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Culver City, the Ocean League, round 2 playoff postgame, semi-final preview

gvgrizzlyfan

Well-Known Member
Aug 15, 2005
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I was very concerned for the Culver City Centaurs (11-1) coming into their Division 11 quarterfinal game against the Coachella Valley Arabs (9-3). The Centaurs were banged up and had to travel to Thermal to take on the surging Arabs. CV had now won 8 straight games including a 45-7 opening round victory over Ramona. The Centaurs were facing the very talented senior QB Armando Deniz who is 13th in the entire state of California in passing yards per game, 2 spots ahead of the Centaurs star QB Jonathon Martin.

But in this contest, Martin did not even uncork the most spectacular throw of the game. That went to his slotback Kevin McGuire who uncorked a deep pass to the speedy Tyler Luckett that was right, stride for stride, on the money and resulted in an 86 yard TD allowing the Centaurs to jump out to a 14-0 lead.

But the Arabs would keep fighting their way back into the contest all night. Deniz gave it his all for the Arabs, completing 33 of 47 passes for 398 yards and 3 TD's. However the Centaurs were able to intercept him twice. One interception, by Tyler Luckett, stopped the Arabs in Centaur territory when the Arabs were down to a 4th & 8. The Centaur defense also came up with a coverage sack on 4th & 7 in Centaur territory that stalled another Arab threat. The Centaur D was also able to slow down any Arab ground game as QB Deniz and RB Angelo Fitzgerald combined for only 85 yards on 32 rushing attempts.

So the Centaurs broke out on to 14-0, but the Arabs came back to make it 14-7 with about 3 minutes still left in the first quarter. This contest had the makings for lighting up the scoreboard like fireworks. The other Centaur interception gave Culver the ball on the Arab 33 in the second quarter and it looks like they went to senior RB Brandon Oum, who took it 33 yards after a nice kickout block by whom I would have to presume was junior guard Jose Lopez.

The Arabs had a great chance to close the gap when they intercepted a Centaur pass and were inside the Centaur 20, but they ended up turning the ball over on downs and it was 21-7 at the half. The Arabs got possession to start the second half and were able to get down the field and score a TD with about 8 minutes to go in the third to pull with 21-14. The Arabs threatened again inside the Centaur 20 yard line with about 6 minutes left in the third but were unable to come away with a score. The Centaurs got the ball back and were able to score a rushing TD with still around the 6 minutes to go in the third quarter and they now had a 28-14 lead.

The Arabs had to punt on their next possession and the Centaurs ended up with the ball on the Arab 49. With about 5 minutes left in the third, they were able to score on a pass play to take a substantial 35-14 lead. After the Centaur kick off, the Arabs were able to move the ball into Centaur territory and QB Deniz was able to connect with Fitzgerald on a 5 yard pass play for a TD. The PAT was missed but the Arabs had closed the gap to 35-20 with about 3 minutes left in the third.

After the Arab kickoff to the Centaurs, CV got a break when the Centaurs fumbled at their own 40 yard line and the Arabs recovered. QB Deniz was able to capitalize, finishing the score off with a 10 yard TD pass that pulled the Arabs to within 35-27 early in the 4th quarter.

But the Centaurs came back with another TD pass with about 8 minutes left in the game to take a 42-27 lead. The Centaur D was able to keep the Arabs at bay on their next possession and they ended up punting to the Centaurs who got the ball back at their own 40 with about 6 minutes left. The Centaurs were able to chew up the remaining clock and finish the scoring off with a field goal with less than a minute left for the final score of 45-27.

The unsung heroes for the Centaurs have to be the defense led by Cortez Wright's 6 tackles for losses, the offensive line and the unsung exploits of Centaur RB Oum. Often an after thought in the Centaurs high powered air raid offense, Oum was called upon to carry his heaviest load of the season and responded with 20 carries for 199 yards and 2 TD's, along with 2 receptions for 40 yards and another TD.

The Centaurs move on to the semi-finals to take on the Covina Colts (10-2). A very slick executing team led by three super sophomores, QB,CB Nin Burns II, RB Erik Cuellar and the tiny but speedy & illusive WR,CB Danny Urrea.

The Ocean League champion Lawndale Cardinals(11-1) were cruising along in the Div 5 playoffs basking in the glow of their 41-21 first round victory over Los Osos (5-6), perhaps presuming they would be heading to a D-5 finals showdown against Paraclete. But they had a couple of distractions before they could get there including a quarterfinal match at their home against the Moorpark Musketeers (10-2).

The Musketeers were big and physical enough to challenge the Cardinals and they held back the Lawndale offense for the first three quarters with only a 56 yard interception return for a TD by the Cardinals to help keep them in the game. The game was knotted at 7 each after a quarter but the Musketeer D was able to get a very important 2 point safety in the second quarter and led at halftime 9-7. The Moorpark D was still a dominating force in the third quarter that Lawndale could not solve. Meanwhile the Moorpark offense was able to add a rushing TD with about 3 minutes left in the third and take a 15-7 lead that held up to the end of the quarter.

With about 9 minutes left in the contest, the Musketeers completed a 10 yd pass for a TD and a safer 22-7 lead with about 9 minutes left in the contest. The Lawndale offense finally responded to the urgency and were able to score on a 1yd TD run by Cardinal QB Jalen Hamler, closing the gap to 22-14 with about 8 minutes left in the game.

Lawndale looked like they had a good opportunity with about 6 minutes left when they got the ball on the Moorpark 38 yard line after a Musketeer punt. But Moorpark was able to intercept the Cardinals at the Musketeer 9 yard line. The Musketeers struggled to dig themselves out from deep in their own side of the field when the Cardinals made another opportunity with an interception of Moorpark at the Musketeer 42 yard line with about 3 minutes left.

Cardinal QB Hamler was able to score on a 5 yard rushing TD with about 2 minutes left. The Cardinals went for 2 and the tie, but the conversion attempt failed. The Musketeers were able to get the ball and move down to about the Cardinal 14 before turning it over on downs with less than a minute to go. Lawndale could not pull off the miracle finish and Moorpark won 22-20 and advance to play at Paramount (11-1).
 
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