Wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses, a Tommy Hilfiger suit, Kenneth Cole loafers and a green tie, coach Elijah Asante came dressed for success on Thursday night for the first game on L.A. Hamilton High\u2019s new grass field. He couldn\u2019t schedule No. 1-ranked Mater Dei because one of its opponents declined to move a game date, but No. 8 Gardena Serra wasn\u2019t a bad alternative.<\/p>\n
Asante kept insisting his team, coming off a 2-9 season, would pull off a surprise against the Cavaliers.<\/p>\n
\u201cCassius Clay beat Sonny Liston. Buster Douglas beat Mike Tyson. Villanova beat Georgetown,\u201d he said referring to sports upsets in boxing and college basketball.<\/p>\n
An amused Serra coach Scott Altenberg saw Asante scout his scrimmage against Servite, saw him on the sideline for the Cavaliers\u2019 shutout win over Palos Verdes last week and welcomed any challenge the Yankees could offer. <\/p>\n
There wasn\u2019t much pushback. Serra\u2019s defense, led by its super fast secondary, standout lineman Khary Wilder and hard hitting DeVohn Moutra Jr., dominated from start to finish in a 47-0 rout of the Yankees. It was 33-0 at halftime, and highly regarded freshman quarterback Thaddeus Breaux of Hamilton was getting a lesson in what playing a Southern Section Division 1 opponent looks like.<\/p>\n
Breaux began the game with a 21-yard pass play, the first of what will be many completions in his high school career. But there were few opportunities after that. He finished the first half 10-of-21 passing for 58 yards and finished 18 of 32 for 111 yards. Serra (2-0) had too much speed and too many weapons on defense to allow Breaux any freedom to use his strong arm. Serra\u2019s hasn\u2019t allowed any points in two games.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Cavaliers did what they wanted on offense, helped by Hamilton\u2019s refusal to punt on fourth down. Running back Jayshawn Edwards ran for two touchdowns, Duvay Williams caught a touchdown pass from Nicolas Johnson and Ryan Bose had a 39-yard touchdown reception.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s clear after only two games, Serra is on a collision course to face Sierra Canyon in an Oct. 3 game that likely will decide the Mission League title. In Ohio State-bound Wilder, a 6-foot-5, 250-pound senior, Serra has a player that one blocker alone will not be able to handle.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hamilton freshman quarterback Thaddeus Breaux.<\/p>\n
(Craig Weston)<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s tough to block,\u201d Altenberg said. \u201cHe\u2019s getting stronger and faster. We can\u2019t block him in practice at all. It\u2019s useless.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilder is Serra\u2019s best defensive lineman since Rasheem Green, who recently retired from the NFL. It also helps to have a group of defensive backs as good as it gets, from Wesley Ace to Williams. And Moutra is like a heat-seeking missile when he launches toward the ballcarrier.<\/p>\n
\u201cWilder and Moutra have been amazing,\u201d Altenberg said.<\/p>\n
Wilder refused to be satisfied in the offseason despite gaining accolades from college recruiters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve just been dedicated to getting better,\u201d Wilder said. \u201cI feel this whole offseason I\u2019ve had a chip on my shoulder to dominate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before the game, Hamilton players were treated to a spaghetti and toasted sourdough bread dinner created by the mother of 285-pound tackle Micah Butler, Natasha, an executive chef. Wearing suits and green ties, the players were following the edict of their coach to act classy and be thankful and polite.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hamilton tackle Micah Butler with his mother, Natasha, an executive chef who helped put together the Yankees\u2019 pregame meal.<\/p>\n
(Eric Sondheimer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
The start time was delayed by 40 minutes because officials arrived late having to do double duty with a day game. Next up for Hamilton is a matchup with Crenshaw. Serra faces 3-0 Los Alamitos.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hamilton coach Elijah Asante poses next to campus mural of Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon.<\/p>\n
(Eric Sondheimer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses, a Tommy Hilfiger suit, Kenneth Cole loafers and a green tie, coach Elijah Asante came…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":183956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[103343,103344,1582,276,36330,262,103342,1910,92007,103341,34438,103345,2961,224,5337,471,37476,50647,3355,70122],"class_list":{"0":"post-183955","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-asante","9":"tag-breaux","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-cavaliers","13":"tag-defense","14":"tag-duvay-williams","15":"tag-game","16":"tag-gardena-serra","17":"tag-green-tie","18":"tag-hamilton","19":"tag-l-a-hamilton","20":"tag-la","21":"tag-los-angeles","22":"tag-losangeles","23":"tag-no","24":"tag-opponent","25":"tag-touchdown","26":"tag-victory","27":"tag-wilder"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115110351127781595","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}