Tooth and nail didn\u2019t seem to do the Coliseum League title game justice on Friday night.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not every day a 6-2 final score occurs in City Section football \u2014 when both Crenshaw and King\/Drew entered the game having each scored in double digits in all but one game in 2025.<\/p>\n
Danniel Flowers \u2014 Crenshaw\u2019s junior quarterback who broke his left hand against Washington Prep two weeks ago \u2014 made sure he provided the tooth to the Cougars in the second half and put the nail in the coffin in Crenshaw\u2019s first Coliseum League title since 2023.<\/p>\n
Down 2-0 in the third quarter, Flowers escaped the pocket on a third-and-12 play, keeping the ball on a read option and dove for the pylon for the touchdown. With just over 15 minutes remaining in the game, it was the first and only lead Crenshaw needed. .<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, I have to thank my O-line for blocking for me,\u201d Flowers said. \u201cAnd then the defense, the defense was clutch. Honestly, the defense all like, mainly, carries the game. We just played all as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n
If it weren\u2019t for Flowers\u2019 touchdown, the Coliseum League decider \u2014 which could have been King\/Drew\u2019s first as a program since it launched in 2022 \u2014 could have gone down an infamy.<\/p>\n
On the opening kickoff, Crenshaw\u2019s Jacori Starks caught the ball at the 15-yard line, but ran backward to try to make something out of nothing with hoards of Eagles running at him. He trailed into his own end zone and King\/Drew lucked out with a game-starting safety.<\/p>\n
Instead, as luck turned Crenshaw\u2019s way, interim coach Terrance Whitehead \u2014 who has stepped in for longtime Cougars coach Robert Garrett (who is on administrative leave) since the start of the season \u2014 shouted for The Times to not talk to him and to focus on his players.<\/p>\n
\u201cTonight is all about the players,\u201d said Whitehead, who has a serious case for City Section coach of the year, leading the Cougars to an 8-1 overall record and a possible Open Division berth.<\/p>\n
One of those players was junior tight end\/linebacker De\u2019Andre Fitzpatrick.<\/p>\n
A transfer from 8-man Animo Robinson, Fitzpatrick led a defensive front that kept King\/Drew\u2019s offense scoreless. As a tight end, he exploded in the second half for a 42-yard reception \u2014 and a 90 total yards receiving on six catches \u2014 which set up Flowers\u2019 game winning touchdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeans a lot for me to be a new addition to this team and be able to bring new life to the team,\u201d said Fitzpatrick, who recently received a scholarship offer from Nevada Las Vegas. \u201cBut the job is not finished.\u201d<\/p>\n
King\/Drew will have to wait for its first Coliseum League title. Coach Joe Torres spoke impassioned, with tears rolling down his cheek after the game, lamenting the officials \u201ctaking the game\u201d from his team. Twenty-plus penalties were called on Friday night.<\/p>\n
The Eagles don\u2019t have a home field, Torres said. They don\u2019t have pads, he said. King\/Drew walked four blocks to a practice field in the spring and summer and had to wait between 4 to 5 p.m. to be bused to a practice field during the season, he added. He prides himself on pulling his players \u201caway from gangs\u201d and into college.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m gonna tell you this,\u201d Torres said. \u201cIf they put us in Division I, we\u2019ll win that again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tooth and nail didn\u2019t seem to do the Coliseum League title game justice on Friday night. It\u2019s not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[18010,18014,5836,11155,18009,18012,13559,423,18011,664,48,52,51,47,50,49,9442,427,18013,780,1543],"class_list":{"0":"post-22847","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-coliseum-league-title","9":"tag-cougars","10":"tag-crenshaw","11":"tag-defense","12":"tag-drew","13":"tag-fitzpatrick","14":"tag-flower","15":"tag-game","16":"tag-junior-tight-end","17":"tag-king","18":"tag-la","19":"tag-la-headlines","20":"tag-la-news","21":"tag-los-angeles","22":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","23":"tag-los-angeles-news","24":"tag-player","25":"tag-team","26":"tag-tooth","27":"tag-touchdown","28":"tag-win"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}