches knocked off El Segundo, 14-10 in a Pioneer League football game.

A season removed from a 1-9 record, the Apaches are 4-3 overall and share the Pioneer League lead at 2-0 with Lawndale. If they each survive their next two outings, they would play for the league title at Lawndale Nov. 13 in the final regular-season game.

In the meantime, Centennial needs to take care of business this week when it travels to South Torrance (3-4, 1-1) Friday. The Spartans are coming off a 21-20 overtime victory against Torrance.

Centennial’s win last week was revealing because it came at the expense of an El Segundo team that reached the CIF Southern Section Northwest Division semifinals a year ago.

Quarterback Nelson Gammage passed for 141 yards and ran for two touchdowns to pace the Apaches. His two-yard run with 2:34 remaining was the clincher.

Wide receiver Kevin Smith caught five passes for 86 yards.

Defensively, the Apaches held the high-powered Eagles to one TD, that on a 25-yard pass from all-league quarterback Michael Bundy to Jim Quinones in the first quarter. They only managed a field goal after that score.

Camino Real League
Anthony Charles surpassed the 1,000-yard mark in rushing and Darryl Williams passed for 235 yards and three TDs as Verbum Dei (5-2, 2-0) held off Bosco Tech, 35-30 in a Camino Real League game.

Charles carried 14 times for 138 yards and scored on a 66-yard run. For the season, the sophomore has 102 carries for 1,095 yards.

Williams completed nine of 18 passes, including a 44-yard scoring strike to Nicholas Nesbitt and 84- and 34-yarders to Fred Edison (three catches for 122 yards). Edison also had a rushing TD. Of his 18 receptions, 11 have gone for scores.

Fullback Mark Sanchez added 104 yards on five carries.

There were some outstanding defensive efforts as well for the Eagles, who have a nonleague game at Harvard-Westlake (4-2) Thursday.

Sophomore middle linebacker Terrence Harper had 21 tackles, Sanchez had 14 and senior cornerback Ashton Whyte had 11 tackles and an interception. Williams had 11 tackles, including a fourth-down sack that sealed the win, and strong safety Sean McCormick had 10.

“We did what we had to do to win this game,” Verbum Dei coach James Durk said. “I was pleased with the resilience of the team to fight through adversity when the other team was playing its best game of the year. They gave us all we could handle.”

Bay League
Te Shon Burton was 18-of-28 for 312 yards and three TDs and Denzel Idris caught eight passes for 171 yards and two scores as Leuzinger blanked Peninsula, 28-0 in a Bay League  game.

Burton is 120-of-190 for 2,000 yards and 18 TDs on the year.

Ike McCullough intercepted two passes, one of which he returned 47 yards for a score, to highlight the Olympians’ defensive effort.
Leuzinger (6-1, 2-0) is at Redondo (4-3, 2-0) Friday. They share the lead with Mira Costa (5-2, 2-0).

Del Rey League
Cathedral’s offense was in fine form in a 46-10 rout of St. Bernard in Del Rey League play.

Trevor Olson was 27-of-40 for 438 yards and four TDs and three receivers had more than 100 yards in catches as the Phantoms improved to 7-0 overall and 1-0 in league. Olson, the state’s No. 2 passer, has thrown for 2,185 yards and 25 TDs.

Anthony Jefferson (eight catches for 143 yards, TD), Kyle Merrill (eight for 103, TD) and Tajh Hasson (six for 167, two TDs) all had big nights, as well.

Armando Bermudez led the defense with 13 tackles.

Ocean League
Marquel Carter passed for 246 yards and five TDs to lead Culver City (6-1, 2-0) past Morningside, 56-7 in an Ocean League game.

The Monarchs (1-6, 0-2) got most of their yardage on the ground with Antonio Wilson (17 carries for 86 yards) and Trevon Shavers (13 for 84) leading the way.

Inglewood (4-3, 1-1) raced to a 42-0 lead by halftime and went on to blank Hawthorne, 56-0 in another Ocean League game.

Shashaun Alexander passed for 133 yards and three TDs to lead the way for the Sentinels. Brandon Summers had a 55-yard interception return and Kyle Evans a 64-yard run to highlight their night.