Football: Hamilton gearing up for an historic night
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Hamilton senior wide receiver Donnie Duncan plans to take in the moment when the Yankees play Woodland Hills El Camino Real tonight at 7 for the Los Angeles City Section Division II championship at East Los Angeles College.
“It feels like we’re making history,” said Duncan, who has verbally committed to Colorado. “We’re a part of it.”
Fourth-seeded Hamilton (10-3) will play in a championship game for the first time in the school’s 78-year history. While a story in The Times’ sports section on Thursday highlighted the various socioeconomic challenges the program has dealt with to get to this point, Coach Kelvin Moore rightfully points out this story is “about the kids because they’re the ones playing the game.”
Those kids have put together a spread offense that features many senior playmakers, including quarterback Torey Whitfield (63% completion rate with 40 touchdowns), tailback Connor Wilhelm (141 carries for 1,100 yards and 12 touchdowns) and wide receivers Tremaine Love (62 catches for 1,008 yards and 12 touchdowns) and Duncan (77 catches for 1,691 yards and 16 touchdowns).
But fans didn’t come out in droves until the last two playoff games under rented stadium lights.
“It was really cool,” said Love, who says he’s being recruited by Arizona State and Colorado. “It’s something that hadn’t happened before in history.”
And with the Yankees on the verge of making history tonight, Duncan hopes the program’s winning traditions are just getting started.
“Maybe people will start wanting to come to Hamilton,” he said. “They can then be more consistent, win more games and win a couple more championships.”
-- Mark Medina