Carson’s defense rises to challenge to hand Gardena a first loss

Gardena had a chance to collect three points when kicker Omar Villarreal recorded a field goal from 30-plus yards out in the first quarter.

However, officials called a roughing-the-kicker penalty on the field goal. Gardena coach Monty Gilbreath had a choice to make. He accepted the penalty, continuing the drive that ultimately stalled without a score.

The Panthers never recovered offensively Friday night. Carson took down Gardena 23-7 at home, dealing the Panthers (7-1, 1-1) their first loss of the seasonin the Marine League game. Carson held Gardena scoreless on offense while the Colts (5-3, 2-0) tallied less than 100 yards on offense themselves.

“We haven’t played great — overall — a lot of times, and we did some things wrong tonight too,” Carson coach Michael Christensen said. “But I was proud of how we kind of stayed after it and played physical on defense.”

Colts sophomore quarterback Chris Fields III and senior running back Kameryn Hurst tallied rushing touchdowns to help put the Colts up 20-0 at halftime. Carson’s defense held Gardena standout running back Xavier Grant to just three yards in three carries. Senior running back Myles Mason — nursing an injury — only played defense for Gardena.

Hurst ended the contest with 62 yards in 13 carries, playing through a banged-up ankle he picked up during a tackle in the first quarter. On defense — playing as a defensive back — he tallied an interception, one of three off Gardena quarterback Isaiah Kim.

Hurst helped lead a Colts’ secondary that held the Panthers scoreless in the second half. Troy Taulua and Michael O’Dell had the other Carson interceptions.

“We knew it was gonna be a very physical game, and we knew how their offense was from last year,” Hurst said about the Colts. “Our defense, we had to step up.”

Gardena’s only points came from a Chace Johnson pick-six. Johnson left the game in the second quarter, when he was carted off the field — following Fields’ four-yard touchdown run — with an air cast on his left leg.

Much like when he declined a field goal in favor of a penalty, Gilbreath said Gardena is declining to play against Narbonne next week — signaling another forfeit for The Times’ No. 1-ranked team in the City Section football rankings’ No. 1 team.

Narbonne’s Marine League rivals have forfeited their games against the Gauchos over the last three weeks. The coaches — including Christensen and Gilbreath — alleged in a letter that Narbonne violated league rules.

Neither the Los Angeles Unified School District nor City Section Commissioner Vicky Lagos have ruled on the allegations as of Friday night.

When asked if next week’s matchup against Narbonne was still on or up in the air, Gilbreath said the game “was not up in the air.”

In a follow-up question, when asked if that meant the game was not happening, he bluntly responded.

“Not happening.”

Christensen struck a similar tone, deflecting a question about his team’s game against Narbonne in two weeks out.

“Right now, our attention goes that we’re gonna enjoy [the win] for this next day and we’re gonna watch film tomorrow morning,” he said.