Coach Elijah Asante expects big things out of his Yankees and freshman quarterback Thaddeus Breaux II. He touted his Hamilton High squad to defeat Gardena Serra in Week 1, ultimately stumbling over his words as his team fell 47-0.
But thats who Asante is, in Year 2 at Hamilton, confidence brimming as he wore a black and green suit after returning from an eight-year coaching retirement to revitalize the Yankees program.
The accountability Asante spoke about postgame hoisting junior Jacob Riley (three interceptions and two receiving touchdowns) high with his words of praise was on full display Friday night, Hamilton (1-1) rolling over Crenshaw 23-6.
Riley had an exceptional day, Asante said. He was our MVP.
Riley, who broke the Yankees postgame huddle with a speech, said he was far prouder of his three interceptions a fourth being called back due to a penalty than his two touchdown grabs.
Ive been working a lot at safety, Riley said. Ive got receiver down, and now weve got to keep going.
Breaux broke out in the second half, securing his first-career touchdown with a four-yard rush in the third quarter. Later in the third, he connected with Riley twice for 13- and 25-yard touchdown passes.
Breaux completed 21 of 33 passes for 225 yards, tallying three touchdowns and one interception.
We started off kind of uneasy in the first half, said Breaux, who put the Yankees in position for Riley to kick a 22-yard field goal to put Hamilton ahead 3-0 right before halftime. But, we calmed it down. We got it together. We fixed a lot of things that had to be fixed.
The fourth quarter was scoreless, Rileys final interception putting the game out of reach for Cougars quarterback Danniel Flowers to rally once more.
Crenshaw (2-1) is in its third game without longtime coach Robert Garrett, the winningest coach in City Section history with 290 victories.
Im just following [school] orders, Garrett, Crenshaw’s coach since 1988, said last week to The Times. Theres no wrongdoing on my part.
Crenshaw High’s athletics X account posted and hour and a half before the game a picture of Garrett with the caption, Free Coach Robert Garrett. As of 10:35 p.m., the post was still online.
Interim coach Terrence Whitehead, a former City player of the year for Crenshaw in 2001 and former Oregon Ducks tailback, took the reins of the offense and day-to-day operations of the program. Assistant coach Durshaun Dennis called the defensive plays for the 21-man Cougars on Friday night, the Crenshaw band (27 students) outmanning the football team in the stands.
Los Angeles Unified does not comment on confidential personnel matters, said a Los Angeles Unified spokesperson when asked for a statement on Garretts status as Crenshaw coach.
Whitehead said he had no updates on Garretts coaching status, but did share what hes learned from the coaching legend as he handled his first loss running Crenshaw football.
I definitely learned how to bounce back at the game like this man, said Whitehead, whose Cougars gave the Yankees a scare in the third quarter when Jacori Starks tiptoed down the sideline for an 89-yard kickoff-return touchdown, cutting the deficit to 10-6 at the time.
Whitehead added: We got to regroup, and we’ll prepare a little bit better. We’ll be ready for the next game.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.