San Pedro Turns Back Crenshaw

It took only one quarter to determine the outcome of a Southern Pacific Conference matchup that in the last 10 years has so often gone down to the wire.

San Pedro took advantage of two first-quarter turnovers by Crenshaw on Friday en route to a 38-18 victory over the Cougars in front of 4,200 at Daniels Field in San Pedro.

With the win, San Pedro (4-0), The Times’ top-ranked City Section team, extended its winning streak to 18 games dating to 1995.

“I expected a closer game,” senior running back Raymond Moreno said. “But we played very aggressive, very strong football from the start.”

It didn’t take long for San Pedro to register its first score.

No. 8 Crenshaw (3-1) went three plays and out on its opening drive and San Pedro took over at midfield after a short punt. Three plays later, Moreno swept right and scored on a 37-yard run.

Then Crenshaw self-destructed and handed San Pedro 14 more points.

On Crenshaw’s second drive, the Cougars found themselves deep in San Pedro’s end of the field when quarterback Keenan Carter and running back Donye Tucker mishandled an exchange. San Pedro defensive end Tony Danelo scooped up the loose ball and ran it in from 10 yards, 58 seconds after the Pirates’ first touchdown.

A second turnover by Crenshaw set up San Pedro’s third score.

After a fumble killed Crenshaw’s longest drive of the first half and San Pedro took over at its 37, it again took only three plays for the Pirates to score. Running back Holmon Wiggins ran straight up the middle for a 50-yard touchdown.

Three drives, three scores, a comfortable 21-0 first-quarter lead.

“That hurt us big time,” Crenshaw Coach Robert Garrett said of his team’s turnovers. “That alone caused us to lose this game. We mentally were not ready for tonight. We weren’t ready the moment we stepped off the bus.”

Ready or not, San Pedro’s offensive line was. The Pirate front five helped open huge holes for Wiggins and Moreno, who ran for a combined 229 yards.

“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to our line, they played hard the entire game,” said Moreno, who rushed for 102 yards and two touchdowns, including a 33-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter.

Crenshaw finally got on the board after a five-yard quarterback sneak by Carter to make it 21-6 with 1:16 left in the first quarter, but the Cougars gave up 10 more points to San Pedro before halftime.

If history repeats, this game should be more than just a victory for San Pedro.

Last season, the teams came into the game undefeated at 4-0. San Pedro prevailed and went on to win the City Section 4-A Division title.

“This definitely is not a launch,” San Pedro Coach Mike Walsh said. “We’re a one game at a time team. We have Washington next week and we’ll go from there.”