Birmingham’s victory is total and complete

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Judging by the way Birmingham totally decimated Valley basin rival Taft on Wednesday, it seems the Patriots opted to have their Thanksgiving feast a day early. Behind another trademark performance by senior RB Milton Knox, pictured left with teammate Donovan Carter, Birmingham laid the smackdown with a 50-7 victory over their longtime adversaries in the quarterfinals of the City Section Championship Division playoffs.

You couldn’t ask for a more complete thrashing. Knox rushed for 210 yards and four TDs, the most dazzling of which came on a 75-yard run in the second half. Evan Jenkins recorded two interceptions, one of which he returned 63 yards for a score. And, to top it all off, the Patriots held Taft to negative-23 total yards on offense.

‘Our fear has been in the last six, seven weeks that we might develop some bad habits,’ Birmingham Coach Ed Croson said. ‘And, so far, I don’t think we’ve developed anything bad. We’re playing really good football and we’re excited about each game coming up.’

After the Patriots forced a safety early in the second half and followed it up with an Terrell Owens-like nine-yard TD catch by TE Mychal Rivera, the game almost became laughable. Even some fans on the Taft sidelines were wearing that ‘this is ridiculous’ sort of grin.

To make matters even worse, Croson kept in most of his starters for almost the entire game in a move, he said, to battle the effects of the upcoming nine-day layoff before the Patriots’ semifinal game against Crenshaw on Nov. 30.

I guess I can buy that, but this game concretely proved Birmingham is not only a City Section title challenger, but should also be considered a state bowl challenger. Come on CIF, where’s that City Section love?

(In the bottom photo, Taft’s Kalan Booker catches his breath after a 74-yard kickoff return)

-- Austin Knoblauch