Servite Surges Past Crespi, 41-21 : Russell White Outgains Brown but Celts Eliminated From Division I Playoffs

Crespi High All-American tailback Russell White said this week that his performance against Servite and running back Derek Brown would, in essence, separate the imitator from the originator.

If Friday night’s Southern Section Division I quarterfinal playoff game was White’s answer, then Brown will take his chances with patent infringement, plagiarism or any other charge that Crespi wants to throw at him.

White won the Battle of the Backs, Part III, with 162 yards to Brown’s 130, but Servite won the game, 41-21, before an estimated crowd of 6,000 at Pierce College.

Servite scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to turn a tight game into a runaway, but for 3 1/2 quarters, it was as tight as Servite Coach Jerry Person could stand.

“Russell White is a good back,” Person said, “and he got his yards tonight. But we rose to the occasion when we had to.”

Servite’s defense, actually, was smelling anything but rosy until a third-quarter stand. Crespi, which trailed, 20-7 at the half, had moved to within 20-14 on a 14-yard run by White with 8:09 left in the third quarter. Servite fired blanks on its next possession, and Crespi took over after the punt at its own 20.

The Celts (6-6) gained 9 yards in 2 plays, but White was stopped at the 29--a yard short of the first--on third down. Crespi Coach Bill Redell elected to go for the first with 3:24 left in the quarter, but White was again drilled by a Friar defensive surge on the right side of the line.

“If I had to do it all over again, I probably wouldn’t,” Redell said. “But at the time, I thought we had momentum and that we could gain one lousy yard. I thought we had to keep the ball out of their hands.”

He was right.

Nine plays later, Servite quarterback Chris Johnson faked a handoff to Brown and scooted around left end on a perfect bootleg to give the Friars a 27-14 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter.

“That was probably a key play in the game,” Person said of Crespi’s gamble on fourth-down. “No, that was the key play of the game. If it goes their way, its a totally different game, a whole different story.”

The scripting worked out fine for the Friars, who scored 2 more touchdowns in the quarter to put Crespi away. To cap a night of frustration, White--who needed 164 yards to reach the 6,000-yard career mark--was stopped for no gain on his second-to-last carry and fumbled on the final carry of his record-breaking career, 2 yards shy of the 6K mark.

For Crespi, individual attention granted White was more than a little symbolic. Where Crespi needed a huge performance from White--who scored 3 times to give him 568 career points and 94 touchdowns, expanding his state records in both--Servite battered the Celts with balance.

“It’s more than just me,” Brown said. “It’s the whole team. Now if we keep the teamwork thing going, we could win the whole thing.”

For Servite, 5 different players scored. And that beats mano a mano any time. For the record, the teams have met 3 times in the last 12 months, and Brown has rushed for 658 yards and scored 8 touchdowns.

There were highlights for the halfback watchers, however.

After Crespi took a 7-0 lead on an 11-yard run by White, Servite waited about 15 seconds to counter. Or rather, Brown did.

Brown fielded the kickoff at the 7, darted up the middle and cut down the left sideline for a 93-yard return and a 7-7 tie with 7:00 left in the quarter.

“If they came for head to head, they saw it right there,” Person said.

Brown said the Celts made a mistake in kicking the ball to him, and also alluded to the fact that he thought White’s pregame remarks were ill-advised as well.

“I have no comment about what he said about me,” Brown said, which is pretty close to what White had to offer about Brown’s performance.

Said White: “No comment.”

Countered Brown regarding White’s lack of comment: “If doing what I did helps to quiet him down, good.”

Servite scored on a 4-yard run by Oscar Ford and a 48-year run by Brown to take a 20-7 lead.

Matt Saputo missed a field-goal attempt from the 12 just before halftime for Crespi.