Culver City hopes to end drought against Channel Islands

Photo by George Laase full extension—Though Donovan Davis was held to just 30 yards rushing, he shined on defense. Davis broke up this long, potential touchdown pass. He also ran back a Pirate fumble 91 yards for a touchdown.

By Steve Finley Last Friday Culver City ran into another team that took advantage of Centaur mistakes. Paramount took a 17-3 halftime lead and scored 21 points in the second half to beat Culver City 38-10. Culver City needs to stop turning the ball over to the other team and move the ball on offense.

Channel Islands High School in Oxnard may be the team that can help the Centaurs break into the win column for the first time this season when the 0-4 Centaurs face the 1-4 Raiders on Friday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. at the Jerry Chabola field on the Culver City campus.

“Culver City played really good run defense against us so we had to throw the ball,” said Paramount coach Matthew Howard. Paramount was led by 6-0, 180 pound Donzale Roddie who will play for the University of Utah next year. “He is a jack of all trades type of player,” Howard said.

The Channel Island Raiders are coming off of their first victory of the season last week when they beat San Marcos of Santa Barbara 17-14. If the Centaurs put together a balanced attack on both sides of the ball they can come away with their first win of the season.

Against Paramount, once again the lack of offensive production hurt the Centaurs.

“We need take advantage of the plays that are on the field,” said assistant coach Aki Wilson. “We miss too many assignments. When the opportunity presents its self you have to take advantage of the situation. We don’t take advantage of the opportunity. We always find a way to shoot ourselves in the foot. If we clean up our mistakes we should be able to beat Channel Islands and carry some momentum into Ocean League play.”

The Centaurs start league play on Oct. 10, when they travel to Lawndale but right now the team is concentrating on beating Channel Islands. So far the defense has spent too much time on the field and a tired defense against a fresh offense is a bad combination. Centaurs coach Jahmal Wright hopes the offense, defense and special teams will be on the same page for Friday’s game. If that happens, the players, coaches and fans can take a deep breath and smile.

The 13-3 girls’ volleyball team starts Ocean League play today when they travel to Lawndale for a 3:15 match. The defending Ocean League Champions will play home matches against El Segundo on Oct. 7, at 4:30 p.m. and face rival Santa Monica on Oct. 9, at 4:30 p.m.

The boys’ water polo team will battle Redondo Union at 3 p.m. on Oct. 6, at Vets Park in Culver City and then they will travel to Beverly Hills on Oct. 10, to face the Normans at 3 p.m.