With additional reporting by George Laase.
What a difference the week has made for Culver City High School teams.
The Centaurs had teams from three different sports in the CIF playoffs.
Zero today.
The football team lost at home to Oxnard Pacifica, 45-20.
The girls volleyball team was defeated in Elsinore and Crescenta Valley beat the boys water polo team.
Returning to football, the Ocean League champion Centaurs were riding a three- game winning streak before they ran into bigger and faster Pacifica.
Culver City turned the ball over seven times.
“Too many turnovers and our lack of execution really hurt,” said Coach Jahmal Wright. “Too many interceptions and fumbles. We fumbled the opening kickoff, and after that we made too many mistakes.”
Wright said his team did not come ready to play.
“We were a lot better than we showed,” he said.
Wright was frustrated. “You want your team to be at its best at the most crucial moments.”
Although the score was lopsided, several Centaur seniors can look back on their final game with pride. Running back Fred Poindexter ran for 164 yards on 20 carries, wide receiver Mason Mulvihill caught eight passes for 103 yards and one touchdown and defensive back Louis Schulze had one interception.
Juniors Mekhi Ware and Bryce Lewis-Wolfe contributed to the scoring.
Ware caught four passes for 75 yards and one touchdown. Quarterback Lewis-Wolfe completed 14 of 28 passes for 208 yards and two touchdowns. But he was intercepted three times. t
The Centaurs will graduate several key players, but they have a solid group of players returning.
“The positive thing,” said Wright, “is that we have a lot of players coming back. The younger players got a lot of experience playing at the varsity level. That should help.”
Reaching the playoffs represented progress, “but we need to learn how to play better when the stakes are high.”
The Centaurs finished 7-4 overall and 4-1 in the Ocean League, a big improvement over last year’s 2-8.
“The support we received from the Culver City fans was awesome,” said Wright. “The community had our backs. I want to thank the entire community.”
Volleyball
The girls volleyball team went 17-12, and they were 7-3 in the Ocean League. Winners in the first round, they blew a two-game lead at Elsinore. They won the first two sets of the match 25-17 and 25-22 but dropped the final three sets 25-23, 25-17 and 15-13.
Water Polo
The boys water polo team lost to lo Crescenta Valley 19-5 in the second round of the CIF playoffs. They beat Brentwood in the first round.
Mr. Finley may be contacted at sfinley50@aol.com
Mr. Laase may be contacted at GMLaase@aol.com
