Hawthorne Beats Rival Peninsula

To hear several Hawthorne High football players tell it, repeating as Southern Section Division III champions would be nice, but they’ve already won the game that really matters.

The Cougars, ranked No. 9 by The Times, survived four turnovers to defeat their Bay League archrival, Palos Verdes Peninsula, 20-12, Friday before 4,000 fans at Peninsula.

“This is our CIF championship,” Cougar wide receiver Justin Stallings said. “If we don’t do anything all year, we want to beat Peninsula.”

Hawthorne has defeated Peninsula--which opened in 1991--all three times they have played. The Cougars, 7-1 overall and 2-0 in league play, claimed sole possession of first in the Bay League. To do so they had to withstand a second-half rally by the No. 20 Panthers (7-1, 2-1).

“Coming in, we reminded ourselves to make it a close game if we couldn’t win,” Peninsula tight end Keith Harter said. “We want to make sure Hawthorne respected us for giving them a run for their money.”

The Cougars took a 14-0 lead in the third quarter after running back Omarr Morgan’s 12-yard touchdown run. But on the next possession, Harter caught a screen pass and raced 57 yards down the sideline for a touchdown, making it 14-6.

Harter’s score came one play after he dropped a long pass for a potential touchdown, a mistake he repeated on the Panthers’ next possession.

Peninsula nearly came back anyway. Mike Margolf’s two-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter trimmed the Cougar lead to 14-12, but a pass to running back James Durroh for a two-point conversion was broken up.

The Panthers got one more chance, regaining possession at their 16-yard line with five minutes to play by stopping Hawthorne on fourth and one. But Peninsula gained only nine yards in four plays, and three plays later Hawthorne’s Morgan clinched the victory with a 33-yard touchdown run.

“(Peninsula) played hard,” said Cougar running back Eric Chaney, who rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown in 19 carries. “You know, some of our players from last year viewed this game as more important than our (Southern Section) championship game.”