White Gains 210 Yards to Lead Crespi

Sean Howard had a few minutes between classes on Friday, so he thought he’d take a little walk.

The Crespi High linebacker ended up standing in the football bleachers, glaring out at the field. It looked a little different to him.

There, on the 50-yard line, were the letters “N.D.” The letters represent the initials of Notre Dame. Now, there are two words that Crespi players hate more than anything. One of them is “Notre.”

“I was standing in the bleachers, saw it and got a little tingly in my legs,” Howard said. “It definitely pumped us up.”

Thus, Crespi went out and carved its own initials on everything wearing a Notre Dame uniform and walked away with a 41-3 Del Rey League victory before an overflow crowd at Crespi.

As usual, sophomore running back Russell White did his share of the carving. White gained 210 yards and scored 4 touchdowns in 13 carries. Oh yeah, and he was taken out of the game after the first series of the second half.

His replacement, J.J. Lasley, who missed the Celts’ past three games with a wrist injury, racked up 99 yards in 11 carries.

So much for mercy.

Sure White and Lasley were impressive, but Fat Albert could have gained quite a few yards with the holes the Crespi’s line was opening up.

“They really controlled us up front,” Notre Dame Coach Kevin Rooney said. “I think every back who carried the ball must have averaged 10 yards a carry.”

Actually, the eight Crespi players who carried the ball amassed 345 yards in 42 carries.

But the Celts’ dominance was not only restricted to the offensive line. The defensive line was constantly trying to get into the uniforms of Notre Dame quarterbacks Morgan Shepherd and Brendan Cowles. With little time to throw, the two completed a combined 2 passes in 20 attempts.

As a team, Notre Dame had 25 total yards, all of which came in the second half.

“We couldn’t run and we couldn’t pass against them because we never had the time,” Rooney said.

Not a bad assessment.

It didn’t take Crespi Coach Bill Redell quite as long to get the same point across.

“Our defense was awesome,” he said.

It was even good for Crespi, which entered the game with the stingiest defense among Valley-area Southern Section schools.

The win improved the Celts, ranked No. 2 in both the Big Five Conference and The Times Valley polls, to 6-0 overall and 1-0 in the Del Rey League. The loss dropped Notre Dame to 2-4 and 0-1.

White, who entered the contest with 773 yards, fell just 17 yards short of the 1,000-yard mark.

“My goal was to get 1,000 yards before the Alemany game,” White said. Crespi plays Alemany next week. “But I know it’ll come, so I’m not that worried about it.”

According to Howard, the only ones worrying once the game started were the Notre Dame players.

“They lost all their confidence after the first quarter,” Howard said. “Our offense just drilled the ball down their throats and our defense shut them down.”

It didn’t take too long to spot that trend.

Notre Dame received the opening kickoff and, on its first play from scrimmage, Crespi’s Jon Budge intercepted a Shepherd pass and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown.

Things got worse for the Knights. Much worse. White had yet to even touch the ball.

The sophomore running back gained 26 yards on his first carry. An eight-yard rush on the next play set up his four-yard touchdown run.

It wasn’t long after that White again reacquainted himself with the end zone. About six minutes if you’re scoring. This one totalled 60 yards. His final two scores gave him a total of 15 touchdowns in 6 games.