Last Saturday the Culver City football teams played their annual fall scrimmage. The freshmen, junior varsity and varsity teams showcased their talent in front of proud parents and enthusiastic coaches. After more than five hours of football the number one theme of the night appeared to be, the team comes first.
Culver City has a lot of good players but those players have checked their egos at the door. This team wants to be known as a good team and not a bunch of good individuals.
“I like this team because they are a blue collar team,” longtime assistant coach Cornell Myles said. “They remind me of the Pittsburg Steelers. They just line up and go out and play hard, they play physical and most important they have fun. There are no superstars on this team. They are like a fist balled up getting ready to deliver a knockout punch.”
The Centaurs are the defending Ocean League champions and they open their 2014 season on the road against a good West Torrance team on Friday Sept. 5 at 7 p.m. West is led by running back Brett Ojiyi who ran for 1,037 yards and scored 21 touchdowns last year.
The Culver City players that performed well during the varsity scrimmage were Reynard Saxon, Donovan Davis, Anthony Polk, Fred Wadibia, Jason Grossman, Evan Tillman and quarterback Xavier Ryan.
“I felt like our offense was on the same page tonight,” Ryan said. “We just need to take it one game at a time and see what happens.”
If Culver City has a superstar it’s Saxon. The 6’-3” Saxon plays wide receiver and safety.
“I have been waiting for this moment for a long time,” Saxon said. “I am ready to take the leadership role. Yes, I am one of the main players this year but we have a great overall team concept this year. We have our egos to the side.”
Assistant coach and offensive coordinator Aki Wilson was happy that no one was injured during the scrimmage but he realizes that offense must improve.
“We have to have a better passing game,” Wilson said. “I am also concerned about the play of our tackles. They need to give the quarterback better outside protection.”
Overall the coaches were happy with fall practice and the Blue and White scrimmage.
“We had a good fall camp and the kids were real positive,” assistant coach Greg Goodyear said. “We pushed them pretty hard in training camp. If we can continue to improve we should be very competitive in the Ocean League and defend our championship.”