Venice Football Wins Opener with Last-Minute Touchdown

With the game on the line Friday night, Gabriel Marks showed why he is regarded as one of the best wide receivers in California. The Venice High senior caught a screen pass over the middle and weaved his way for a 34-yard touchdown with 13 seconds left that lifted the Gondos to a 34-27 victory over Harvard-Westlake in North Hollywood.

"It was an underneath middle screen and at first I was thinking get a first down or get out of bounds so we could kick a field goal, but the O-line got to the second level and I just cut back and took off for the end zone," said Marks, a senior bound for SMU. "This just shows the championship drive we have. We wanted to win big, but they're good and we had to dig deep to pull it out."

After Harvard-Westlake tied the game on a 28-yard touchdown pass from Chad Kanoff to Clinton Hook with 34 seconds remaining, Coach Vic Eumont opted to try an onside kick and the Wolverines started to celebrate, believing they recovered it, but officials ruled that a Harvard-Westlake player touched the ball before it had gone the necessary 10 yards and Venice took possession at the opponents' 49-yard line.

On the Gondos' first play, Marks caught a pass near the sideline and pitched to a trailing Lamar Moody for 15 yards on a hook and ladder, setting up Marks' game-winning touchdown.

"I always want to play it out, but it's Harvard-Westlake's choice and they decided not to have overtime," Venice Coach Angelo Gasca said. "They were playing for the win with that onside kick--that was a gutsy call--but fortunately it gave us a chance. Both teams fought hard."

Venice rallied from a 21-point deficit late in the second quarter, with backup quarterback Alexander Diamont providing a spark. He drove the Gondos 66 yards in eight plays, scoring on an 8-yard scramble with no time left on the clock to pull Venice within 21-7 at halftime.

Senior starter Dean Sarabia struggled in the first half, connecting on just two of nine passes, and he fumbled at the Gondos' 24 to set up Harvard-Westlake's third touchdown.

"Collectively we weren't playing well and I was looking for anything that might get us going," Gasca said.

Sensing that momentum had shifted, Gasca left Diamont in the game and the sophomore, who only saw about five minutes of playing time as a freshman on varsity last fall, led Venice to 20 unanswered points in the third quarter. Alijah Lee rushed for two scores, the second a 1-yarder that gave the Gondos their first lead, 27-21, at the 2:44 mark of the third.

Marks, who led the Gondos with four receptions for 65 yards and 60 yards in five carries, showed his athleticism by beating triple coverage in the corner of the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown catch that tied the game 21-21 with 5:39 left in the third quarter.

"He's one of the best receivers in the country," Diamont said of Marks. "Right before [the winning play] is the calmest I've been in the huddle. I can't explain it, but I knew we were going to win. Once I got the call I told myself just get it to Gabe and let him make a play--and he did."

Diamont finished 9 of 12 for 200 yards and senior linebacker Daniel Magallanes intercepted a pass. Jahret Hood nearly picked off another pass and sacked Kanoff on fourth-and-three from the Gondos' 6-yard line with 4:01 left.

"They kicked our butts from pillar to post in the first half," Gasca said. "I credit our players for hanging in there. We fumbled the ball inside their five and inside our 20. That accounted for 14 points right there. So I told the team at halftime to stay positive because it could easily be a tie game."

Gasca was quick to dispel any notion of a quarterback controversy.

"Dean's our starter," he said. "I can't give up on a senior after one half of football--especially one who played 13 games last season. It's like a relief pitcher in baseball. Sometimes you have to take a starter out to bring someone else in, that's all. The way I see it, we have two terrific quarterbacks, so we'll go forward and see what happens." 

Kanoff, who impressed Gasca after entering the game late in Venice's 47-16 win over Harvard-Westlake last year, completed 22 of 43 passes for 265 yards and three touchdowns Friday night.

Venice will travel back to the San Fernando Valley to play another Southern Section team, Chaminade of West Hills, next Friday.

Score by Quarters

1

2

3

4

Final

Venice

0

7

20 

7

34

Harvard-Westlake

14

7

0 

6

27

Scoring Summary

H-Westlake -- Jones 10 run (Temko kick), 10:44 left in 1st qtr.

H-Westlake -- Smith 28 pass from Kanoff (Temko kick), 3:37 left in 1st qtr.

H-Westlake -- Jones 2 pass from Kanoff (Temko kick), 3:36 left in 2nd qtr.

Venice -- Diamont 8 run (Emmanuel kick), 0:00 left in 2nd qtr.

Venice -- Lee 6 run (Emmanuel kick), 10:21 left in 3rd qtr.

Venice -- Marks 14 pass from Diamont (Emmanuel kick), 5:39 left in 3rd qtr.

Venice -- Lee 1 run (Sarabia pass failed), 2:44 left in 3rd qtr.

H-Westlake -- Hooks 28 pass from Kanoff (Kanoff pass failed), 0:34 left in 4th qtr.

Venice -- Marks 34 pass from Diamont (Emmanuel kick), 0:13 left in 4th qtr.

Records: Venice 1-0, 0-0; Harvard-Westlake 0-1, 0-0.