Dye Leads Crenshaw Past Hamilton, 39-6

Tailback James Dye accounted for 245 yards in offense and scored a touchdown to lead Crenshaw High to a 39-6 victory over Hamilton Thursday night in the first round of the City 3-A Division playoffs at Gardena High.

Crenshaw, seeded first, will play the winner of tonight’s game between Los Angeles and Reseda in the quarterfinals Nov. 27.

Dye, a 5-foot-10 senior, rushed for 127 yards in 11 carries and caught three passes for 118 yards.

“Playing against Banning, Dorsey and Carson in the regular season helped us against teams like this,” Dye said. “We started tonight big-headed, but we got things together later.”

Crenshaw (7-4) scored on its first two possessions to take a 13-0 lead on an eight-yard pass from Enos Powell to Damon Rouhlac and a one-yard run by Davenport Vickers.

Hamilton (3-8) scored its touchdown on a 24-yard run by Eric Polk to cut Crenshaw’s lead to 13-6.

But the Cougars came back with two touchdowns on a 64-yard fumble return by Floyd Adams and a 19-yard pass play from Whitney Jones to Kofey Nortey. Crenshaw led at halftime, 25-6.

In the second half, Dye turned a screen pass from Jones into a 57-yard touchdown, and Floyd Lemby added a seven-yard run for another touchdown.

“We see ourselves as a Cinderella team,” Dye said. “We just want to go out and play with a good mentality.”