Carson Holds Off Crenshaw

Carson High came within inches of the first 0-4 football start in school history Friday afternoon.

Facing fourth down and one at the Crenshaw 17-yard line with 2:06 remaining, Carson made a first down by less than a foot on a run by senior Joseph Redmond to keep its winning drive alive.

On Carson’s next play after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Crenshaw, Redmond scored from eight yards out to give the Colts their first victory, 21-20, in a Southern Pacific Conference game at Carson.

With 1:51 left, Crenshaw tried to rally and drove to the Colts’ 31-yard line. The Cougars’ hopes, however, ended when a pass bounced off the hands of receiver Kirk Oliver into the arms of Redmond with 1:10 left.

“This was a good game, but we just had some bad breaks,” Crenshaw Coach Robert Garrett said. “On our last drive, we knew that we were either going to score (a touchdown) or move in close enough for a field goal.”

Crenshaw (2-2)--which outgained Carson in total offense, 380 yards to 242--took a 6-0 first-quarter lead on a 10-yard run by Ferrel Payton. Carson responded later in the quarter when Llewelyn Miller caught a screen pass from Ramon Rogers and scored a touchdown from 40 yards.

After a scoreless second quarter, Carson appeared to take control when Patrick McCall, who finished with 85 yards in 12 carries, scored on a 14-yard run to give the Colts a 14-6 lead with 3:50 remaining in the third quarter.

With it’s passing game struggling, Crenshaw turned to backup quarterback Ricky Lumford and its running attack behind linemen Romeo McCain, Earl Lillie, Todd Moore, Terry Warren and Willie Brown. It paid off with Brandon Seals scoring on a nine-yard run. The Cougars tied the score on a pass from Lumford to Kabeer Smith for the two-point conversion.

Crenshaw recovered a squib kickoff and three plays later scored when Lumford threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Rashard Magee with 7:44 remaining.