In a well-played intersectional match up of CIF bowl game hopefuls, Crenshaw
of Los Angeles gets a spectacular performance from senior Geno Hall and its
never-say-die defense to record a thrilling 28-27 come-from-behind victory
over Lakewood. Read below for quick recap and analysis.

By Ronnie Flores, Senior Editor

To read our quarter-by-quarter tweets of this game, follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/calhisports

What a difference one year can make. That was the slogan Crenshaw of Los Angeles was saying after opening its season with Lakewood, a team many feel has as good as shot as any to win the prestigious CIF Southern Section Pac-Five Division title.

Last year when the Cougars took on Lakewood to open the season on the road, they jumped out to a 28-14 halftime lead, only to see their young team wilt in the heat as the Lancers posted a 42-34 victory.

This season, Lakewood came into the season highly-rated by some national polls, with a plethora of talented skill position players led by Elite 11 quarterback Jesse Scroggins. Crenshaw has a majority of its marquee players back, too. The difference this time, however, is Crenshaw's veterans displayed leadership when the going got tough down the stretch with Lakewood holding a 27-22 lead.

With just under eight minutes remaining in the game, the Cougars put together a 70-yard drive in which nearly every offensive player made a key play. The most impressive thing about the drive is Crenshaw (1-0) did it without standout junior running back De'Anthony Thomas, who was slowed in the second half with a ginger ankle but still rushed for 76 yards and a touchdown on nine carries.

On a third and 10 from the Crenshaw 40-yard line with 6:45 remaining in the game, junior quarterback Marquis Thompson hit senior wide receiver Greg Ducre on a clutch 19-yard pass. Moments later on a fourth and one from the Lakewood 19-yard line, the right-handed Thompson rolled out to his right. He seemingly could have run for the first down and a lot more, but he threw a comeback pass low intended for senior Geno Hall, who caught it only inches above the turf for a key first down. After junior back Dayvon Allen carried for a gain of one, Thompson hit Hall on a nine-yard fade route to the far side of the field to give the Cougars a 28-27 lead with 2:33 remaining.

"I knew it was coming my way," Hall said of Thompson's gutsy fourth-down throw. "I was thinking 'go for it,' we have to get it off. I wanted to come and and make big plays and get on the map."

The 5-foot-8, 160-pounder definitely did that, as Hall finished with 11 receptions for 134 yards and two touchdowns. Perhaps it was a sign of things to come that Hall opened up the scoring on the game's first play with a 38-yard touchdown catch, where he eluded all-state defensive back Dion Bailey, fought off cornerback Brennan Kelley, tipped the ball to himself and waltzed to the end zone. On Crenshaw's final 70-yard drive, Hall caught five passes from Thompson, who finished 14 of 17 for 170 yards, including 10 of 11 in the second half.

"We're growing up," remarked veteran Crenshaw coach Robert Garrett. "The pups are becoming doggies," he added with a chuckle.

With Scroggins at the helm, Lakewood still had plenty of time to drive down for a possible game-winning field goal or touchdown. In the first half, the Elite 11 signal-caller had ample time to find receivers, as he completed 10 of 12 passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns. Down the stretch, however, the Crenshaw defensive line was able to put some pressure on him.

On Lakewood's final drive, the Cougars finally got to Scroggins, as Shannon Penn sacked the USC commit for a loss of 10 yards after a gift pass interference penalty on Crenshaw on a pass attempt that appeared not uncatchable gave Lakewood (0-1) a first down at the Cougars' 34-yard line. From the 44-yard line on third down, Scroggins hit wideout Kevin Anderson (5 receptions, 51 yards) for a gain of 19 yards, but on fourth down his pass intended for Ron Lewis fell incomplete as Crenshaw held on for the victory.

"We play what we call a 20 gap contain defense," explained Penn. "As you can see, we weren't getting to him (Scroggins), so the coaches told us it was time to go. We started blitzing and the linebackers adjusted to pick up our outside contain. Afterwards, we were giving out thanks to people who stepped up and showed leadership. Our sideline kept their heads in the game."

