With additional reporting by George Laase. 

A week after moving closer to the CIF playoffs, Friday night lights will be in full effect tonight at 7 when the Culver City High School football team plays Hawthorne Cougars inside the Jerry Chabola Stadium on the Culver City hi on campus.

Culver City is 4-4 overall and 1-2 in the Ocean league.

If the Centaurs – 1-2 in the Ocean League, 4-4 overall — expect to make the CIF Western Division playoffs, several scenarios need to unfold.

• The Centaurs need to win their final two games, over Hawthorne and Beverly Hills.
• Lawndale needs to beat Hawthorne and El Segundo. This would create a three- way tied for second place in the Ocean League among Culver City, Hawthorne and El Segundo.

First, the Centaurs have to beat an improved Hawthorne team.

Hawthorne is led by former Beverly Hills Coach Donald Paysinger, who built Beverly Hills into a very competitive program.

“It’s going to be a war out there,” said Culver City Coach Jahmal Wright after the Centaurs’ 49-0 win over Santa Monica last Friday.  “Everything is on the line.  It’s Homecoming, and we will be fighting to get into the playoffs.”

For one game in a season, everything falls in place, and that happened against Santra Monica.

The Centaurs played a near perfect game.  Backup quarterback Bryce Lewis-Wolfe completed 24 of 30 passes for 220 yards and four touchdowns.  The running game gained 174 yards.

Kyle Johnson caught six passes for 81 yards and three touchdowns.

Mason Mulvihill caught nine passes for 95 yards and one touchdown.

Johnson has caught 11 touchdown passes and Mulvihill has eight.

On defense, linebackers Elijah Zavala had 12 tackles, Antwan Smith had nine tackles and one interception and Also Soriano made seven tackles.

On the defensive line Cameryn Newman had nine tackles and Kyle McKinniss had nine tackles.

“The defense played really good as a unit and the offense played well,” said Coach Wright. “I am glad our backup quarterback was able to step in and have a great game.  I am really proud of him.”

The most consistent unit on the Culver City team is the offensive line, including 6-foott, 260-pound Cameron Lowe.  “The offensive line works hard and we play hard,” said Lowe.  “We work as a team, a family.”

Assessing the Centaurs’ .500 record, Lowe concluded that “in general, we have played well. We just need to keep training hard, and we need to beat Hawthorne on Homecoming Night.”

Mr. Finley may be contacted at sfinley50@aol.com

Mr. Laase may be contacted at GMLaase@aol.com