With additional reporting by George Laase.
The Culver City High School football team was hoping to catch West Torrance in a down year.
But the Centaurs made too many mistakes to take advantage of an inexperienced opponent and lost their season opener 22-0 last Friday night at the Jerry Chabola Stadium.
The Centaurs had opportunities to score. Every time they marched close to the end zone, they were sacked, drew penalties or missed assignments.
They plan to correct the problems Friday afternoon at 3 on the road against Peninsula. “I saw some good things,” said Coach Jahmal Wright. “But we made too many turnovers, committed too many mistakes to beat a good team.
“These things are fixable. I am hoping we will get on the right track at Peninsula.
“We played hard against West Torrance, but we need to take advantage of our favorable matchups a little more with Peninsula,” the coach said. “We need to sustain drives. When we get close to the goal line, we have to seal the deal.”
At Peninsula, Culver City will try to capitalize on its speed.
Peninsula is not known for its speed, meaning this could be a breakout game for Cahlil Hooper, Centaurs’ running back and kick returner. Hooper, who also runs track, is one of the fastest players in the Ocean League.
On offense, the Centaurs are looking for receiver/defensive back Mason Mulvihill and running back Fred Poindexter to come up big as they did against West Torrance. Mulvihill caught four passes for 52 yards. Poindexter ran for 91 yards on 10 carries. Wide receivers Justin Cox and Deven Osborne each caught three passes.
On defense, linebacker Antwan Smith made 14 tackles, two for losses, defensive back Mulvihill had nine tackles. He also forced a fumble and blocked a field goal attempt.
Defensive back John Lewis made seven tackles and defensive back Mekhi Ware had two interceptions. Senior defensive linemen Kyle McKiniss, Cameryn Newman, Ryan Yoshida and junior linebacker Elijah Zavala had six tackles each.
“We need to continue to work hard, stay strong as a team and play hard against Peninsula,” said Mulvihill.
Mr. Finley may be contacted at sfinley50@aol.com
Mr. Laase may be contacted at GMLaase@aol.com