Crespi football remains unbeaten, turns away Salesian

ENCINO — Crespi football fought back from a 14-point first-half deficit to defeat Salesian 31-16 and improve to 8-0 on the season. With the win, Crespi now has sole possession of first place in the Del Rey League with a 3-0 record in league play.

“It did not start well. We were very resilient, very opportunistic,” said Crespi head coach Brad Vonnahme. “I told our guys all week if we could stop the run game and force them to throw that I think our pass rush could take over, and they did.”

The Crespi defense had a very strong performance, forcing four Salesian turnovers and also scoring two defensive touchdowns. Oliver White had an interception that he returned 34 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter and also had a forced fumble. The Celts also had five sacks in the game with edge rusher Somto Nwute leading the way with three sacks.

“It feels good to get the win. All week we’ve been preparing for this team, they were talking and we stayed silent and just fought back,” said Nwute. “It’s nice to bring this school back on the map and show people that the games we played weren’t easy and we are a good team.”

Crespi fell behind early 14-0 after Salesian quarterback and Sacramento State commit Donovan Shirley had two long touchdown passes in the first quarter. Crespi cut the lead to 14-7 when linebacker Daniel Tobar recovered a fumble in the end zone after a bad Salesian handoff exchange. Crespi also had a 14-play drive at the end of the first half, but was stopped on fourth and goal from the 1-yard line to make the halftime score 14-7.

Salesian (5-3, 2-1) took a 16-7 lead early in the second half after defensive tackle Michael Haltom forced a safety. On the first Salesian play after the safety, Crespi forced its second turnover of the game with another fumble recovery to take possession at their own 35-yard line.

Three plays after the fumble recovery, Jaden Ayala scored on a 31-yard touchdown run for Crespi to cut the lead to 16-14. After the Crespi defense forced back-to-back three-and-outs, Tate Benjamin hit a 27-yard field goal to give Crespi a 17-16 lead early in the fourth. Punter Blue McFarland had a 44-yard run on a fake punt for Crespi to keep the drive alive prior to the Benjamin field goal.

Salesian got the ball back in the middle of the fourth down 17-16, but White forced a fumble a couple plays into their possession to give Crespi the ball back at the Salesian 40. Three plays after the White forced fumble, Chase Cullen connected with McFarland on a 17-yard touchdown pass to extend the Celt lead to 24–16.

Salesian got the ball back again with a little over two minutes left, trailing 24-16, but White got the game-sealing interception for Crespi and returned it 34 yards for his third defensive touchdown of the season to make the final score 31-16. Ayala finished the game with 11 carries for 89 yards and one touchdown for Crespi, Cullen was 19 of 31 for 207 yards with one touchdown pass and one interception.

“Our defense has been lockdown all season. There’s no team that can compete with us in this league.” said White.

Crespi will look to improve to 9-0 and 4-0 in league play next week when they take on Harvard-Westlake at Sofi Stadium on Saturday. Salesian will look to bounce back next week with a game against St. Anthony at home.