As a form of motivation, as if any was needed, Locke High School football coach Wayne Crawford presented this week’s showdown as the chance of a lifetime for his players.

Referring kiddingly to Friday’s opponent as USC in a postgame meeting following last Friday’s 34-6 victory over Jefferson, the coach told the gathered players, “You’re playing the No. 4 team in the state and the No. 13 team in the nation. If you are ever  going to do anything big in your lifetime, this is the week to do it.”

No doubt, a huge challenge awaits Locke (4-3, 2-0) when it visits Crenshaw (7-0, 2-0) Friday in a battle of two of the Coliseum League’s leaders. Both share the top spot with Dorsey.

The Cougars have stature as one of the elite programs, regardless of region or state. They’re heavy favorites to take the City Section title and have a legitimate shot at a state bowl bid provided they run the table.

“They’re a great football team and coach (Robert) Garrett does a great job with them,” Crawford said. “I know they’ll be ready for us. Maybe we can catch them on an off-week.”

Seven weeks into the season, the Saints are still a work in progress. Injuries have much to do with the state of the team.

Both Division I college prospect linebackers, Traveon Harris and Kiliyeon Cooper, were held out of the Jefferson game because of injuries. Cooper has played only two games this year because of a bad hamstring. Crawford expects both to be back Friday.

His best running back, junior Tony Bell, has also missed a couple of games. In the five he’s played, Bell has rushed for 536 yards, including 154 and a touchdown on 10 carries against Jefferson (1-5, 0-2).

“I’ve never had this many key guys go down in one year,” Crawford said. “At least we will have Harris and Cooper back. When they’re in there, it takes a lot of pressure off the defensive side and it also helps on offense because they are two big targets (as tight ends). Tony Bell is just now hitting his stride.”

The glue that has held this team together through the adversity is senior quarterback Omar Herrera.

Herrera attended Locke as a freshman, then spent the next two years at Verbum Dei. He transferred back to Locke when the Eagles went through an off-season coaching change.

“To still be in the position we are in is a tribute to him,” Crawford said of Herrera.

Herrera has passed for 1,500 yards and 20 touchdowns and is coming off a performance in which he was 9-of-18 for 145 yards and four TDs against the Democrats. Devin Andrews (18, five yards) and Joshua Davis (22, 42) each caught a pair of scoring passes.

Jefferson, running the ball on all but three snaps, was led by junior running backs Juan Carter (22 carries for 131 yards) and Terry Brady (13 carries for 44 yards, TD). The Democrats, who operate out of the wing-T, completed one pass for four yards.

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Crenshaw scored 48 points in the first half of a 62-0 rout of Fremont (0-7, 0-2) last Friday.
Hayes Pullard rushed for 151 yards and two touchdowns on just three carries and Geoffrey Norwood netted 105 yards and a TD on four carries to help  the Cougars pile up 332 yards on the ground.

Marquis Thompson completed five of 13 passes for 92 yards, including scoring strikes to Jonathan Downard and Gregory Ducre.

Geno Hall returned a kickoff 83 yards for a score.

Defensively, Ronald Stovall was in on 12 tackles, while DeAnthony Thomas, Joseph Pullard and Norwood had interceptions.

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Dorsey (6-1, 2-0) maintained its share of first with a 53-9 thrashing of Manual Arts (3-4, 0-2).

Jorrian Washington carried seven times for 78 yards and three TDs and Joseph Gray was 10-of-17 for 186 yards and two TDs passing as the Dons coasted. Washington has carried 83 times for 860 yards and 10 TDs on the season.

Jaydon Mickens (five catches for 94 yards) and Jabri Proby (one for 68) caught the scoring passes. Robert Herron (two carries, 67 yards) had a 35-yard scoring run.

“We made some big plays on offense, but we aren’t as consistent as I want us to be,” Dorsey coach Paul Knox said. “Overall, we played all right.”

Going forward, Knox wants to see improvement in two areas.

“We need to be able to stop the run better,” he said. “We’ll need to be able to need to do that in the playoffs. We also need to be more consistent on offense.”

Dorsey is at Fremont at 7 p.m. Friday. Manual Arts is at Jefferson at 3 p.m.