STUDIO CITY — Maybe Harvard-Westlake’s Ellis Robinson is taking some inspiration from the team’s head coach Dameon Porter.
Robinson, a wide receiver and cornerback, had a receiving touchdown, an interception and several other big plays as Harvard-Westlake defeated Venice 22-10 in a nonleague football game Thursday night.
With the victory, the Wolverines (3-0) equaled their win total from last season while Venice dropped to 1-2.
Robinson’s performance called to mind the playing career of Porter, who also played asa wideout and defensive back throughout his career.
“Ellis is probably our best playmaker,” Porter said. “We probably don’t get the ball to him asmuch as we would like to, but I think we are constantly working to try to do that. And the morewe play, the more he’s going to get opportunities, for sure.”
After the game, Robinson shared what Porter has taught him about playing both positions.
“Just keeping the energy high, not wavering when you get tired,” Robinson said. “Just stayingconditioned is the most important thing.”
Porter is in his second season as Harvard-Westlake’s head coach, his latest stop on a coachingcareer that has taken him to various high schools in Southern California.
“(He provides) energy and (isn’t) complacent, and (stays) ready every week before our nextopponent,” Robinson said of his head coach.
Porter brought significant football experience with him to Harvard-Westlake, much of it at theSouthern California high school level. He played nine seasons in the Arena Football League, and previously served as the head coach at Leuzinger from 2014 to 2016, Simi Valley in 2017 and Crespi from 2018 to 2022.
When he arrived at Harvard-Westlake, Porter had his work cut out for him. The Wolverines hadgone 4-6 in 2024, and his first season at the school, during which they went 3-7, showed that hisefforts to turn them around would be a work in progress.
“It was really a struggle last year,” Robinson said. “To start off 1-2 and then go through theseason and not really win a lot of games, and then lose pretty easy games down the road.”
But Porter is familiar with these kinds of challenges. When he started at Leuzinger, theOlympians had gone 2-38 across their previous four seasons. In his final season with the team,they went 10-3, won the Pioneer League and made the CIF Southern Section semifinals.
Porter’s second season at Harvard-Westlake got off to a good start in nonleague play, as theWolverines opened with a 38-7 win over West Ranch on Aug. 21, then defeated Palisades 29-23on Aug. 28, in their first home game of the season.
Now they remain undefeated with two more nonleague games remaining before the start of league play.
“The game of football is not always easy, and we’re still learning how to win,” Porter said. “Sothe first three games have been ups and downs with us finding our ways in the second half. (I’m)super proud of our progress [and] the fact that we’re learning how to overcome our own mistakes.”
Unlike most high schools, football is not king at Harvard-Westlake. The school has several eliteathletic programs such as basketball and baseball, but football lags behind. The relatively smallbut spirited crowd at the school to watch their game against Venice — perhaps exacerbated by aThursday setting — only served to emphasize this.
While most of their sports teams play in the highly competitive Mission League alongside Notre Dame, Sierra Canyon and others, the football team finds itself in the Del Rey League instead.
Porter’s responsibility is not only to improve the team, but to elevate it closer to the level of the rest of Harvard-Westlake’s athletics.
Their start to the season, already one of their best in years, is a positive step in that direction.
Porter acknowledged improvements the team needs to make, such as avoiding facemaskpenalties and reading defensive fronts, but also praised their improvements in the run game andrun defense.
The Wolverines’ performance wasn’t perfect, but it added up to their third win of the season, matching last season’s mark — something Porter admitted he hadn’t realized.
“(I talked) to the team about moving on,” he said. “We still have seven games left. Our goal thisyear was to try to win more games than we won last year, and so if we’ve already accomplishedthat, great. But I still feel like there’s so much more left for us, for sure.”
“It feels really good,” Robinson added. “The team morale is high.”