Still Moving Wright Along

CANOGA PARK — Rain? What rain?

The El Camino Real High coaches playfully splashed in puddles during pre-game warm ups on Friday. The band, seemingly oblivious to the downpour, marched to midfield to play the national anthem.

Then Quincy Wright ran wild.

The soggy field hardly slowed Wright, who carried 33 times for 261 yards and four touchdowns as El Camino Real crushed Jefferson, 34-0, in a City Section 3-A Division semifinal game at Canoga Park High.

“We’ve practiced in the rain, so I was kind of used to it,” Wright said. “We kept pounding them. They didn’t have a chance.”

The win sends the Conquistadores to play Carson, who beat Chatsworth, in the 3-A title game next Friday at the Coliseum.

“Hey, we’re going to the championship,” rookie Coach Rick Hayashida said. “Not bad for my first year.”

Hayashida knew that his team would play well on a wet field. He also knew the Conquistadores were much larger on both the offensive and defensive lines.

So they established a simple strategy from the start.

Wright ran left. He ran right. He ran right up the middle.

And on the seventh play of the opening drive, he ran 41 yards for a touchdown. When the mud settled, El Camino Real (9-4) had a 7-0 lead.

“Any time you score on the first drive, that gives you confidence,” Wright said.

His counterpart, Jefferson running back Joshua Griffin, did not fair as well. Time and again, the Conquistadores blew through his offensive line, hitting him in the backfield.

The senior running back came into the game with 1,673 yards and left with exactly the same, gaining zero yards on 12 carries.

“Just what I expected in the trenches,” Jefferson Coach Hank Johnson said. “On both sides of the ball, they just pushed our kids around.”

The score could have been more lopsided, but El Camino Real shot itself in the foot early on. Two drives were thwarted by penalties. Another ended when quarterback Aaron Fredette fumbled at the Jefferson 21-yard line.

The Conquistadores could not build on their lead until a Jefferson punt snap sailed through the back of the end zone, giving them a safety and a 9-0 lead.

But as time wore on, the Democrats (9-4) wore down.

With the field submerged beneath several inches of water, Wright broke a nine-yard touchdown run at the start of the fourth quarter. He followed that with scoring runs of 24 and 9, and the lead grew to 28-0.

“Our line wasn’t doing anything tonight,” Jefferson quarterback Stanley Clark said. “I guess they were scared of [El Camino Real’s] size.”

The big kids got their chance to play in the puddles, just like their coaches had, after the game ended. Wright got splashed with a face full of mud, but it couldn’t hide his smile.

“One more game,” he said. “One more game.”

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3-A Championship

El Camino Real vs. Carson

* When: 5 p.m., Friday

* Where: L.A. Coliseum

* Tickets: $8 general admission; $6 students

* TV: Cable KLCS