HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS : BIG FIVE CONFERENCE : Crespi vs. St. John Bosco

Everything fell into place, just the way Encino Crespi had hoped.

The Celts beat Rialto Eisenhower in a Big Five Conference semifinal at Birmingham High in Van Nuys. Bellflower St. John Bosco beat Fontana at Cerritos College in the other. Crespi, therefore, would gets its chance for a little revenge.

No, a lot of revenge.

“That’s exactly what I want,” sophomore running back Russell White said after rushing for 150 yards in 20 carries, a blase 7.5 average compared to his 12.7 average during the year.

“It’s pay-back time for us,” defensive lineman Quinn Fauria said. “We owe them one.”

And a win Friday night at Anaheim Stadium (7:30 p.m. kickoff) for the championship in the Southern Section’s glamour division would be a nice way to settle the ledger, right?

“They want to play them again,” Crespi Coach Bill Redell said of his team. “If they (St. John Bosco) beat us, there’s no question that they are the best football team.”

So far, no one has been able to doubt St. John Bosco, especially Crespi after losing, 32-27, at home in the ninth week of the season. All the Braves have done this season is go undefeated through the Del Rey League, the toughest league in the Southern Section. They feature a very balanced attack with running back Oscar Meza and quarterback Jim Sterner throwing to wide receiver Kelvin Means.

“We’ve got to be able to stop the quarterback, Meza and Means,” Redell said. “They are three of the best players in the CIF.”

So after being overlooked by most people at the start of the season, even in area rankings, hardly an unusual happening despite the successful history of the team, St. John Bosco is a win away from solidifying itself as one of the best teams in all of California. Moreover, a win would make the Braves the first Big Five team to go undefeated since Santa Fe Springs St. Paul in 1981 and only the fourth large-division team to do so since 1973.

In other words, things have fallen into place for them, too.

Crespi will be hurt if junior tailback J.J. Lasley (500 yards rushing) is unable to play because of an ankle injury suffered on his first carry of the Eisenhower game. But the Celts, a well-coached group, still have quarterback Rob O’Byrne, linebacker Sean Howard, tight end John Carpenter, a fine offensive line and White, perhaps the most exciting running back in Southern California.

“Don’t let them fool you,” Friedrich said. “If all they had was Russell White, it would be different. But they have an army.”

Crespi is making its first appearance in a title game since 1973, when the Celts lost the 4-A championship to Hacienda Heights Los Altos, and its second ever. St. John Bosco lost to Temple City in the 2-A final in 1971, its lone appearance.