White Cuts Loose at Reunion Party, 24-20

All things considered, the Great Russell Reunion went pretty well for all parties.

Crespi High’s All-American tailback Russell White played his first game against his former neighborhood friends from San Fernando High and rushed for 183 yards in 22 carries and scored 3 touchdowns.

For Crespi, its 24-20 win over San Fernando in front of 6,000 spectators at Birmingham High on Saturday night wasn’t especially glamorous, but at least it was another brick in the road to a winning season.

For San Fernando, it was a moral victory, and afterward, the sideline mood was decidedly upbeat.

“This is a minor, minor setback,” said San Fernando defensive back Sean Williams, who scored on a 66-yard punt return to bring the Tigers to within four points in the fourth quarter.

Like most of his teammates, Williams was anything but devastated. In fact, he wrapped a bearhug around White following the final gun. “All we needed was more time,” Williams said. “This is something to build on.”

Time indeed, may have saved Crespi (2-1). Behind White’s three first-half touchdowns, the Celts took a 21-7 lead at the half.

After intermission, however, somebody slipped the Celts a mickey, and lethargy set in.

“It was probably my fault,” Crespi Coach Bill Redell said. “I was too conservative.”

Crespi’s conservation plan fell like a chain-sawed tree in the second half. Trailing, 24-7, San Fernando moved to within 10 on a 9-yard scoring pass from quarterback Michael Wynn to Eddie Carrillo with 4:50 to play. Wynn finished with 132 yards and connected on 16 of 26 passes.

Crespi could not move the ball following the kickoff, and was forced to punt. Williams took the ball at the 34 yard line, broke a tackle, and screamed up the right sideline for a 66-yard touchdown with 2:52 left. The two-point conversion pass was blocked.

The Tigers (1-2) then tried three consecutive on-side kicks--they were flagged on the first two for being offside--and Crespi was able to run out the clock.

“Our first quarter went pretty well,” Redell said. “But otherwise, we stunk. Our intelligence stunk, our special teams stunk . . . “

Crespi twice turned the ball over on punts in the first half, which cost the Celts the momentum it had established early. San Fernando was only able to convert one turnover into a score, however, and stayed within 21-7 on a 3-yard run by tailback Maurice McFarland with 5:08 left in the half.

White started off like he had some kind of vengeance in mind. On Crespi’s first possession, he scored on the third play, racing 59 yards on a third-down draw play. White broke loose from the grasp of San Fernando’s Eddie Carrillo at the 20 and scooted in from there.

White was just getting warmed up. On the Celts’ next possession, he scored on an 11-yard pass from Ron Redell to give Crespi a 14-0 lead with 5:02 left in the first quarter. Fullback Quinn Fauria keyed the drive with receptions of 18 and 17 yards.

White said he was a little disappointed that he didn’t score more often--he set his sight on scoring 7 touchdowns in order to tie the state career scoring mark--but gave himself positive reviews overall.

“I wanted seven to tie the record,” he said. “What the heck, you have to set goals for yourself. But I got bragging rights out of this. I can go back to my old neighborhood and tell the guys we won against a real team.”