Story Created:
Oct 21, 2009 at 3:40 PM PST
Story Updated:
Oct 23, 2009 at 2:32 PM PST
Dominguez High School defended Warren’s standout tailback Jesse Callier as well as any team.
It didn’t matter.
The Dons limited the All-CIF performer, who this week gave a verbal commitment to the University of Washington, to four yards on his first five carries and 26 on his initial seven. It was what happened on just four of his carries that turned Saturday’s San Gabriel Valley League football game at Compton.
The senior rushed for 249 yards on 33 carries, including touchdown runs of 27, 61 and three yards as the Bears (5-1 overall) recorded a 31-21 victory over the Dons (1-4) in what was the league opener for both schools. Four of his carries alone netted 135 yards.
“Callier’s a great back and you can’t hold him down forever,” Dominguez coach Willie Donerson said. “We did our best, we just ran out of gas in the second half.”
The second half was really when the Bears, Callier in particular, kicked it into gear.
“Jesse always seems to pick up steam in the second half,” Warren coach Chris Benadom said. “He just needed to let the game come to him. Plus, we came out a little flat in the first half. It might have been the change of venue and the change of nights.”
The game, originally scheduled for Friday at Dominguez, was postponed due to a power outage. It was rescheduled 24 hours later at Compton. While the lights are working again, the Dominguez field was not available because local Pop Warner teams had priority Saturday.
Benadom noted the Dons had something to do with Callier struggling early on.
“Dominguez always plays good defense,” he said. “The were putting guys in gaps. We had to make adjustments in the second half with our blocking schemes.”
Dominguez shocked the Bears with a 21-point second-quarter outburst over a three-minute span that turned a 7-0 Warren lead into a 21-7 Dominguez advantage.
The Dons evened the score on a 35-yard pass from Chris Brown (13 of 21 for 122 yards) to Aaron Williams.
Two minutes later, Will Gregory picked up a Warren fumble and returned it 48 yards for a touchdown.
Then following an interception of a Sam Bettancourt shovel pass at the Bears 27, the Dons capitalized again when Brown hit John Bell in the end zone for a 21-7 lead at the 6:20 mark.
It was all Warren from then on.
Callier bolted 61 yards for a score a minute later and Giovanni Mayoral kicked a 37-yard field as time expired in the first half.
Callier’s three-yard run with 3:10 left in the third quarter gave the Bears their first lead since it was 7-0 and a one-yard run by Bettancourt, set up by an interception, capped the scoring with 3:05 remaining.
Benadom knows it doesn’t get any easier Friday when Warren hosts Lynwood.
“It’s a dog fight every week in this league,” he said. “I expect the same thing from Lynwood, which has won its last four games. They like to give the ball to No. 5 (Desmond Williams) and their quarterback (James Grisom) is pretty mobile.”
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