No Win, but Sea Hawks Gain Respect, Confidence

Respect, which might have been in small quantity before the game, was plentiful hours later on Friday night at Serra High in Gardena.

It came not grudgingly but most willingly from the one of the best prep players in the nation, Serra senior wide receiver George Farmer. What many thought would be a thorough stomping by the defending state champions and third-ranked team in California instead was a stiff battle for the better part of three quarters.

In the end, Serra stretched its winning streak to 17 consecutive games, but its 37-13 victory over a game but outmanned Redondo Union team (1-1) was no cakewalk.

"We may have lost but now we know that we can play with the best,'' Redondo Union cornerback Drew Wright said.

The teams were tied at 7 at halftime. Serra scored touchdowns on its first two drives of the second half to a 21-7 lead but after a great kickoff return by Wright, the Sea Hawks pulled to within 21-13 when quarterback Nick Pope connected with Hunter Bradshaw on an 11-yard touchdown pass.

The queasy feeling that Serra supporters felt for most of the game did not dissipate until a late fumble recovery and touchdown return by linebacker Brandon Fontenot gave the Cavaliers a 37-13 lead.

"We just aren't polished enough yet to beat a team like theirs,'' Redondo Union coach Gene Simon said. "There's some discipline stuff that we need to work on.''

Simon, however, saw some positive signs that bode well for the Sea Hawks in their upcoming games, starting Thursday night at Long Beach Millikan.

"To see our defense swarm like they did was impressive,'' Simon said. "Everyone had to play like that, giving that second effort, or else Serra would have broken the scoreboard on us.''

The Sea Hawks sacked Serra quarterback Conner Preston three times, harassed him into several hurried throws, and intercepted him once, as safety London Hawkins picked off an overthrow down the middle. Any thoughts that the Cavaliers had of Redondo Union being a pushover were vanquished early.

"I actually didn't think they'd put up that big a battle,'' said Farmer, who is regarded by college scouting services as the nation's No. 1 high school receiver. "They impressed me a lot more than I expected them to.''

Farmer anticipated and got bracketed coverage from the Sea Hawks' secondary. But there were numerous times, too, where the 6-foot-2, 210-pound receiver was single covered by Redondo Union senior Kem Richards, who generously is listed as 5-9 and 160, or Richards' counterpart, the even more diminutive Wright.

"We came out and played,'' Wright said. "We weren't scared at all, not like Notre Dame was last week when they played (Serra). No offense to Notre Dame, because they have a great program, but they came out scared. I know we earned the respect of a lot of people. I saw (coaches) from Palos Verdes and Mira Costa here tonight, so I know that they'll definitely be nervous about facing us.''

The receiver that was the sharpest thorn in the Sea Hawks' side was not Farmer but senior Marqise Lee, who turned a pair of short grabs into touchdowns of 35 and 45 yards. Redondo Union was missing its senior starting safety Jon Catsavas, who was held out because of a left shoulder injury.

"Lee is very elusive. But on the plays that he scored, that was our inexperience in the secondary that showed,'' Wright said.

"I thought our sophomore Christian Fernandez did a good job,'' Simon said. "But we missed Jon. It might have made some difference. Jon's a hitter. He would have made more tackles.''

Serra came out attacking Redondo Union's secondary, as expected. Preston threw deep to Farmer several times in the first half without success. In fact, it was not until the first play of the fourth quarter when Preston and Farmer finally hooked up on an 81-yard touchdown, in which the speedy Farmer got behind Wright.

On Serra's prior possession, Richards was victimized, getting beaten on a fade route that Serra receiver Raymond Ford snagged for a 17-yard touchdown.

"They got me on that one,'' Richards said. "I told you before, the best of corners get beat sometimes. But I was in (Serra's receivers) face all game.''  

A day before the game, Simon termed his team's meeting against Serra as a win-win situation, regardless of whether or not the Sea Hawks were able to pull off an upset. The 24-point margin of defeat is no way indicative of the way Redondo Union played from start to finish.

"For a Game 2, we got everything we could get out of them,'' Simon said. "I was impressed at how our defense didn't give up the big play, until late. We made them punt three times in the first half, which more teams are not able to do. We took away their screen passes and their deep passes for three quarters. That shows progress and I see hope for us.''

Serra supporters, who expected to witness the Cavaliers' defense make mincemeat out of the Redondo Union offense, got a big shock to start the game when the Sea Hawks jumped out to a 7-0 lead with an opening five-play, 76-yard drive. The touchdown came on a razzle-dazzle 25-yard option pass from wide receiver Wright to Brandon Engel.

The big play in the drive was a 54-yard run by Ryan Spiwak out of a Wildcat formation. Spiwak had nice success running that play several other times during the game.

"The final score is not any indication of how we played,'' Richards said. "We played our butts off. I believe this experience made us even tougher and closer as a team.''

When asked if giving the state's third-ranked team a tough battle could boost the Sea Hawks' confidence in practice preparation for Millikan, Simon said, "It had better. If we don't get excited after this, then we aren't alive.''