El Segundo Finishes Fast, Beats Daniel Murphy, 21-0

It was not quite the kind of inaugural El Segundo High School wanted, but according to football Coach Steve Newell, it was pretty much what the Eagles expected.

After spending several years in the recently disbanded Pioneer League, the Eagles moved over to the Santa Fe League, where Saturday night they made their 1988 debut with a resounding 21-0 victory over Daniel Murphy at St. Bernard.

Shaking off a sluggish first-half performance, which ended in a scoreless tie, El Segundo came on in the final 24 minutes of play, scoring an impressive win in raising its overall record to 4-0 and 1-0 in the league. Daniel Murphy fell to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in league play.

“It was pretty much like we expected,” said Newell. “They really took it to us in the first half; they were fired up and we had some problems because they like to play physical football.

“I told our team at halftime that I thought we were playing right into their hands and were beating ourselves.”

Running back Erik Evans was pretty much shut down in the first half, but was virtually unstoppable when the game was on the line. He gained 78 yards rushing and set up the Eagles’ three scores with 152 punt-return yards.

The Eagles scored on their first drive of the second half when Matt Wise hit Don Smith with a 10-yard scoring pass and also scored on their next possession when Evans scored from 12 yards out.

Evans tallied El Segundo’s final points of the game when he returned a punt 45 yards for a touchdown.

Coast Christian 22, Chadwick 21: In an eight-man game, Saints receiver Jerry Stephens hauled in a 29-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Steve Luce with 1:30 remaining, then scored on a reverse for the 2-point conversion that lifted Coast Christian to a come-from-behind victory at Mira Costa’s Waller Field on Saturday.

The victory keeps the Saints’ record unblemished at 3-0, while the Dolphins fell to 1-1-1.

Trailing 21-14, Coast Christian regained possession at its own 15-yard line with less than three minutes to play. Running back Earl Rhodes ran the ball to the 20, then caught a 36-yard pass that brought the ball to the Dolphin 29 and set up the play to Stephens.

Stephens also caught a 2-yard scoring pass minutes earlier to move the Saints to within striking distance.

Chadwick led 6-0 at halftime and took a 21-16 advantage into the fourth quarter.