Big players lift Crespi, 20-6

There’s no better way to start the high school football season than to return the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. That’s what Lonell Jones of Encino Crespi did Friday night against defending City Section champion Lake Balboa Birmingham.

But UCLA-bound E.J. Woods of Crespi topped Jones with a 98-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

A knee injury to standout quarterback Kevin Prince, however, left the ninth-ranked Celts feeling a bit uneasy about the future after their 20-6 victory over No. 11 Birmingham at Pierce College.

Prince, a senior who has scholarship offers from UCLA and Washington, twisted his right knee while trying to elude tacklers with 2:57 left in the first quarter, falling to the ground in severe pain.

The knee immediately swelled up while Prince was being examined by the team doctor on the sideline. He spent the rest of the game standing on the sideline using crutches, his knee in a brace.

Last season, Prince broke his collarbone in Crespi’s regular-season finale. Sophomore Bryan Bennett took over Friday, and on his first play, handed the ball to Austin Shanks, who ran 55 yards for a touchdown.

Shanks rushed for 96 yards in 12 carries and contributed three interceptions at cornerback.

Crespi controlled the game much of the first half, but a botched punt snap gave Birmingham the ball on the Celts’ 19-yard line in the second quarter. That set up Milton Knox’s 16-yard touchdown run, and Crespi had to settle for a 14-6 halftime lead.

The UCLA-bound Knox was given the ball again and again in the second half as Birmingham tried to wear down the Celts using a power rushing attack. The strategy was working. Knox broke off a 36-yard run to the Crespi four-yard line with just over 10 minutes left. But on the next play, he lost the ball on a fumble, and his future UCLA teammate Woods returned it 98 yards.

“I take the blame for the fumble,” said Knox, who rushed for 160 yards in 30 carries.

-- Eric Sondheimer

In other games:

Corona Centennial 38, Compton Dominguez 17 -- Senior Ryan Bass of fifth-ranked Corona Centennial rushed for 214 yards in 25 carries and scored on touchdown runs of 61 and two yards as the host Huskies (1-0) defeated the sixth-ranked Dons (0-1).

Centennial outscored Dominguez, 31-10, in the second half, with the Dons’ only touchdown coming on Davion Biddle’s kickoff return.

-- Dan Arritt

Ventura St. Bonaventure 15, Santa Margarita 14 -- The fourth-ranked Seraphs trailed, 14-0, with 3 minutes 54 seconds left at Saddleback College before mounting a comeback behind quarterback Tony Macarena.

St. Bonaventure drove 70 yards in seven plays to pull within 14-7 with 2:06 left and then went 74 yards in four plays, the last one a 39-yard touchdown pass to Blayne Lewis with 37 seconds left. Darrell Scott then ran in the two-point conversion.

Scott finished with 17 carries for 76 yards in his eagerly awaited debut after transferring from Moorpark. Carlo Audagnotti carried 24 times for 192 yards and one touchdown for No. 19 Santa Margarita (0-1).

-- Martin Henderson