Senior Night 2016 at Jerry Chabola Stadium started off with a bang as the Culver City High football team rolled over visiting Santa Monica High, 56-20 on a clear and cool Friday evening, October 28.

Appropriately, the Centaur seniors played a prominent role in the fourth consecutive victory over their Ocean League archrival.

"Overall I'm pleased on how we played as a team. I thought our offense was clicking on all cylinders. The defense did a good job causing turnovers and played one of their better games of the season," said Culver Head Coach Jahmal Wright.

"I think we're playing some very good football. We have a lot of confidence, our team's healthy and I'm excited about where we're at right now."

The Centaurs are in a three-way tie for first place in the Ocean League with El Segundo and Lawndale at 3-1 with one game remaining on the schedule to be played this Friday night.

Despite the fact that Culver City kicked off to start the game they scored 28 seconds later to make it 7-0 on a quarterback keeper by Jonathan Martin and the extra-point kick by Carlos Barillas. Two plays earlier the Centaurs recovered a fumble at the Santa Monica 17-yard line on the Vikings' very first play from scrimmage.

"Jayden Porter, our defensive tackle, did a great job causing the fumble. Our starting linebacker John Lewis recovered the fumble. We did a good job of keeping Santa Monica's quarterback uncomfortable and we also did a pretty good job of stopping the run," said Wright.

Four minutes later the Centaurs were suddenly down 14-7 to the Vikings. "I thought we didn't do a good job with our turnovers earlier on in the game. We kept Santa Monica in the game and they actually took a lead on us because of mistakes that we made.

"On their first touchdown, we had a quarterback-running back exchange fumble that led to their first touchdown. They got the ball in plus-territory and drove the ball down the field," said Wright.

"Their second score was a fumble on a kickoff return that they returned for touchdown. And their third touchdown was an interception for a touchdown. So I'm not real pleased with us turning the ball over and them scoring points off of it."

In a biting twist for Santa Monica, Culver tied the score at 14-14 in less than two minutes when Martin threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to senior Bryce Lewis-Wolfe playing wide receiver. Lewis Wolfe was the Culver's quarterback last season when they thoroughly shut out the Vikings 49-0. In that game he completed 24/30 passes and threw for four touchdowns.

Three minutes later Martin connected again with Lewis-Wolfe on a broken play. Martin, forced out of the pocket and scrambling left, threw a strike on the run to Lewis-Wolfe who made a circus catch along the sideline, spun and dove inside the left orange pylon marking the goal line for the touchdown. The Centaurs' 21-14 lead was a permanent one.

Wright: "I thought it was a great catch and he actually got hit pretty hard by the safety on that play. For him to hold on to the ball, that was a great job by Bryce. He is a talented athlete, a team player and his attitude is how can he help the team win. He actually volunteered to become a receiver, we threw him in there and he contributed well."

Culver City scored two touchdowns in the second quarter to stretch the lead by halftime, 35-14. Brandon Oum ran 15 yards up the middle for a touchdown capping off an 80-yard drive. A perfectly executed 47-yard bomb from Martin to Charles Ross set up Oum's score.

With 17 seconds remaining in the half Martin hit senior wide receiver Deven Osborne with a pass across the middle who ran past the defenders into the end zone. The halftime show featured the Centaur Marching Band and Flag Corp followed by a ceremony honoring the senior band members.

Santa Monica scored 17 seconds into the third quarter on a 25-yard interception for a touchdown to reduce the deficit to 35-20. Culver nailed the door shut, 42-20, later in the quarter on a six-yard touchdown pass to Ross. A three-yard touchdown pass again from Martin to Osborne came on the last play of the third quarter. Osborne, listed as 6-7, used his height to reach up and grab the toss over the defenders without even jumping.

"Jonathan was doing a great job. He has a real good grasp of the offense and how the defense is attacking him. He's in a real good flow right now and is able to hit his receivers. It's not just one receiver, it's a bunch of different receivers," said Wright.

"It's definitely by design to keep everybody involved in the offense. I think when you keep everybody involved in the offense it's harder for the opposition to key on one player. It just makes for a more potent offense because you just can't key on one guy."

Culver senior linebacker Billy Greene scored the final points of the game with 7:58 on the clock as he intercepted and ran the ball 56 yards into the end zone. The celebration was on as Greene was mobbed by his teammates while the crowd screamed with approval.

Offensively, Martin was 15/25 passing for 273 yards, five touchdowns thrown, one interception and one rushing touchdown. Oum was the leading rusher with nine attempts for 93 yards and one touchdown. Barillas successfully kicked eight extra-point conversion attempts.

Kevin McGuire was the leading receiver with four receptions for 63 yards. Charles Ross had three receptions for 64 yards and one touchdown. Bryce Lewis-Wolfe had three receptions for 71 yards and two touchdowns. Deven Osborne had two receptions for 42 yards and two touchdowns.

Defensively, Augustus Frazier had eight solo tackles. Roman Hayden had 10 total tackles: four solo and six assisted tackles. Elijah Zavala had eight total tackles, four solos and four assists and a fumble recovery. Alex Smith, Billy Greene, both seniors, and Tyler Luckett each had an interception. John Lewis and Tony Morrillo each recovered a fumble as well.

Total team offense: 469 total yards gained, 273 yards passing and 196 yards rushing. There were 51 total offensive plays: 25 passing plays and 26 rushing plays.

The Centaurs will play at Beverly Hills this Friday for their final league game of the season before they prepare for the CIF Football Playoffs.

Currently Culver is ranked #1 among Division 11 teams in Southern California and #286 in the entire State of California according to MaxPreps.com.

"We want to build on the momentum that we're getting off of last week's win at Hawthorne and this week's win versus Santa Monica. Hopefully we can keep it going against Beverly Hills moving forward," concluded Wright.

Fred Altieri

Culver defense swarms Santa Monica

"In the past when there was a tie, whoever lost by the least amount of points was the league champion. This year, since we're all in different divisions for the playoffs we all go in as co-division champs. We would all be division champs and so we all would be the #1 seed from our league."