DIPADOVA ROUGHED UP BY PIRATES.

Byline: Eric Sondheimer

In the massive confines of the Coliseum, where the likes of Elway, Plunkett, Kelly and Aikman once displayed their passing wizardry, the most improbable of quarterbacks held court Friday night.

Nick DiPadova, an Eagle Scout, dedicated church-goer and honors student who never dreamed of playing quarterback but plunged ahead into unknown territory when asked to by his coach, was the perfect person trying to rally his Taft High School teammates against unbeaten San Pedro in the City Section 4-A football final.

He got beat up in a horrible first half, when he completed just 6 of 15 passes for 38 yards. He kept getting crushed by charging San Pedro defenders and kept getting up. But even his resilince wasn't enough to prevent the Pirates from coming away with a 22-20 win.

``He's like our Jim Harbaugh,'' Taft coach Troy Starr. ``He just wins.''

But San Pedro (14-0) wouldn't let DiPadova win this time.

The game looked bleak at halftime for Taft (13-1). The Toreadors were down 9-0, and their offense couldn't move the ball.

Then the fog started rolling in, and on Friday the 13th, weird things are known to happen. Taft took the opening second-half kickoff and drove 80 yards in seven plays, scoring on a DiPadova 5-yard run, his 18th TD run of the season.

Suddenly, life had been injected into the Toreadors. Then linebacker Tyler Brennan stripped the ball from Rod Williams and Jaron Lawson ran 26 yards for the touchdown and a 13-9 Taft lead with 7:56 left in the third quarter.

That was the last moment of great satisfaction for the Toreadors. Not even a 1-yard TD run by DiPadova with 1:15 left eased the hurt. He finished with 50 yards rushing and 161 yards passing on 15 of 30.

Starr wasn't walking around with a swagger before the game, but the 34-year-old coach acted as if he had complete confidence that his team would exceed expectations.

``I slept awful good last night because I feel our kids are prepared mentally and physically,'' he said.

Then who were those imposters in white, red and gold Taft uniforms in the first half? What happened to the aggressiveness on offense and defense that led to 13 straight victories? Where was the relentless pass rush that made life miserable for opposing quarterbacks?

The Toreadors broke out of their early trance to make a game of it, but they were still disappointed that the greatest season in Taft history ended in defeat.

This wasn't supposed to happen again. Five years ago, Taft lost to San Pedro 24-7 in the City 3-A final. It was Starr's first season. His team was loaded with inexperienced sophomores. The Toreadors never really had a chance.

This time, the Toreadors played a challenging nonleague schedule to prepare them for the Pirates, who have replaced Carson and Banning as the South Bay's new City powerhouse. Wins over Dorsey and Sylmar gave the Toreadors a sense of what it takes to win pressure games.

But Starr didn't know how his team would respond playing at the Coliseum. Taft had reached a 4-A final. San Pedro was used to playing 14 games.

Taft usually is able to turn to its talented group of receivers to create scoring opportunities. Coleman, Keith Johnson and Ryan Long kept trying to get open on deep pass patterns, but the strength of San Pedro's defense is its secondary, and none were able to break free.

What made this Taft team so special is that DiPadova was one of many players with heartwarming stories to tell:

There's junior linebacker Brennan, who played every game with so much intensity that he'd become sick to his stomach at the conclusion. As a freshman, he was sent to live in Utah to gain some maturity and learn the difference between right and wrong. He matured so much that Starr honored him with the ultimate compliment - he let him wear No. 41, the jersey number Starr wore in college. ``I've always been fond of him,'' Starr said.

There's receiver Damon Coleman, who broke the school receiving record held by Bill Spooner, now an NBA official. Spooner ejected Dennis Rodman from a game last week - maybe because he was angry about losing his receiving record.

There's junior lineman Clint Evans, whose father went to sleep one night in October and didn't wake up. His father's death inspired Evans game after game.

Most of all, this was the team that truly believed in itself and its coach.

``He tells us we're one heartbeat, how we should play as a team,'' DiPadova said.

There was some anger by Taft players and coaches at the officiating, and deservingly so. The referee blundered by calling a personal foul on Taft's Donte Morgan, who tackled San Pedro quarterback Melvin Yarbrough clearly before he went out of bounds. The 15-yard penalty led to a first down and later San Pedro's go-ahead touchdown with 3:17 left in the fourth quarter.