Football: Crenshaw defense stiffens in crunch time

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The film session that awaits Los Angeles Crenshaw High’s defensive players in the coming days could get ugly, with one exception.

The top-ranked Cougars stopped Norco on a critical fourth down in the fourth quarter tonight on the way to pulling out a 47-44 victory in which host Crenshaw gave up 487 rushing yards.

‘When we needed to stop them, we stopped them,’ Crenshaw Coach Robert Garrett said. ‘We showed character at the end.’

Norco, ranked No. 22 in the Southland by The Times, had pulled to within 47-44 late in the third quarter on Kelsey Young’s 66-yard touchdown run and was driving again when it faced a fourth-and-four situation at the Crenshaw 12-yard line.

Norco (0-1) tried a double reverse that was stopped for a four-yard loss and the Cougars (2-0) ran the final 4 minutes 36 seconds off the clock.

Quarterback Marquis Thompson completed eight of 14 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns with one interception for Crenshaw, which played without injured tailback DeAnthony Thomas.

Young rushed for 245 yards and Deantre Lewis had 175 for Norco, which lost three first-half fumbles.

--Ben Bolch