White’s Big Night Yields Record and 35-15 Crespi Win

It was his senior year in microcosm as Russell White approached the state career rushing mark on Friday night. He was hot, then he was not.

The Crespi High tailback’s season has been punctuated by injury and setback after setback as he has pressed on in his quest to shatter the yardage mark.

As he got within 10 yards of the record, White would gain a handful, then lose a few. Finally, the All-American tailback slithered off to the left side of the Crespi line, broke a tackle and bounced outside with 4:18 left in the third quarter for a 5-yard gain to give him the record.

Like the season, clearing the hurdle was not easy. But other than his brief detour as the record was in sight, White was in a season-best high gear, something fans had waited all season to see.

White scored touchdowns of 1, 1, 72 and 30 yards and rushed for a season-high 192 yards to lead the Celts to a 35-15 win over St. John Bosco in a Del Rey League game at St. John Bosco.

White has 5,447 yards in his brilliant 3-year career, bettering the mark held by Ray Pallares of Valencia High in Placentia (5,397).

After rushing for 133 yards in 9 carries in the first half, White had moved to within 10 yards of the standard, leading Crespi to a 21-0 lead in the process. In the second half, however, his first 4 carries went for only 8 yards, even as he appeared ready to turn the page on history.

“That’s what it’s all about,” White said as his mother and grandmother hugged him at midfield. “They know it’s going to be me and they have to stop me.”

St. John Bosco (1-6, 0-1 in league play), other than its brief show of resistance as White approached the record, did little else to stop White or the Celts (4-3, 2-0). The Crespi attack was balanced by another strong effort from quarterback Ron Redell, who completed 11 of 13 passes for 104 yards--including 8 in a row to open the game--as Crespi continued to rebound after a disappointing 2-3 start. In all, Crespi gained 393 yards.

White, who has been slowed by a nagging injury to his left ankle, rebounded as well. He led Crespi to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on a pair of 1-yard scoring runs, but that was just a precursor of what would follow.

After his second short touchdown, he raced 72 yards on his next possession with 4:37 left in the half to give Crespi a 21-0 lead.

White added a 30-yard scoring jaunt in the fourth quarter to give Crespi a 28-7 lead with 10:27 remaining.

“It’s been kind of a feast-or-famine year,” Crespi Coach Bill Redell said, in reference to White’s assault on the record as well as the season as a whole. “Sometimes we get stopped at the line, and sometimes we bust it.”

With regard to record-busting, White candidly stated afterward that he wouldn’t mind putting the state records for rushing yardage and scoring way out of reach. He broke the state scoring mark in last week’s 49-0 pasting of Alemany.

“I’d like to put them all out of reach,” he said. “Rushing, scoring, all of them. Way, way out there.”

A few feet away, Redell looked over to the well-wishers surrounding White, fans who were requesting autographs and participating in a little backslapping.

“I can’t describe him,” Redell said. “The guy’s just incredible. It’s just sad that we couldn’t have seen the guy play like this in the first 5 games.”

A RUN TO THE TOP

SOUTHERN SECTION RUSHING LEADERS

Yards Player/School Years 5,447 Russell White/Crespi ‘86-88 5,397 Ray Pallares/Valencia ‘83-85 5,213 Craig Johnson/Whittier Chrs. ‘73-75 5,181 Steve Tetrick/L.A. Baptist ‘70-72 4,920 Mickey Cureton/Centennial ‘64-66 4,882 Eric Bieniemy/Bishop Amat ‘84-86 4,807 Aaron Emanuel/Quartz Hill ‘82-84 4,597 Ryan Knight/Rubidoux ‘82-83 4,553 Marvin Williams/Colton ‘73-75 4,481 Carlos Adams/Atascadero ‘79-81