Feisty Reseda Overcomes Penalties, Fumbles to Defeat Manual Arts, 25-14

Flags flew, tempers blew and loose balls bounced everywhere. Reseda High’s 25-14 victory over Manual Arts on Wednesday night looked more like a preseason scrimmage than a second-round City Section 3-A Division playoff game.

The Regents (9-3) committed three turnovers and had a touchdown run called back because of a holding penalty in the end zone, one of numerous big plays nullified. And after scratching back from 7-0 and 14-7 deficits, Reseda Coach Joel Schaeffer credited his team with “surviving and not tanking.”

“We overcame a lot of negative things,” Schaeffer said. “There were some things going on out there that were not needed in a playoff game. We collected our composure when we could have folded.”

Schaeffer wouldn’t reveal the source of the negative things. But the object of his ire was clear: the officials.

A penalty flag was thrown on roughly one of every three plays. Neither team was heavily assessed, however, because often the penalties were offsetting. And Schaeffer, who in the best of times storms the sidelines with fire and brimstone, was at the top of his lungs during most of this two-hour, 52-minute game.

Manual Arts (4-7-1) marched 67 yards for a touchdown on the opening possession, converting a fourth-down-and-one situation and eventually chewing up the first nine minutes off the clock with 15 plays. The drive culminated in quarterback Kareem Wafer’s one-yard run.

The Regents, after turning the ball over on their first possession, went 96 yards on 10 plays to tie the score, 7-7, with seven minutes left in the first half. Travion Trammel scored on a four-yard run, capping a drive sparked by DeWayne Johnson’s 54 yards in five carries.

But Johnson was ejected for striking a Manual Arts player moments later and the Toilers went ahead, 14-7, on a 26-yard run by Brian Beckom.

Schaeffer was not happy about the ejection. Neither was he thrilled with the way his offense performed. The primary culprit was running back Tyrone Francis, who fumbled four times, with Reseda losing three.

But in keeping with the team’s performance, Francis redeemed himself, rushing for 121 yards in 17 carries. He scored on runs of 28 and 15 yards in the second half when the Regent defense shut out the Toilers.

Francis fumbled to end Reseda’s first drive of the second half, but after Manual Arts’ Dartanyum Smith (19 carries, 95 yards rushing) fumbled it right back on first down, Francis ran behind left tackle, juked Fredrick Jackson at midfield and scored from 28 yards.

Reseda added a 28-yard field goal by Alonso Arreola and a safety on a bad snap out of the end zone to lead, 19-14. Francis scored again after the free kick.