Crespi poised to challenge Notre Dame for league title

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If you’ve been reading my blogs, then you know I’ve been having trouble deciding who’s going to take the Serra League title this year.

At the beginning of the season, I said something to the effect that it would be a stretch to think Crespi would challenge Notre Dame‘s position as top-dog. However, after the Celts’ victories over Birmingham and St. Bonaventure, I decided to jump off the Knights’ title-bound horse and onto the Crespi bandwagon.

And even though the Celts fell to Canyon and had a couple weird games against Alemany and St. Paul, I still think they’ll beat their freeway rivals on Friday night, based on the way they’ve performed in their first couple league games.

On Saturday night, RB Austin Shanks, pictured left, rushed for 155 yards in 10 carries and had a couple of TD runs of 47 and 88 yards to propel Crespi to a 38-7 victory over Loyola. I honestly thought the Cubs would put up more of a fight in this one, but the Celts proved they’re ready for another top-tier challenger by completely swabbing the deck with Loyola and Bishop Amat.

The recruiting candy over at Notre Dame will definitely provide a challenge. Unfortunately for the Knights, I don’t think they’re complete enough to win their fourth consecutive league title.

Also, my condolences go out to the family and friends of former Crespi football player, David Vigil, who passed away on Monday. Vigil was a wide receiver on Crespi’s 2004 and 2005 divisional championship teams.

If you missed Crespi’s big-game victory over Northern Division titan St. Bonny, here’s some highlights courtesy of YouTube:

-- Austin Knoblauch

-- Photo courtesy of Brian MacGregor (thanks again!)