Culver City Observer -

By Fred Altieri

Observer Reporter

The 2014 Ocean League football season cannot start soon enough for Culver City High as they are still searching for their first victory of the season.

Their last preseason contest against the Channel Islands High Raiders in Jerry Chabola Stadium on a rare Thursday night game, October 2 resulted in a 21-14 loss.

Again the Centaurs rallied for a touchdown in the fourth quarter only to come up on the short end of the final score. Culver lost all five non-league games and will now begin its Ocean league schedule.

Culver took a 7-0 lead on a pass play with four minutes remaining in the first quarter.

Centaur head coach Jahmal Wright on the aerial strike: "It was a pass play to Justin Manyweather, our biggest receiver, on third-and-long. We saw an opportunity to take a shot, something that we saw on film. Quintorius Truitt threw a good pass, Jason ran a good route and we capitalized."

But the lead was short-lived as Channel Islands leveraged a long kickoff return and punched it into the end zone barely a minute into the second quarter. Things then got worse very quickly for the Centaurs as they turned the ball over on the subsequent kickoff. 46 seconds later the Raiders powered a short run over the goal line for a 13-7 lead. They missed the extra-point kick.

Coach Wright: "They were able to tie it up pretty quickly there because our kickoff return team gave up a long return and were able to score on a short field following the return. That's another part of the game that's killing us... turnovers. Right when we had momentum we let them score and then turned the ball over."

The Culver offense failed to respond before the half, reiterating its inconsistency throughout the early season. They have yet to have the lead going into halftime in their five preseason games, four of which have been on their home turf.

Wright didn't sugarcoat the situation: "That's been our Achilles' heel. We are not executing the ball offensively and it's the reason why we're currently 0-5. Quintorius has been a starter for a couple of weeks now. He just has to play better. We have to execute better offensively. We have to hold up and block better and start making plays. That's the only way that we're going to be successful. That's what is holding us back right now.

"Our feeling at halftime is that we let Channel Islands off the hook by a turnover. Basically if we could get a stop and play pretty good defense, score some points we would take back the momentum of the game."

The loud and still supportive Centaur cheer teams, school band and fans didn't see much of their team's offense in the third quarter as the Raiders controlled it for all but one series of downs. But the Culver defense, led by Fred Wadibia, rose to the occasion and kept the Raiders off the scoreboard for the entire quarter. Wadibia ended up with a game-high 13 tackles. Impressive was the fact that 11 were solo tackles.

There were other defensive standouts for Culver as Simon Valenzuela had eight solo and 11 total tackles. Four Centaurs had seven total tackles each: Justin Cox with three solos, four assists; Mason Mulvihill had six solos, one assist as did Jerrett Anderson; Kyle Lyons had five solos and two assists. Defensive back Justin Cox had an interception and returned it 12 yards.

Coach Wright liked the way his defense performed: "In the third quarter we only had one series of plays. They pretty much dominated the time of possession but they didn't score. Down the field we were able to get a stop. I think our defense held up pretty well. They moved the ball a little bit but the defense did a good job of getting stops."

Channel Islands was able to put themselves up by two touchdowns just two minutes into the fourth quarter, 21-7, as the Raider quarterback took the ball and rambled into the end zone on a third-and-eight play. They followed up with a two-point conversion on a pass play to the far-right end zone.

One positive sign for the Centaurs this year has been their fourth quarter ability to put points on the board as they have scored at least one touchdown in the final quarter of each game. This time the scoring setup was a long gain down the western sideline to the two-yard line. The streak was kept alive on a short burst into the end zone.

Wright on the play: "We put ourselves in scoring position early in the fourth quarter on a screen pass to Justin Manyweather. Justin did a great job of making three guys miss tackles and getting down the field for a big gain. Then Donovan Davis ran the ball in for a touchdown."

There were still almost seven minutes on the clock and plenty of time for a comeback. The Centaur defense came through and gave their offense two series of plays but nothing materialized. Alas, it was not to be.

There are still plenty of questions to be answered as the team prepares this week to take on a new incoming Ocean League opponent, the Lawndale High Cardinals on the road, Friday, October 10. Culver High swept all five league contests last year in winning the league championship.

Fred Altieri

Anthony Polk

Wright's team is ready for the challenge despite the current setbacks: "We're 0-5 so we need to play better. We've had some injuries, Alfredo Mendoza, our first-team all-league center is still out with a concussion. We lost our all-league strong safety with a broken rib, Jeremy Marrero. But all that being said, everybody starts league 0-0.

"We're going to go in and sharpen up our special teams, our defense, our offense, cut down on our mistakes offensively and find a way to execute enough to win some games. We definitely approach every game with the mindset of going out there and winning each play, winning each quarter and winning the game. We're still working here.

"Lawndale's a formidable opponent but we have an opportunity to win our first league game. Lawndale is a good team with a lot of speed. It's going to be a good game. Definitely."