Crespi Looks Like One-Man Team : White Rushes for Career-High 348 Yards, 5 Scores in 38-32 Win

Crespi High faced a team Friday night that uses the Delaware Wing-T, an offense that features many different running backs and just as many formations.

Crespi’s opponent, Riverside Poly, was well-suited to use the offensive set, because the Delaware approach highlights the abilities of several talented players. Self-proclaimed Wing nut Jim McNamara, the Riverside Poly coach, reasoned that he’d have to use just about every ballcarrier he had for the Bears to stay with Crespi.

Poly did just that, cranking out 378 yards of offense and 32 points. In contrast, however, Crespi used what could certainly be called a more focused attack--running back Russell White.

White rushed for a school-record 348 yards and 5 touchdowns in 28 carries as Crespi outscored Poly, 38-32, at Birmingham High in the first round of the Big Five Conference playoffs. White scored on runs of 49, 2, 16, 10 and 74 yards. Crespi (9-1-1) will play Servite, a 31-7 winner over Huntington Beach, in the second round Friday.

For White, it was a special night, because the last time the Celts played at Birmingham, they were handed their only loss of the year, a 15-8 defeat to Loyola that cost them the Del Rey League title. White had the second-worst night of his varsity career, rushing for only 28 yards in 14 carries. He also injured his right ankle, which forced him to miss last week’s regular-season finale, a 38-21 win over St. John Bosco.

“I was very anxious to get back in there and play,” said White, a junior who held the previous record of 266 yards, set against Santa Clara earlier this year. “The line came through and did the job when they had to.”

And they had to. White played the entire game with a brace on his right ankle, and it slowed him for about two carries. After that, White was Crespi’s nuts-and-bolts guy, bolting for five touchdowns in the first half as the Celts took a 35-17 halftime lead.

It’s a good thing White was able to play, because the Crespi defense didn’t do much to slow Poly, the Citrus Belt League team that finished with a 4-6-1 record.

“I’m very disappointed in the way we played defensively,” Crespi Coach Bill Redell said. “We just didn’t seem ready to play. We haven’t seen much of that offensive set, but we have to do better than that.”

The Celts needed every bit of White’s first-half preformance, which included 188 yards rushing.

Poly made a big run with 15 second-half points while Crespi sputtered and had to settle for a field goal.

With Crespi leading, 38-32, Poly regained possession of the ball on its own 24 with 3:25 left. Running back Randy Graves knifed inside for 23 yards, setting up a first down at the Poly 47.

One play later, Poly quarterback John Ramirez, who passed for 116 yards and a touchdown, threw a wobbler into the right flat that was intercepted by Crespi linebacker Brett Borkgren. Crespi then ran out the clock.

“They did a great job against us,” Redell said. “We just couldn’t get the ball back.”

Poly was hurt most by its inability to score late in the second quarter. Trailing, 35-17, Poly drove to the Crespi two-yard line with 16 seconds left. Ramirez completed a pass to Graves for an apparent touchdown, but Poly was called for offensive interference. Seconds later, a Poly player was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, and kicker Steve Linke missed a 49-yard field-goal attempt with seven seconds left.

“That was a biggie,” McNamara said, gesturing toward the scoreboard. “Obviously that was a very critical series. It would have really put the pressure on them to score some more points.”

McNamara said Poly did all it could to stay with the Celts, but White was just too much.

“I’ll tell you what, we were going to have onside kicks just so he’d only score from 50 yards out rather than 80,” he said. “I didn’t really think Crespi was a one-man team, but maybe I do now.”

Crespi quarterback Ron Redell completed 3 of 9 passes for 44 yards. Running back J. J. Lasley rushed for 60 yards in eight carries.