by Paul Teetor
Mira Costa and Culver City put on an offensive clinic Friday night at Waller Stadium. In the end the Mustangs relentless ground game ran right over the Centaurs prolific passing game.
The teams combined for 13 touchdowns, 43 first downs, eight plays covering at least 40 yards and eight touchdowns on plays of 30 yards or more.
In addition, four players totaled more than 200 yards each, and both teams combined for a grand total of 1,168 yards of offense.
Mira Costa sophomore running back A.J. McBean ran for 340 yards and four touchdowns. Junior quarterback Liam Meeker rushed for 219 yards and three touchdowns as the Mustangs (5-2, 2-0) took a quick lead, fought off repeated challenges, and then pulled away in the second half for a 56-34 win to set up a showdown for the Bay League lead next week with Inglewood.
They did so despite the high-octane show quarterback Seth Shigg put on for Culver City (6-1, 1-1).
The speedy West Point-bound quarterback totaled 578 yards and five touchdowns, completing 27 of 45 passes for 457 and three touchdowns, two of them to star receiver Myles Singleton. Shigg also ran for 121 yards and two touchdowns.
Mira Costa coach Don Morrow was impressed by both offenses.
“Culver City is so tough to defend, and they’ve had some really wild shootout games the last few years, so that’s what we were trying to avoid,” Morrow said. “But they’re so talented and Seth is incredible.”
McBean, often breaking several tackles once he got past the line of scrimmage, carried the ball 29 times. All but 17 of the Mustangs’ 595 yards came on the ground.
“Oh, man, the gaps I was finding, I’ve never felt like this before,” said McBean, who had touchdowns of 65, 34 and 33 yards.
Meeker, who covered 77, 52 and 42 yards on his touchdown runs, gave all the credit to the offensive line. “The O-line’s execution was something special. I’m seeing my linemen make crazy blocks, making great plays to open big holes for me to run through.”
Mira Costa grabbed a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter after Meeker scored on a 77-yard sprint and McBean on a 1-yard push.
Shigg, meanwhile, got the Centaurs to within a point twice before halftime with three touchdown passes. He tossed a 49-yarder to Harley Moore (five receptions, 213 yards) and had 25- and 58-yard touchdown strikes to Singleton (six catches, 123 yards), the last after escaping a sack on fourth down with the Northern Arizona-bound receiver eluding a tackler and sprinting most of the way.
A McBean touchdown on the first drive of the second half extended the lead to 35-20, and Culver City closed within nine and then eight points but could get no closer.
And there was more good news for Mustang fans. Star quarterback Nico De La Cruz, who has missed the last five games with a broken hand, practiced with the team this week and may be cleared to play next week against Inglewood.
Sea Hawks Stumble
In a rare Thursday night game, visiting North Torrance put a 36-29 loss on Redondo in their Pioneer League showdown.
North scored two touchdowns on Redondo turnovers to grab a quick 14-0 lead, and the Sea Hawks never quite recovered.
Redondo (5-2, 1-1) ran the ball on its first five plays. Then quarterback Cole Leinart threw an interception that was returned 38 yards for a 6-0 Saxon lead.
Soon after that North (5-1, 2-0) recovered a Cadence Turner fumble at midfield and ran it in to put North ahead 14-0.
Ethan Maleman led Redondo’s offense with 125 yards, including 84 in the first half. Leinart finished with 115 yards passing, with Turner accounting for 64.
Redondo fought back to earn a 14-14 tie at halftime, but the Sea Hawks never could go ahead.
Redondo Coach Keith Ellison was proud of his team’s fight-back spirit, and credited North with keeping the Sea Hawks down.
“North put us in a hole early, they kept getting the lead and we could just never get over that hump,” Ellison said. “I don’t think we played to the best of our abilities, but a lot of that was how North played us.”
Dodgers Fever
Yahhh! The Dodgers won the World Series! Yaahh!
Oh, wait.
There was so much excitement all over LA Friday night that it just seemed like the Dodgers must have won the World Series. Actually, all the Dodgers won was the National League Division Series over the hated San Diego Padres.
The reality is that they still have to beat the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series. And then if they do that they have to beat whoever comes out of the American League in the World Series – most likely the New York Yankees.
And wouldn’t Dodgers — Yankees be a classic World Series!
But forget all that back-to-the-future stuff for now.
The celebration Friday night was so joyous after the Dodgers 2-0 victory over the Padres, the sense of relief that this would not be another first round face plant was so profound, that Dodger fans could be excused for partying long into the night and into Saturday morning too.
For a fan base starved for post-season success, there were plenty of heroes to go around.
Start with Manager Dave Roberts, who made a brilliant choice to start Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the winner-take-all game 5. Roberts chose him despite his struggles in game 1 of the series, in which he gave up five runs in three innings and put his team in a hole so deep that only a three-run homer by Shohei Ohtani could get the Dodgers back in the game.
But this time Yamamoto went five innings, gave up no runs, left with a one run lead, and set the stage for the Dodgers bullpen to complete the 2-0 shutout.
Then there was Teoscar Hernandez, who hit one of the two solo homers that gave the Dodgers their two runs. A below-the-radar off-season signing by President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman, Hernandez slugged 33 homers in the regular season and was the all-important fourth loud bat behind Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. They better make sure to sign him this off-season when he becomes a free agent.
But the real hero of the night was Kike Hernandez, the Dodgers own Mr. October. He left the Dodgers for big money from the Boston Red Sox a couple of years ago but came back this off-season and was welcomed by the crowd like the prodigal son coming home.
He hit the home run that gave the team a 1-0 lead in the second inning and, more importantly, gave his team the feeling that they had a lead they were never going to give up.
The Dodgers kept that winning streak going Sunday night when they destroyed the Mets 9-0 in the first game of the National League Championship Series. In the process the pitching staff tied the major league record for consecutive scoreless inning with 33 – a streak that ended abruptly Monday when the Mets tied the series with a 7-3 win.
The next three games are in New York Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with games 6 and 7 scheduled to be played back in LA, if necessary.
But whatever happens in the next week, Dodger fans will always have the 2-0 game five win over the Padres that catapulted them deep into the postseason and exorcized more ghosts than a Halloween party at midnight.
Yaahh! The Dodgers won the League Division Series! Yaahh! ER
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com