After Hall's first acrobatic catch, Lakewood answered with a six-yard touchdown from Scroggins to tight end Justin Utupo. Crenshaw then took a 15-7 lead after Hall followed Thomas' two-yard touchdown run with a successful 2-point conversion scamper. Lakewood answered on a beautiful Statue of Liberty fake by Scroggins that resulted in a 25-yard touchdown run by senior Terrance Woods.

Chris Davis' touchdown reception of 14 yards yards gave Lakewood a 21-15 only 16.1 seconds before halftime, but Crenshaw took back the lead at 22-21 near the end of the third quarter when Le'Jon Baker blocked a Lewis punt from the 20-yard line, scooped it up at the five-yard line and went in for the score. Davis' second touchdown catch, a 15-yarder, gave the Lancers their final lead with 8:05 remaining before Crenshaw put together its game-winning drive.

"Thompson was very accurate, he did a great job of executing their offense," said Lakewood coach Thadd MacNeal. "Our kids fought, but a lot of things can be corrected."

CalHiSports.com Analysis

In our preseason state ratings, we might not have looked so good to place Long Beach Poly at No. 7 in light of Thursday's loss to Servite, but No. 8 in the state is pretty close to right on the money for Lakewood.....Many of the ratings we've seen had Lakewood nationally-ranked to open the season, one even as high as No. 7 in the country. The Lancers are talented and with Scroggins they can move the ball on offense, but we used caution before jumping them up too high just because many of their skill-position players are receiving D1 recruiting interest....Without running back Jerry Stone, Lakewood turned to four other backs. Woods' other carry besides his spectacular 25-yard touchdown run was a gain of zero yards in the second half. Junior Rashad Wadood carried three times for 18 yards with a majority of the lugs going to junior Alley Long. He finished with 38 yards on 13 carries, with his longest jaunt an eight-yarder in the first half....Poly and Lakewood were No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in the preseason CIF Bowl Game Div. I South ratings, so defending Div. II Oceanside might be in the drivers' seat for now as a result of its season opening 31-13 victory over Reed of Sparks, Nevada. No. 3 Centennial of Corona, the defending Div. I champion, opens its season up next week against No. 5 Chaparral in a game that will have big ramifications in light of this week's results.

Crenshaw is a better team than last year, but we were hesitant to rank them higher than No. 15 in the state in the preseason because of questions surrounding line play. The Cougars are not deep in the trenches, but the players they do have seem to have a high level of physical conditioning, unlike past years where we've seen the teams' biggest kids on their line that gassed as the game wore on......In last year's loss to Lakewood, highly-recruited linebacker Hayes Pullard rushed for 123 yards and two touchdowns, but this time around only carried five times for 22 yards. The Crenshaw coaching staff seems to want to preserve him for mainly defense since the Cougars have a deeper set of ball carriers. Junior Qujuan "Butter" Floyd started at fullback in front of Thomas and proved to be an excellent lead blocker. He finished with 20 yards on eight carries while fellow junior Dayvon Allen added 13 yards on four carries. There seems to be little drop off with regards to running skills, lead blocking or pass blocking regardless of who is out on the field to compliment Thomas....."The Black Mamba" did not return to the game after fumbling on the Crenshaw 20-yard line was recovered by Lakewood linebacker Ryan Cummings. Thomas didn't look 100 percent on that play, but tried to pick up the ball instead of falling on it. When he's healthy, there is little doubt Thomas, last year's state sophomore of the year, is the most explosive L.A. City Section tailback in quite some time. At free safety, he also loves to go for the big hit and a couple of times in this game he was shaken up on defense. Garrett said afterwards he was kept out late in the game for "precautionary measures." The game's biggest hit was actually made by Baker on the third down play right before he blocked the punt and returned it for a touchdown. Baker, also known as "LeLe," flat backed a Lakewood receiver, but he held on to the ball for a five-yard gain.