Crespi Wins, 28-14, to Reach the Finals

Please pardon Crespi High football Coach Bill Redell for getting a little carried away. He couldn’t help it.

Redell, apparently without his consent, was hoisted by his players and temporarily kidnapped immediately after Crespi beat Eisenhower, 28-14, before about 5,000 fans at Birmingham High on Friday night in the semifinals of the Big Five Conference playoffs.

Redell, however, would have been the last person to complain.

“I’m just elated,” he said. “I’ve been on a Grey Cup champion in Canada, a CIF champion in high school, a lot of big games. This is as great a moment as I’ve ever had in sports.”

The victory moves Crespi (12-1) into the conference championship against St. John Bosco at Anaheim Stadium on Friday. St. John Bosco, which defeated Crespi, 32-27, in a game that decided the Del Rey League championship is 13-0.

With a win next week, Crespi, which last advanced to a final in 1973, could become the first Valley team to win a Big 5 Conference championship.

How does Crespi feel about a rematch?

“That’s exactly what I want,” sophomore tailback Russell White said.

“It’s pay-back time for us,” defensive lineman Quinn Fauria said. “We owe them one.”

Perhaps the only shortcoming to the Celts’ victory on Friday night was the loss of junior tailback J.J. Lasley. Lasley, who gained more than 500 yards, went down with a leg injury after his first carry of the game. He never returned to the game and it was not known after the game whether he will be available against St. John Bosco.

“That kind of changes our offense a bit,” Redell said. “He’s an excellent back and we’re certainly going to miss him.”

The Celts will still have White, who rushed for 150 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries against Eisenhower (10-3), giving him 2,098 yards and 27 touchdowns for the season.

They also have senior fullback Jeff Kellogg, who picked up some of the slack with 57 yards on 13 carries. He also scored a touchdown on an impressive pass play from quarterback Rob O’Byrne. On a third-and-eight from the Eisenhower 14-yard line, O’Byrne hit Kellogg in the flat at the eight. Kellogg looked to be stopped, but he plowed over a defender and continued on into the end zone for the score and a 21-0 Crespi lead.

“I don’t like getting those holes opening up where I don’t get to hit anybody,” Kellogg said. “My favorite thing in the world is hitting.”

While Crespi has been known as a running team, the difference against the Eagles came from its passing attack. With every Eagle swooping toward White, O’Byrne riddled the Eisenhower defense, completing 9 of 13 passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns.

He was 7 of 11 in the first half, when the Celts sprinted to a 15-0 lead.

“We didn’t think they’d pass very much,” Eisenhower Coach Tom Hoak said.

That’s an understandable assumption, when you’re playing a team with a 2,000-yard running back. Wrong, but understandable.

“I’ve always known that we could both run and pass,” O’Byrne said. “It was just a matter of them calling my plays.”

And, just to show that he could run with the best of them also, O’Byrne scored on an three-yard bootleg in the fourth quarter, giving the Celts a 28-6 lead.

The Crespi defense also deserves some credit. The Celts, which led all Valley-area Southern Section schools in defense during the regular season, allowed Eisenhower only 56 yards on 26 carries.

Crespi scored on its first drive. The Celts took the ball at their own 35 yard-line and, nine plays later, White took the ball in from the one.