Crespi shows its true colors in the second half

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Thanks to the postgame rain and a closed Pierce College press box, I’m sitting in the passenger’s seat of my 2001 Ford Focus and letting you know that sanity did indeed prevail at tonight’s Valley parochial showdown between Crespi, ranked No. 10 by The Times, and Alemany.

Behind a strong second-half offensive surge, thanks to the arm of QB Bryan Bennett, Crespi overcame a ridiculous 100 yards in penalties to defeat Alemany, 28-21.

Alemany actually led the Patriot- and Seraph-killers, 7-6, at halftime thanks to some successful trick plays in the first quarter, but ultimately couldn’t keep up with a talented Celts’ offense that opened up the game in the final 24 minutes.

As you can imagine, Crespi Coach Jeremiah Ross wasn’t exactly thrilled with how his team played.

‘We made some mistakes and weren’t focused the whole way,’ Ross said. ‘Alemany kind of caught us by surprise, but we got the win and that’s what matters.’

The Celts continued to have some penalty problems in the second half, but a strong performance by Bennett and his receivers allowed them to score three second-half touchdowns to take a permanent lead.

Bennett completed 15 of 22 passes for 218 yards and two TDs , connecting with six receivers. Crespi’s run game, which was a no-show last week against Canyon and in the first half of this game, munched up an OK 104 yards.

Still, I expected more from the Celts tonight. Their offense looked sloppy at times and their defense left Alemany receivers Chris Gant and Antonio Bray open on more than just a couple plays.

I know this team is capable of being ‘big time.’ It’s already proved it more than once. But the Celts need to believe it themselves.

- Austin Knoblauch