41-29 Justified His Means

On the morning after Taft High won its first City football championship, Coach Troy Starr revealed he and his players tried some psychological ploys in the hope of reversing the team’s previous failures at the Coliseum.

Among the changes:

* Players wore red socks. “We’ve never worn red socks,” Starr said.

“The kids wanted to wear red socks against Granada Hills. I said, ‘No. Wait until the City final.’ ”

* The team rented a luxury bus and took a different route to the Coliseum than the previous two years when Taft lost to San Pedro.

* Starr decided not to hold a pep rally before the game. Instead, he scheduled a victory rally for Tuesday.

* The team visualized painting a wall at the Taft football stadium with the words, “City Champs.”

* “Most importantly, we truly respected them and we knew they didn’t respect us,” Starr said.

Taft (12-2), which lost to Banning, 41-13, in its opener, built a 20-7 halftime lead, survived a wild third-quarter shootout in which each team scored two touchdowns, and hung on, 41-29.

Brandon Hance, a junior quarterback making a late-season run for All-City honors, completed 17 of 23 passes for 288 yards and four touchdowns.

Ronald Andrews caught five passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns, and Lawrence Wallace caught 10 passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns.

The Toreadors were able to expose weaknesses in Banning’s pass coverage, for which they owe a debt of gratitude to Granada Hills. The Highlanders were able to pass the ball effectively against the Pilots in a semifinal defeat.

In the end, did all the Taft changes make a difference?

“Since we won, I guess so,” Starr said. “If we would have lost. . . .”