Crenshaw Pulls Rank on Kennedy : City’s No. 8 Team Defeats No. 3 in Battle of Cougars, 15-13

So much for the Great Valley Hope.

Kennedy High was supposed to be a great football team. Ranked No. 3 by The Times, it was supposed to romp Friday afternoon past Crenshaw, ranked eighth. Kennedy went into the game with seven veteran starters, and rookie Coach Bob Francola had spoken freely this week about Kennedy possessing more talent than any team in the school’s recent history, including its best quarterback since Tom Ramsey.

But Crenshaw beat Kennedy, 15-13, while amassing only 53 yards in total offense. And Crenshaw isn’t even the best team in its league. Banning is.

What led to Kennedy’s unexpected demise? Twelve men on the field. A lost fumble on a punt. Five defensive encroachment penalties in the same quarter. Not recovering a Crenshaw fumble. Two late-hit penalties. A high punt snap that went out of the end zone for a safety.

“You would think that with eight coaches,” Francola said, “that those kinds of things wouldn’t happen.”

Don’t think Francola is passing the blame to his assistants. First, he isn’t the type--he took the blame himself--and second, assistants don’t play. Players do. And the Kennedy players played well for the first two minutes and the final two minutes. In between, both teams played poorly, but Crenshaw played poorly the best.

Kennedy’s started well enough. On the Golden Cougars’ first possession, senior quarterback Jeff Newman showed fine poise. On second down, Newman threw a 30-yard pass to Jerome Hill. After running back Edwin Jones came up empty on a dive play, Newman took the ball himself, rushing 16 yards to the Crenshaw 29.

Penalized five yards for illegal motion, Kennedy started the second half of its drive from the 34. Jones rushed for two yards and then Newman threw up a duck that should have been intercepted by cornerback La Murrice Hubbard. “He’s a little inexperienced,” Crenshaw Coach David Frierson said. Instead, the ball went through Hubbard’s hands to Hill, who raced down the left sideline for a touchdown.

Geno Tagliaferri kicked the extra point and the ensuing kickoff.

Crenshaw’s Wayne Peters took the kickoff and ran it back 95 yards for a touchdown.

Crenshaw’s Rashawn Weatherspoon missed the point-after and Kennedy led, 7-6.

After the teams exchanged possession, Crenshaw’s Weatherspoon punted to Doug Rodriguez, who fumbled, and Crenshaw’s Marc Garth recovered on the Kennedy 38. After two defensive encroachment calls and a 23-yard Jeff Sullivan-to-Peters pass play, Carlose Thomas ran five yards for Crenshaw’s second touchdown. This time, Tagliaferri connected. Crenshaw led, 13-7.

Thomas finished with six of Crenshaw’s 53 yards. “We’ve got to go right back to the drawing board,” Thomas said. “They had a pretty good defense but we should have done a lot more on offense.”

After Thomas’ score, the Golden Cougars did nothing more offensively. But the Crenshaw defense, led by tackle Alfred Sanders, did. Crenshaw stifled Kennedy’s offense. In fact, Kennedy’s most potent threat, Newman at quarterback, passed only three times in the fourth quarter. One pass, however, found Stacy Ramsey alone at the three where he caught the ball and took it in for Kennedy’s second touchdown. Newman wasn’t as lucky on the two-point conversion try; Jones couldn’t catch Newman’s pass.