The Culver City High School football team (1-2) will travel ‘way across town to Paramount (2-1) on Friday evening at 7.
Paramount is ranked 219th in the state, and the Centaurs are 268th-rated after losing to Redondo Beach, 28-14, last week.
When you look at the Centaurs’ two losses, including to West Torrance two points are blatantly obvious:
Inconsistent quarterback play and penalties.
Against Redondo Beach, sophomore quarterback Armani Rogers moved the ball but was not able to score. When senior David Handler replaced an injured Rogers in the third quarter, he did some good things but still was inconsistent.
“I felt good,” said Handler, “but I made that mistake (a fumble) that really hurt us. I just need to trust myself. Once I get my rhythm, I feel a lot better. The quarterbacks are the leaders of this team. We need to do a better job.”
Handler did throw a long touchdown pass to Marcus Moore at the end of the fourth quarter.
With a young team, mistakes and penalties can be a problem. “We have a lot of young players on this team who need experience,” said Cornell Myles, former head coach and longtime assistant. “We are trying to coach them up to a level that we all expect at Culver City. They need to learn how to fight through adversity. We are trying to teach the young players how to be mentally tough. We have a lot of talent and a lot of speed. Now we need to come together as a team. Then the situation will get better.”
Culver City’s team is a lot like USC’s. They have two quarterbacks and a group of speedy receivers, but they can’t get the ball to them, they can’t the ball to.
Redondo Beach put two players –sometimes three – on Centaur star Stanley Norman. “Redondo paid extra attention to him,” said coach Jahmal Wright. “But Stanley played hard, and he still was able to play a good game.”
When teams concentrate their efforts on Norman, Culver City must be able to find other players open the way they did last Friday when Moore caught a team high 114 receiving yards.
Other players who need to get their hands on the ball are Brandon Hasson, the fastest young man on the team, Donovan Davis and Jericho Flowers.
“We moved the ball against Redondo Beach,” said offensive coordinator Aki Wilson. “But we were not able to put the ball in the end zone.
“We are very inconsistent now. We need to get everyone on the same page on every play. We have to get the offense, defense and special teams to play consistent football.”
The Centaurs will need to grow up fast. Four of the next five games are against good teams, including Friday, Oct. 4 against powerful Bishop Amat and tough league tests against Inglewood and Morningside.
Mr. Finley may be contacted at sfinley50@aol.com
