White Scores 6 Touchdowns as Crespi Pounds St. Francis

Nobody can accuse St. Francis High of being beaten up by the Little Sisters of the Poor.

The Knights (1-5) have lost to three teams ranked in the Southern Section top 10 by The Times, and their opponents have had a combined record of 24-5-2.

On Friday night at Birmingham High, it was Crespi’s turn to administer a whipping, and the Celts did just that with a 56-27 victory over St. Francis in a Del Rey League opener.

The Celts improved to 5-0-1 with the win before a homecoming crowd and television cameras from KTTV-TV Channel 11, which will air footage of the game on its regular broadcast tonight.

Crespi, ranked No. 1 in the Valley area by The Times and No. 9 in the nation by USA Today, once again was led by running back Russell White, the Valley-area’s leading rusher and scorer.

A banner on the St. Francis sideline urging the Knights to “Wipe Out White” had little effect as the Crespi junior rushed for 238 yards and 4 touchdowns on 14 carries and caught 2 passes for 91 yards and 2 more touchdowns. He has scored 20 touchdowns and has rushed for 1,119 yards in six games this year.

Crespi Coach Bill Redell, while pleased with White’s effort, was not impressed by his team.

“Russell’s effort speaks for itself, but I was not pleased with the way we played at all--on offense, defense or special teams,” Redell said. “I know that sounds crazy, but we just played very sloppy. It just wasn’t a polished performance.

“We’re good, but I don’t think we played like the ninth-ranked team in the nation.”

White was virtually the entire Crespi offense in the first half. He rushed for 200 yards and three touchdowns, scoring on runs of 28, 56 and 40 yards. He also caught a 59-yard touchdown pass from Rob O’Byrne just before halftime to give Crespi a 28-7 lead.

All told, White accounted for 259 of the Celts’ 303 first-half yards.

Crespi held the Knights to 53 yards rushing and 129 total yards in the first half, 56 of those coming on quarterback Bill Morris’ touchdown scramble in the second quarter that pulled St. Francis to within 14-7. But that was the closest the Knights would get all night.

Crespi’s J. J. Lasley returned the third-quarter kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown. The fifth of Bill Gould’s eight conversion kicks put Crespi ahead, 35-7.

After Morris threw 12 yards to Peter Morales for a touchdown, making it 35-13, Lasley returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards, apparently for another touchdown. The score was nullified, though, by a holding penalty. Lasley scored later in the quarter on a seven-yard run as Crespi built a 42-13 lead.

The rest of the game was extended garbage time, although White scored twice more--on a 32-yard pass from O’Byrne and a 10-yard run.