Intersectional Upset Inspires Other Teams

The Crenshaw High football team’s 7-6 victory over traditional Southern Section Division I power Loyola is still reverberating throughout the Southland prep scene.

Crenshaw forced seven turnovers en route to an intersectional victory that ranks among the most noteworthy wins in Cougar history.

City coaches were pleasantly surprised when they heard the result.

“That was a great win for the City Section,” said first-year Carson Coach John Aguirre, who was head coach at Garfield for eight years and an assistant at La Puente Bishop Amat the last two. “The Southern Section schools put more [money] into their athletic programs, especially football, so there is sort of an imbalance. When we can pull an upset like that, it’s going against the flow.”

Aguirre and Carson have a chance to strike another blow for the City on Friday when the Colts travel to Diamond Bar to play the defending Southern Section Division II champion.

Last week Carson (2-1), led by running back/fullback Wendell Hunter, defeated Westchester, 21-0. The Colts’ only loss is to Crenshaw.

Diamond Bar (3-0), led by running back Jason Wright, is coming off a 30-0 victory over Monrovia, the only team to beat the Brahmas last season when they finished 13-1.

“Diamond Bar is a very solid program that does a lot of the right things and makes very few mistakes,” Aguirre said. “We’re looking to execute our assignments and playing well. We’re not trying to prove anything to anybody.”

On Friday, Wilmington Banning travels to Santa Fe Springs St. Paul and Manual Arts plays at Malibu in other intersectional games involving City teams.

While the majority of City teams will be playing their final nonleague games, the Western League begins play Friday.

Venice (3-0) is at Gardena (3-0), Westchester (2-1) is at Palisades (2-1), University (0-3) is at Hamilton (1-2) and Fairfax (0-3) will try to end its state-long 37-game losing streak when it travels to Los Angeles (1-2).