Uni High Football Ends 24-Game Slide

With every tackle made, with every first down gained, with every touchdown scored the University High varsity football team erased a little more of the losing stigma that pervaded the program for three frustrating seasons.

The Wildcats had lost 28 of their previous 29 games--including 24 straight--heading into Friday afternoon's season opener against Animo South Los Angeles. However, under new head coach Lee Lowe they were confident that they would snap their streak of misery. Did they ever.

Senior quarterback Alif Vannah threw three touchdown passes, Xavier Johnson rushed for over 100 yards and University took advantage of numerous turnovers to rout the visiting Panthers 46-6 and make their coach's debut a memorable one.

"I thought we could [win] it, but I had questions after we started the week with a really bad practice," said Lowe, who was an assistant under former University coach E.C. Robinson. "I preach that we can never have two bad practices in a row and that's the way it's been. I give a lot of credit to [assistant coach] Walter Burgos, who sent Alif to quarterback camps and did a lot to help change the mindset and get the kids believing they could win. That's half the battle."

The Wildcats set the tone from the start. Junior Tevin Epps returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and even thought the score was negated by a penalty, it gave University confidence, which it used to take a 6-0 lead on Johnson's four-yard run with 4:50 left in the first quarter.

"Right from the first completion I knew it was going to be our day," said Vannah, who played one series in the second half before being replaced by sophomore backup Dominique Heads. "The offensive line did a great job. I didn't get sacked once. It feels great but I can't get too excited. It's just one game. We think we can make the playoffs."  

University blew the game open in the second quarter, scoring 26 unanswered points to take a commanding 32-0 lead into halftime. Most of the damage was done by the accurate arm Vannah, who tossed touchdown passes to Doug Brown, Alvin Clark and Ruben Zamudio. Epps then scampered 15 yards for a touchdown with 1:15 left in the second quarter.

"We broke the streak! I've never been so happy because we silenced all the doubters," said Brown, whose second-quarter touchdown grab was the first of his high school career. "I've never seen Alif so confident. He came in like he knew we were going to win. The play we ran on my [scoring] play called for him to fake the run, roll out and pass it to me. It worked."  

Friday's triumph was the Wildcats' first taste of victory since Oct. 10, 2009 when they edged Reseda Cleveland by two points. This win was far more decisive--a resounding way to put an end to one streak and perhaps start another. University will vye for its second straight win next Friday against Panorama.

Animo South averted the shutout after Joel Heard returned a fumble from the Panthers' 3-yard line to the Wildcats' 10. Carlos Nolberto scored from eight yards out two plays later. 

After Eddy Aguilar recovered a Nolberto's fumble at the Panthers' 24-yard line, Jah-Real Mills-Morris ran around the corner and was tackled just before reacing the pylon. Jose Arevalo powered over the goal line on the next play to give University a 39-6 lead. Mills-Morris tacked on a late scoring run to provide the final margin.

Kendall Holiday appeared on his way to a big game after rushing for 32 yards in six carries, but he got hit on the knee late in the first quarter and was taken out early in the second.

"At first I ignored it but the longer I played the more it hurt," he said.

Play got chippy as the clock ticked under five minutes in the fourth quarter and one player on each team was even ejected for fighting. Lowe reminded his squad in the post-game talk that sportsmanlike conduct applies whether you're ahead in the game or behind.

"All the hard work you've put in has paid off," he told them. "It's one down, but there's another one to go. We can feel good now, but we have to put this game behind us and concentrate on the next one."

The Wildcats will face the ultimate challenge in two weeks when they travel to Long Beach to take on perennial Southern Section power Los Alamitos. Friday, though, was all about the here and now.

"We had more fans for this game than we've had in two years and I'm very humbled just to see the kids work as hard as they have," Lowe said. "This is a huge monkey off my back but we're not stopping here. We want to win more football games."

Score by Quarters

1

Final

Animo South LA

0

6

6

University

7

Scoring Summary

University -- Johnson (kick failed), 4:50 left in 1st qtr.

University -- Brown 4 pass from Vannah (run failed), 11:09 left in 2nd qtr.

University -- Clark 46 pass from Vannah (Mills-Morris run), 10:12 left in 2nd qtr.

University -- Zamudio 12 pass from Vannah (pass failed), 3:13 left in 2nd qtr.

University -- Epps 15 run (kick failed), 1:15 left in 2nd qtr.

Animo South LA -- Nolberto 8 run (pass failed), 5:40 left in 3rd qtr.

University -- Arevalo 1 run (Juarez kick), 2:13 left in 3rd qtr.

University -- Mills-Morris 23 run (Juarez kick), 7:04 left in 4th qtr.

Records: Animo South Los Angeles 0-1, 0-0; University 1-0, 0-0.