HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: WEEK 9 : Bishop Amat Checkmates Crespi in the Second Half

Bishop Amat High might no longer be the best football team in the nation. Not this year.

But the Lancers showed they still are a level above Crespi--just like last year--with a 27-14 Del Rey League victory Friday night at Pierce College.

Bishop Amat (7-1-1, 3-0-1 in league play) scored 17 consecutive second-half points to blow open a close game and force the Celts (5-4, 2-2) to play catch-up.

Senior tailback Ralph Brown and junior wide receiver Joey Getheral did most of the damage for the Lancers.

Brown, who entered the game with 1,052 yards rushing, ran for 118 yards and one touchdown.

Getheral, a 5-foot-8, 153-pound receiver, hauled in all four completions by Brian Russell, including a 56-yard pass play that went for a touchdown to give the Lancers a 20-6 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Brown ran three yards for a touchdown late in the first half to ive Bishop Amat a 10-6 lead.

Russell finished four of nine for 107 yards and one touchdown.

“I think it went well the first 2 1/2 quarters,” Crespi Coach Tim Lins said. “Our kids played as hard as they could play.”

Crespi tailback Jamian Barbour, who rushed for 147 yards and a touchdown in 23 carries, gave the Celts hope--at least in the first half. Barbour’s 14-yard touchdown run in the second quarter gave Crespi a 6-3 lead after both teams struggled to reach the end zone.

“Crespi did an excellent job tonight,” Bishop Amat Coach Tom Salter said. “They came at us with a super team.”

After a scoreless first quarter, Santiago Velasquez booted a 21-yard field goal to give the Lancers a 3-0 lead.

In the second half, Bishop Amat, which reached the Southern Section Division I final last season before losing to Mater Dei and was ranked No. 1 nationally for much of the season, took control.

“We were really tight, really sloppy in the first half,” Russell said. “But we still have the same attitude as last year. We don’t have the same superstars, but we have the same attitude.”

Crespi landed the game’s first break when Brown fumbled at the Bishop Amat 14 and Crespi’s Ron Quarterman recovered with four minutes left in the half. That led to Barbour’s touchdown.

But the Lancers drove the length of the field in the final two minutes of the half to take a 10-6 halftime lead on Brown’s touchdown run.

In the fourth quarter, Chris Sabado gave Bishop Amat a 27-6 lead with a nine-yard run with seven minutes to play.