Chatsworth Won’t Let Gibford Go Yet, 36-14

EAST L.A. — It certainly wasn’t the way Myron Gibford wanted to go out, so the Chatsworth High football coach didn’t even think about it.

His team didn’t let him down, scoring 28 fourth-quarter points for a 36-14 victory over Garfield in a second-round game of the City Section 3-A playoffs Wednesday night at Garfield.

The Chancellors (7-5) will face Carson in a semifinal game a week from Friday with a trip to the Coliseum on the line.

Chatsworth looked as bad as the weather in the first half. There was neither pomp nor circumstance surrounding the game, as most people stayed away because of the weather. Heck, there wasn’t even a halftime show.

But the Chancellors, who trailed, 8-0, at halftime, rallied for their coach, who has announced that he will retire after Chatsworth’s last game this season.

“That’s not how we wanted to send him out,” said Eric Harris, who had 115 yards and two touchdowns in 20 carries. “The whole team stepped up in the second half for him. We love coach Gibford, we just thought about him.”

“We executed 20 times better in the second half,” Harris said.

Gibford, a 37-year veteran of coaching who has been at Chatsworth since 1979, said the thought of this being his last game didn’t cross his mind.

“I never thought about it,” Gibford said. “I just thought we would get it done tonight.”

The fourth-quarter explosion began when Harris scored the first of his two touchdowns on a seven-yard run, capping a five-play, 72-yard drive. A 54-yard pass play from Ryan Martinez to Reggie Lee highlighted the drive.

Garfield quarterback Fernie Montes fumbled on the Bulldogs’ first play after Harris scored, setting up a 24-yard touchdown run by Harris two plays later that made the score 22-8.

Chatsworth defensive back Mark Harris intercepted a Montes pass three plays later and returned it 24 yards to the Garfield 28. An unsportsmanlike penalty against Garfield, which had nine penalties for 90 yards, gave Chatsworth the ball at the Bulldog 13-yard line.

Martinez scored on a on a six-yard run two plays later and Chatsworth had 21 points under than three minutes to build a 29-8 lead.

Chatsworth, which could do no right in the first half, opened the second half with an 11-play, 63-yard touchdown drive to tie the score, 8-8.

The drive, capped by a nine-yard quarterback sneak by Martinez, was extended when the Bulldogs (5-5-1) had 12 men on the field during a Chatsworth punt, giving the Chancellors a first down.

The Chatsworth defense took over from there, holding Garfield to two first downs in the second half.

The key series came late in the third quarter after Garfield’s Bill Sampson intercepted a Martinez pass at the Chatsworth 30-yard line. Garfield gained two yards before turning the ball over on downs.