Centaurs have 1 team left in the CIF playoffs

The Culver City Centaurs are still in the CIF playoffs.  Although the CIF Division 4 girls’ championship volleyball team was knocked out of the State Playoffs last Saturday night the football team has made it to the semi-final round of the Division 11 CIF playoffs.

The football team’s next game is against Covina Friday at Culver City high school inside the Jerry Cabola Stadium at 7:30 p.m. Despite injuries to key players the football team continues to win games with an explosive offense and a determined defense.

Last Friday the Centaurs beat Coachella Valley 45-27 and two weeks ago they beat Heritage Christian 24-8 in the first round of the playoffs. “We have a lot of good players at Culver City so when a player gets hurt, regardless  of who he is we expect the next man on the depth chart to step up and do the job,” said head coach Jahmal Wright when a reporter inquired about the injuries to his star quarterback and star receiver.

On Friday the 11-1 Centaurs will face a 10-2 Covina team that is led by sophomore running back Erik Cuellar who has rushed for 1771 yards and scored 25 touchdowns. He is also averaging 8.4 yards per carry.

The Centaurs, who are mainly a passing team, have their own star running back in Brandon Oum. Oum has rushed for 1074 yards and he averaging 9.4 yards per carry.  When they pass the ball their main targets are juniors Jamal Glasipe and Kevin McGuire.  Glaspie has caught 43 passes for 884 yards and McGuire has 40 catches for 756 yards.

Four weeks ago the Centaurs lost their star quarterback, Jonathan Martin and their great receiver Charles Ross to  knee injuries but they found a freshman  quarterback and other receivers that are stepping up and doing the job. Having a freshman quarterback in control of an high powered offense is rare but Zevi Echaus is getting the job done. Echaus has some big shoes to fill trying to replace All-CIF quarterback  Martin but Echaus is has got one foot in Martin’s two shoes.

The girls’ volleyball team won the Division 4 CIF title for the second consecutive year a few weeks ago at Cerritos College but their season ended in the State playoffs when they were swept 3-0 by Chatsworth’s Sierra Canyon last Saturday. Sierra Canyon is the 12th ranked team in the state.

“We played hard but we ran into a  very  good volleyball team,” said head coach Tanner Seigal. “I am so proud of these girls. They will go down in history as being one of the best teams in Culver City history. The future is bright for Culver City girls volleyball.