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If the first game of the football season is an indicator, Culver City High School will need to grow up fast if they expect to have a productive season.
The Centaurs are young. If they can’t outrun opponents, winning games will be very difficult. On Friday, they travel to Peninsula in the South Bay for a 3 o’clock game. Peninsula beat North Torrance 51-0 in their opener.
“We have only three returning starters from last year’s team,” said Centaur Coach Jahmal Wright after their 36-15 loss to a good West Torrance team last week. “We played a lot of young guys. That was the main reason we committed too many penalties and made too many mistakes.”
Another problem Culver City had was trying to find a quarterback who could get the ball to their speedy receivers.
Several times against West Torrance, Centaur receivers were open but the quarterbacks were not able to deliver. Senior David Handler started at quarterback and sophomore Armani Rodgers came on in the fourth quarter. Rogers appeared to spark the team.
Each quarterback has a different style. Handler, 6-5, 225 pounds, is more of a traditional dropback quarterback. Rogers, 6-5, 200 pounds, is more of a running quarterback.
“We are going to keep working with both of our quarterbacks,” said offensive coordinator Aki Wilson. “The player who steps up will win the job. Armani is young. He is just learning the offense. David needs to relax.”
Culver City has talent. Stanley Norman, all-league running back and defensive back, leads a group of running backs and receivers who have speed and power . Their main problem is lack of experience. “We need to get our kids to understand that talent alone is not enough to win games,” said Wilson. “We need to execute, and we need to pay attention to detail.”
West Torrance coach Greg Holt warned about how the Centaurs are going to improve.
“Culver City is really young,” he said. “I told coach Wright I don’t want to play Culver next year.
“Those young players will be bigger, faster and stronger next year. Culver City has a bright future. They are going to win some games this year.”
Mr. Finley may be contacted at sfinley50@aol.com
