The Culver City varsity foot- ball team scored 28 points in the second half as they routed host Beverly Hills 41-12 last Friday night to end their season with a two-game winning streak. Those two wins ascended the Centaurs into fourth place in the six-team Ocean League. The Centaurs finished the season 2-8 overall and 2-3 in league play.
After the game against Beverly Hills the Culver City players, coaches and fans looked relieved and happy all in the same moment. The previous eight losses during the sea- son was a distant memory and every one had a smile on their face.
“It feels good to end the season with two wins,” head coach Jahmal Wright said last Friday night. “We are going to ride this momentum all the way to next year.”
The two wins were also a great way for the seniors to end their season.
“Some of our seniors really stepped up,” Wright said. “Anthony Polk switched from tailback to quarterback these last few games and he did a fantastic job learning the plays for another position. Donovan Davis was also instrumental in the two wins. He scored six touchdowns these last two games.”
Another senior that had a great season was 5’11, 210- pound kicker Tony Caiseros, who made a 50-yard field goal against Beverly Hills and which was the second-longest field goal in school history. Caiseros handled all of the kicking duties for the Centaurs this year, which included kickoffs and punts.
His kicking coach, Greg Goodyear, and Caiseros were elated that the season ended on a high note.
“I have always had a strong leg,” Caiseros said after the victory against Beverly Hills. “I attended a few kicking camps over the summer like Snap, Hold and Kick. That really helped me. This was my last game and I really wanted to perform well.”
One of the hardest working players on this years’ team was senior wide receiver Jason Grossman. According to the coaching staff, Grossman practiced hard, played hard and he never complained about not getting the ball because of the problems with the young Centaur quarterbacks.
“Every season has its’ ups and downs,” Grossman said. “The last few weeks we had more confidence and we had good practices. It’s not how you start it’s how you finish and we finished on a positive note.”
Probably the happiest senior of all was Davis. Davis started the season scoring touchdowns against West Torrance and ended the year reaching pay dirt against Beverly Hills.
“I am just proud of my team,” said a smiling Davis. “The way we finished these last two games was great. It’s incred- ible how we can lose all of those ames and win the last two. I said a few weeks ago that we just wanted to win some games and we did it. All of the seniors got together and decided to give all we had.”
A month ago the Centaurs were held scoreless against El Segundo and Santa Monica and their last two games against Hawthorne and Beverly Hills the team scored a combined 76 points. That offensive explosion made offensive coordinator Aki Wilson breath a little easier.
“We wanted to get the seniors get back to work. The freshman and junior varsity teams did a the ball as much as possible,” Wilson said. “It felt good to go out with a bang. Now we need good job this year so the future to get in the weight room and looks bright.”
