Taft Slows Hicks but Still Falls

One need not wonder why Crenshaw High tailback Kevin Hicks is nicknamed “Juice.”

It has to do with the fact that when Crenshaw plugs him in, Hicks gives the Cougars a surge of high-voltage offense.

Juice and his teammates squeezed the playoff life right out of Taft on Friday night, defeating the Toreadors, 27-13, in a City Section 4-A Division second-round playoff game at Taft.

Taft contained the cat-quick Hicks on the ground, limiting him to 82 yards in 21 carries. But the senior tailback hurt the Toreadors with his hands, hauling in touchdown passes of 39 and 45 yards from quarterback Derrick Williams.

The second touchdown gave Crenshaw (8-4) a 19-13 lead with 10:10 to play, and Taft (5-5), which committed four turnovers, never recovered.

The run-oriented Toreadors, still trailing by six with 2:08 to play, were forced into their two-minute offense. Quarterback Chad Petrilli promptly threw an interception and Crenshaw’s Devin Montgomery returned the ball 42 yards for a touchdown.

Petrilli, filling in for academically ineligible Edwin Velasco, threw his third interception on his next attempt, and Crenshaw ran out the clock.

“We had to go to the pass,” Taft Coach Tom Stevenson said. “We knew we would be in a little bit of trouble if that happened.”

Petrilli, who had completed just three passes all season, finished three of 10 for 45 yards.

Taft, which trailed, 13-7, at halftime, tied the score on Darnell Hendricks’ three-yard touchdown run in the third period. Hendricks, who scored Taft’s other touchdown on a six-yard run in the second quarter, finished with 70 yards in 19 carries.

Running back Irving Carter added 68 yards in 15 carries. Taft rushed for 170 yards and held Crenshaw to 93 yards.

Crenshaw jumped to a 13-0 lead. The Cougars took over at the Taft 16 midway through the first period after Hendricks couldn’t catch Petrilli’s fourth-down pass.

Four plays later, Williams fielded a bad snap on a field-goal attempt and, while on the run, fired a 13-yard scoring pass to a leaping Felix Starks.