Culver Football Cruises To Easy Victory

It was good ol' fashioned home cooking and plenty of offensive firepower for Culver City High Football on Friday, September 9, at Jerry Chabola Stadium. The Centaurs rolled up 35 first quarter points on the visiting Torrance High Tartars and cruised to a 49-14 victory in their 2016 home opener.

The Centaurs racked up a whopping 711 total yards on offense under the direction of quarterback Jonathan Martin, the rushing of Brandon Oum and Kevin McGuire and the receiving of Charles Ross, McGuire, Robert Simon and Deven Osborne. The defense held Torrance to only 54 total yards passing as the Tartars focused on running the ball.

"We did a pretty good job of jumping out on them. We had a game plan and thought there were things we could exploit. They wanted to play an aggressive style of defense, blitz and play man-coverage. Our receivers are pretty good and we were able to execute and exploit that," said Culver head coach Jahmal Wright.

"We were able to spread the ball around and started fast with a 32-yard pass to Tye'ler Grant-Brown. We didn't look back. Sophomore Kevin McGuire had an explosive game, Jonathan threw the ball to multiple receivers and Brandon Oum was able to explode for his first 150-yard game. It was awesome."

The Centaur offense scored seven touchdowns: two each by Oum and Ross, and one each from Simon, Osborne and McGuire. Ross started the first quarter onslaught with a 25-yard touchdown catch.

Wright: "The first touchdown pass to Charles Ross was a basic post route. We were able to protect Jonathan and throw the ball over the top and take advantage."

Oum stepped up next with a six-yard touchdown run on an option play. Robert Simon then scored on a 24-yard run-option pass play. Next, Deven Osborne was able to take advantage with his height to catch a pass just before he dove into the end zone for a 27-yard touchdown. Charles Ross scored the fifth touchdown on a 62-yard play as Torrance blitzed and got burned on a screen play. The score remained 35-0 at the half.

"I thought it was definitely a real good team win. We did a lot better in terms of execution on the defensive and offensive ends. I'm not real happy with the amount of penalties we had. 12 penalties in one game is inexcusable so we have to work on that aspect of it," said Wright.

"The offensive line is doing a great job. They're giving Jonathan a lot of time to throw. He was only sacked one time and we were able to run the ball pretty well."

The defense and special teams were able to contain Torrance's run-dominated offense for much of the game. The Tartars had 19 pass attempts and 45 rushes for 287 yards.

"I thought our defense swarmed around and was able to establish the line of scrimmage. We had a lot of tackles for loss and kept them in a lot of long downs and distances, which was tough for them to overcome."

The defense was led by sophomore defensive lineman Roman Hayden with 11 total tackles, seven solo tackles and four assisted tackles and two sacks. Elijah Zavala had 10 total tackles, five solos and five assists. Jordan Armstrong had eight total tackles, four solos and four assists.

"We were able to make all of our extra points. Our punt teams were pretty good. We didn't have a lot of punt returns and we didn't have a lot of chances to return kickoffs. I was proud of how our special teams executed minus the one time ran a fake punt and was able to get a first down."

Wright continued: "We only had two sacks but had a considerable amount of tackles for loss. We had six tackles for loss. Their quarterback pretty much handed the ball off so our worry was more or less on trying to stop their running game."

The Centaurs added two touchdowns in the second half to match Torrance, who also scored one touchdown on an interception return. The half went by in a blur as the clock ran down quickly in "mercy" mode.

KcGuire outsprinted the entire field heading north down the left sideline for a 75-yard touchdown to make the score 42-7. Wright: "We ran a fly sweep toward the weak side. He was able to squeeze through a seam. He's pretty fast and ran for the score."

Brandon Oum finished out the scoring with a 68-yard evasive dash down the right sideling heading south. Oum had seven rushing attempts for 160 yards and two touchdowns. Kevin McGuire rushed three times for 131 yards and one touchdown. At quarterback Martin was 14/23 for 357 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.

Receivers: Charles Ross had four catches for 171 yards and two touchdowns. Kevin McGuire had seven catches for 103 yards. Robert Simon had two catches for 37 yards and one touchdown. Deven Osborne had one catch for 27 yards and one touchdown.

The win gives Culver a 1-1 record with three more non-league games on the schedule. They host North High from Torrance this Friday, September 16 at 7 p.m.

Wright: "North is definitely a formidable opponent. They have some speed and size. Upfront they have a real good quarterback. It's going to be a challenge. It's going to be a tough game."