The streak is over.
Crenshaw relied on tenacious defense and an efficient passing attack to end Birmingham’s 55-game winning streak against City Section teams and earn a spot in next week’s Open Division championship game with its gritty 12-7 semifinal victory Friday night in Lake Balboa.
“It’s all about heart … I thank my O-line and my defense — they dominated,” said junior quarterback Danniel Flowers, who played with a fiberglass cast on his left hand to protect a broken wrist he suffered Oct. 10 in a 32-0 shutout of Washington Prep. “We came in here with a lot of confidence and all I did was read the zone and throw it right behind where the defender left.”
The sixth-seeded Cougars (10-1) have reeled off eight consecutive wins since a 23-6 defeat to Hamilton on Sept. 5, and their latest triumph counts as the 300th for longtime coach Robert Garrett, who has been on administrative leave since the start of the season and was not on the field to celebrate the milestone with his players.
In two playoff wins, the-bend-but-don’t-break defense has given up only seven points — a one-yard quarterback sneak in the first quarter by Birmingham’s Kevin Hawkins. Crenshaw blanked third-seeded San Pedro 30-0 in muddy conditions in the quarterfinals.
Crenshaw picked off two Hawkins passes — one by Kyion Rattler in the first quarter and the other by Deandre Kirkpatrick late in the third, which led to a 16-yard scoring strike from Flowers to Deance’ Lewis for the winning score with 12 seconds gone in the fourth quarter. The two-point try failed.
The second-seeded Patriots (8-4) had their chances, but a 38-yard field goal on their first drive of the second half was blocked. Their last gasp came on a fake punt with 2:30 left when Paul Turner stretched out to snare a fourth-down pass from Jimmy Renteria only to have the ball jarred loose on a punishing hit by Flowers at the Cougars’ 15-yard line.
“Coach G is my mentor and we expect to win every game,” said Terrence Whitehead, who is serving as interim coach and running practices in Garrett’s absence. “We don’t tend to be as deep as other teams but we coach the kids up and a majority of our guys play both ways.”
Joshua Jones reached across the goal line before his knee touched the turf for a one-yard scoring run to cap a 12-play, 85-yard drive and pull the Cougars to within 7-6 early in the second quarter. The extra point was blocked.
Crenshaw will try to pass another test Nov. 29 when it faces No. 1-seeded Carson, which routed Garfield 40-7 in Friday’s other semifinal, at 6 p.m. at Southwest College. The Cougars have won six City crowns and one state title since Garrett took over in 1988, and they have all the motivation they need.
“It would feel amazing to do it for him even though he’s not here,” said Flowers, who completed 15 of 25 passes for 110 yards and had one throw intercepted by linebacker Chris Barrera late in the first half.
“We were winning at halftime, we just didn’t put them away,” Patriots coach Jim Rose said. “It’s not like we got blown out by 40, but they played a full game and we didn’t. Hats off to them. We went eight years and five days without losing to a section opponent — these kids were in elementary school. This just wasn’t our night. Every streak comes to an end eventually.”
Birmingham’s previous loss in City competition was 40-35 at Fairfax in the Open Division quarterfinals in 2017. The Patriots lost to Narbonne in the semifinals in 2018 and again last season, but the Gauchos forfeited both victories for using ineligible players.
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