The streak is over.
Crenshaw relied on tenacious protection and an environment friendly passing assault to finish Birmingham’s 55-game successful streak towards Metropolis Part groups and earn a spot in subsequent week’s Open Division championship recreation with its gritty 12-7 semifinal victory Friday evening in Lake Balboa.
“It’s all about heart … I thank my O-line and my defense — they dominated,” mentioned junior quarterback Danniel Flowers, who performed with a fiberglass solid on his left hand to guard a damaged wrist he suffered Oct. 10 in a 32-0 shutout of Washington Prep. “We came in here with a lot of confidence and all I did was read the zone and throw it right behind where the defender left.”
The sixth-seeded Cougars (10-1) have reeled off eight consecutive wins since a 23-6 defeat to Hamilton on Sept. 5, and their newest triumph counts because the three hundredth for longtime coach Robert Garrett, who has been on administrative go away for the reason that begin of the season and was not on the sphere to rejoice the milestone along with his gamers.
In two playoff wins, the-bend-but-don’t-break protection has given up solely seven factors — a one-yard quarterback sneak within the first quarter by Birmingham’s Kevin Hawkins. Crenshaw blanked third-seeded San Pedro 30-0 in muddy situations within the quarterfinals.
Crenshaw picked off two Hawkins passes — one by Kyion Rattler within the first quarter and the opposite by Deandre Kirkpatrick late within the third, which led to a 16-yard scoring strike from Flowers to Deance’ Lewis with 12 seconds gone within the fourth quarter.
Crenshaw’s Kyion Rattler leaps in entrance of Birmingham receiver Jimmy Renteria to intercept a cross in the course of the first quarter Friday evening.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Occasions)
The second-seeded Patriots (8-4) had their possibilities, however a 38-yard subject purpose on their first drive of the second half was blocked. Their final gasp got here on a faux punt with 2:30 left when Paul Turner stretched out to snare a fourth-down cross from Jimmy Renteria solely to have the ball jarred free on a punishing hit by Flowers on the Cougars’ 15-yard line.
“Coach G is my mentor and we expect to win every game,” mentioned Terrance Whitehead, who’s serving as interim coach and working practices in Garrett’s absence. “We don’t tend to be as deep as other teams but we coach the kids up and a majority of our guys play both ways.”
Joshua Jones reached throughout the purpose line earlier than his knee touched the turf for an early one-yard scoring run to cap a 12-play, 85-yard drive and pull the Cougars to inside 7-6. The additional level was blocked.
Crenshaw will attempt to cross one other check Nov. 29 when it faces No. 1-seeded Carson, which routed Garfield 40-7 in Friday’s different semifinal, at 6 p.m. at Southwest School. The Cougars have received six Metropolis crowns and one state title since Garrett took over in 1988, and so they have all of the motivation they want.
Birmingham’s Braylen Morgan runs for a primary down throughout a Metropolis Part Open Division semifinal playoff recreation Friday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Occasions)
“It would feel amazing to do it for him even though he’s not here,” mentioned Flowers, who accomplished 15 of 25 passes for 110 yards and had one throw intercepted by linebacker Chris Barrera late within the first half.
“We were winning at halftime, we just didn’t put them away,” Patriots coach Jim Rose mentioned. “It’s not like we got blown out by 40, but they played a full game and we didn’t. Hats off to them. We went eight years and five days without losing to a section opponent — these kids were in elementary school. This just wasn’t our night. Every streak comes to an end eventually.”
Birmingham’s earlier loss in Metropolis competitors was 40-35 at Fairfax within the Open Division quarterfinals in 2017. The Patriots misplaced to Narbonne within the semifinals in 2018 and once more final season, however the Gauchos forfeited each victories for utilizing ineligible gamers.
