UPON FURTHER REVIEW: BATTLE IS PRIME TIME EVEN IF IT STARTED TOO LATE.

Byline: VINCENT BONSIGNORE

From the obscene 8:34 p.m. kickoff time to the loud, obnoxious music being piped into the Coliseum press box, the only way to describe Friday's L.A. City Championship game betweenBirmingham of Lake Balboa and Dorsey of Los Angeles was strange.

But when it comes to the City Section, something always seems a bit off.

The second half didn't start until 10:15 p.m., thanks toa longer-than- needed, one-hour delay between the City Invitationalchampionship game - which decides the 16th-best team in the section,mind you - and the real title game between Birmingham and Dorsey.

Nothing against Fairfax of Los Angeles, which beat South Gate to win the Invitational title, but it just doesn't seem right that members of the best two teams in the section have to wait around so long to play the biggest game of their lives. And something is clearly wrong when it's closing in on 11 p.m. and the game still hasn't been decided.

We sympathize with the difficult position in which the City Section finds itself - it has one day to decide two championships and wants to be fair to everybody.

But something has to be done about the late starts and the even later finishes to the most important game of the season.

How about starting the first game at 4 p.m. rather that 5? Thatwould leave ample time for warm-ups and all but ensure a 7:30 p.m.start.

Of course, it didn't help that a never-ending stream of yellowflags flew through the air in a marathon first half that dragged deep into the night.

For the record, 14 penalties were called in the first half, and to be fair to the two teams, a number of those calls were metby howls of laughter by City Section coaches watching the game in the press box.

``Let the kids play the game,'' one frustrated coach finally yelled out. ``This is ridiculous. Where do you get these officials from?''

In spite of it all, Birmingham and Dorsey put on a terrific showfeaturing a number of breathtaking performers on both sides of the ball.

Dorsey's Stafon Johnson turned in one of the best plays in recentmemory when he laid out Birmingham wide receiver Corey Anderson witha vicious hit as Anderson went up for a pass. Amazingly, Johnsonalso stripped the ball from Anderson for an interception, then zigzagged 65 yards for an electrifying touchdown.

Unfortunately for Johnson, the touchdown was wiped out by - what else? - a penalty.

For Birmingham, the game was a showcase for the formidable one-two punch of running backs Milton Knox and Brian Stuart. Knox, one of the most impressive freshmen in region history, continued his memorable first season with another great performance, scoringtwo touchdowns and punishing Dorsey for 64 yards.

Stuart, often an overlooked piece of Birmingham's powerful offense, pounded Dorsey with strong inside runs and darts to the sideline. Most impressive was how he continually ran through tackles against one of the hardest-hitting teams in Los Angeles.

In the process, he carried the Patriots to their second championship in three years.

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Photo:

Byron Bullock (1) and his Birmingham of Lake Balboa teammates swarm for a stop.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer