One game does not define a season, especially when it’s the first game of the season. Culver City High School’s 42-28 loss to San Jacinto last Friday did show that the Centaurs need to improve on offense and defense as they tackle a demanding schedule that includes some very good high school football teams.
On Friday one of those teams is Harbor City Narbonne. Kick off is set for 7 p.m. on the Culver City High School campus.
Several years ago, Narbonne used to be one of the best football teams in the Los Angeles City Section but in the last few years they have fallen into hard times. The 2024 Gauchos are looking to rebound and get back to playing winning football. They come into Friday’s game with a 1-1 record having beat Los Angeles Garfield 28-14 in the first game of the season and losing to Los Alamitos 49-6 last Friday.
If the Centaurs expect to beat the Gauchos, they will need to play a solid defensive and offensive game which they did not do last Friday. “We have to neutralize Narbonne’s quarterback,” said Culver City head coach Jahmal Wright. “They have a talented quarterback that’s one of the best quarterbacks in the state. The good thing is we match up well with Narbonne, but we definitely want to control the time of possession and dictate the pace of the game.”
Against San Jacinto in their opening game of the 2024 season the Centaurs had problems with their run and pass defense. On offense they were up and down and needed to complete more passes and get their running game going. In front of a large opening night Culver City home crowd San Jacinto exposed the Centaurs weaknesses on both sides of the ball.
San Jacinto dominated the first half running 44 plays to Culver City’s 12. That puts a lot of pressure on the defense when they have to stay on the field that long. “I thought we had some missed opportunities, and I thought San Jacinto did a good job of controlling the time of possession and that made it tough for our offense to get into a rhythm,” said Wright.
Culver City’s quarterback Seth Shigg completed 12 out of 28 passes, but was under pressure all night from San Jacinto’s defense. “We want to be more consistent and efficient in our passing game,” said Wright.
San Jacinto’s defense also held the Centaurs running game at bay. The most explosive runs came from Shigg and not the running backs.
“We want to be in a situation where we can run the ball and that will create a balanced offensive attack,” Wright said.
According to Wright their always reliable receivers were pressing trying to make plays which created an unfamiliar atmosphere for the Centaurs talented receiving group. “We need them to just be who they are,” Wright said. “They were pressing because of the lack of opportunities that we had. We have to sustain drives on offense and that means we need to play Culver City offensive football.”
On defense the Centaurs need to control the line of scrimmage and stop the run and put more pressure on the opposing quarterbacks and running backs. The linebackers need to play better run and pass defense and the defensive backs need to read the quarterback and be aware of the deep passes.
“Defensively we need to find a better way to get off the field on third and fourth downs,” Wright said.
The first game of the season is in the record books and hopefully the Centaurs can eliminate their mistakes from last week and beat Narbonne Friday at home on the Culver City High School campus inside the Jerry Chabola Stadium.
