Crenshaw High School’s bid to become the first City Section school to earn a berth in one of the state bowl games, faces another potential challenge this week.

The Cougars (4-0), already with victories over Lakewood, Norco, A.B. Miller and J.W. North, visit another team having a strong season in Culver City (3-0) Friday.

Ranked No. 1 in the maxpreps.com Division II Southern California poll this week, Crenshaw is building a strong resume week by week. The Cougars crushed previously unbeaten J.W. North, 41-21 on the road last Friday.

Now comes another tough foe in Culver City, which is averaging 43.3 points per game in victories over St. Bernard, Peninsula and Centennial.

The Centaurs are led by quarterback Marquel Carter and linebacker Victor Burnett. The latter is one of the nation’s leading inside backers and is being recruited by the likes of USC, UCLA, California and Arizona, among others.

Crenshaw linebacker Hayes Pullard, also among the nation’s best at his position, is also getting looks from the same schools.
The Cougars’ superior speed turned a battle of unbeatens into a rout last week in Riverside.

Geno Hall returned a punt 56 yards for a touchdown, blocked a punt, had an interception and caught three passes for 61 yards to highlight their night. DeAnthony Thomas ran for 54 yards on seven carries and Geoffrey Norwood had 64 yards and two scores on just four attempts.

Qujuan Floyd and Lejon Baker each had rushing touchdowns for Crenshaw, which had eight backs carry the ball 33 times for 255 yards.

Ronald Stovall had four solo tackles, 11 assists and a sack and James Brock had two sacks to lead the defense.

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Jordan’s Deshawn Beck, who had 210 yards and three touchdowns rushing and a 72-yard kickoff return in last week’s 23-20 loss to Mater Dei, is rightly the focus of Garfield in Friday’s 3 p.m. Eastern League opener at Jordan.

“We’re going to try and contain him, although I don’t think you can,” Garfield coach Lorenzo Hernandez said. “Mr. Beck is a phenomenal athlete. I compare him to a Reggie Bush-type of athlete.”

Beck lines up at a number of positions on offense, most often at quarterback. He has rushed for 769 yards on 69 carries, has thrown for 255 yards and has another 112 yards on kick returns. He also plays in the secondary.

Jordan’s returning All-City linebacker Patrick Wooten continues to be a tackle machine. The sophomore, who had a City-leading 150 tackles a year ago, had 16 solos and five assisted tackles against Mater Dei.

Jordan takes a 1-3 record into the contest, though the losses have been to Esperanza, St. Bonaventure and the Monarchs.

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Manual Arts (1-2), long a struggling program, is showing signs of improvement.

The Toilers, who are at Lincoln Friday, defeated Huntington Park, 24-20 last week.

Anthony Rivas completed nine of 13 passes for 166 yards, including a 70-yard scoring toss to Kevon Murphy, and Brandon Foley had two short-yardage scoring runs to lead the way. Ellis Willoughby ran for a TD and had an interception and Michael Tetteh had five solo tackles and nine assisted ones.

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West Adams Prep (3-0), a 42-6 winner over Fremont in its last outing, visits Carson (2-2) Friday in a nonleague game.

One of the City’s newer schools, West Adams has been led by quarterback Karrington Jones, who carried nine times for 135 yards and three TDs and was 6-of-12 for 90 yards and two TDs passing against Fremont. Terrance Montgomery caught six passes for 90 yards and the two scores.

Carson tries to bounce back from a 32-13 loss to Osceola, Fla.

All the scoring the Colts had were on two field goals by Juan Sanchez and a three-yard run by Daniel Torres.

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Dominguez needed overtime to post its first victory of the season.

Quarterback Chris Brown’s one-yard run on the first possession of OT lifted the Dons past Long Beach Jordan, 13-7 in the nonleague game. Jordan had the ball first, but had to settle for a field goal try, which failed.

Brown scored the Dominguez TD in regulation on a 12-yard run in the second quarter.

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Morningside’s Antonio Wilson had a huge game Friday, rushing for 133 yards and three TDs on eight carries and returning two kickoffs 121 yards, but it wasn’t enough as Panorama defeated the Monarchs, 42-27.

Nathan McDonald was busy on defense for Morningside with seven solo tackles and nine assists. He also had a receiving TD.

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Serra (4-0), which has a bye this week, rolled over Peninsula, 42-0 last Friday.

Conner Preston passed for 274 yards and and Robert Woods caught four passes for 99 yards and two scores to lead the way for the Cavaliers. Domonique McGee ran for 108 yards and two TDs.