Culver City Observer -

After absorbing their first loss of the season 37-36 in their first away game at Palos Verdes, the Cents return home to face another strong and powerful winless team in the Dorsey Dons.

The reason why the Dons are winless is because they have faced highly ranked schools in their first four games.

Friday's game will be the third meeting between Dorsey and Culver High. In the first meeting in 2016, Culver City jumped out on top and held the lead for most of the game until Dorsey came back and notched the win.

Last year, the then-undefeated Centaurs traveled to Dorsey and jumped on them early for a 24-6 halftime lead. However, Dorsey rallied behind their second-string quarterback to tie Culver City with a 2 point conversion at 27-27 with little time remaining.

Jonathan Martin led the Cents down the field and ALL-CIF kicker Carlos Barillas kicked a 17-yard field with 3 seconds left to win the game.

Dorsey has tremendous talent over the years and have sent numerous players on to Division 1 programs and NFL teams. One of their most famous grads is wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson.

Unfortunately, there is no roster available on Max Preps, so we cannot give you the names or statistics for the Dorsey players. However, Culver defensive coordinator Tom Crump said that Dorsey has figuratively been two different teams offensively.

One team goes with double tight ends and one wide receiver and runs the ball right down the opponent's throat, in a style somewhat similar to Palos Verdes. The "other" team shows four wide receivers and runs out of spread formations and throws the ball all over the field.

The Centaurs this week will prepare for both but will not know until game time which Dorsey offense will show up.

Last week, the then-undefeated Centaurs traveled to Palos Verdes to play a rare afternoon game. Palos Verdes was winless but had also played three extremely tough and highly ranked teams.

The Cents were without their usual starting quarterback, Zevi Eckhaus, who had a sore elbow and could not throw. Coach Jahmal Wright inserted junior quarterback Nick Lucero, who had a fine game against a tough opponent in his first varsity start.

Culver was down at the half, 17-14, in a game that was marred by some very questionable officiating.

The Cents came roaring back in the second half and went up 36-24 with 9:50 left in the fourth quarter. But Palos Verdes, which has won six Bay League titles in a row, refused to fold.

They continued to batter the Centaur defense with hard-charging running backs who seemed to knock the Centaur defense back on many plays.

The game turned around quickly for the Sea Kings, who soon scored two touchdowns to win by a mere point, 37-36.