Birmingham, Banning, Fairfax mark City Section football history at 2023 CIF State finals
The Los Angeles City Section will be well represented in the CIF State football finals on Friday and Saturday. The section will have three teams competing for state crowns, which will set a City record.
City Open Division champions Birmingham (12-2) will take on Acalanes (10-4) in the Division 3-AA final at 11:30 a.m. at Saddleback College on Saturday.
Division I winner Banning (9-6) will play Woodland Christian (14-0) in the 5-A final at 3 p.m. at El Camino College on Saturday, and Division II winners Fairfax (10-4) will play Ferndale (10-4) in the 7-AA final at 4 p.m. at El Camino College on Friday.
The City Section is 3-9 all-time in CIF State finals and hasn't had a winner since 2017 when Narbonne and Crenshaw claimed state crowns. City Section teams are 0-8 in CIF State finals since with two teams represented in each year (except 2020 due to COVID-19).
"There's some (City) Section pride on the line, sure," Birmingham coach Jim Rose said. "We get ragged on a lot for being from the City. So, that's probably why, but it's way more about (Birmingham) to our kids."
Birmingham has been the crown jewel of the section the past four seasons, winning the Open Division title four straight times. However, the Patriots have never gone on to win a CIF State title, only winning two SoCal regional titles after last week's 30-28 miracle victory at Del Norte in San Diego.
"Peyton Waters will finish his career at Birmingham playing in (three) regional games and two state championships. That's pretty good," Rose said.
The last time Birmingham reached a CIF State final was in 2021 and the Patriots fell to Oakland McClymonds, 54-7.
BANNING, FAIRFAX MAKE HISTORY
Banning and Fairfax will each make program history this weekend. Neither program has ever competed for a state title.
Banning attempted just one pass in its 41-21 win over La Jolla Country Day last week and used 406 total rushing yards and six touchdowns to bully its way to the CIF State title game. Ryan Deangelis ran for 188 yards and Steven Perez ran for 112.
Fairfax had a bye last week, getting a fast track straight to the CIF State title game. The Lions use a potent air attack with quarterback Ivan Levant and wideout Sebastian Ikolo playing like Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison.
Levant threw for 616 yards and eight touchdowns against Panorama City. Ikolo is up to 17 touchdown receptions.
