Sea Hawks Lose to Saxons in Overtime

In a game of inches, 's varsity football team came up just short in their season opener Friday at home as the Sea Hawk's lost a heartbreaker, 21-14, to North Torrance in a thrilling overtime battle.

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On fourth and a long two from the Redondo 19-yard line, Sea Hawk senior Hunter Bradshaw took a handoff and scurried along the left sideline for two yards but was stopped less than a fingernail shy of the first down as Redondo let a win slip from its grasp.

"I thought he had it," Redondo Coach Gene Simon said of the questionable spot on the final play. "But that's not where we lost the game. We lost the game much earlier with all the mistakes we made."

Call it first-game jitters if you want, but Redondo (0-1) squandered too many offensive opportunities, finishing the game with four turnovers—including two interceptions in the end zone and a fumble just outside the end zone—along with six possessions on their side of the field that resulted in no points that helped seal the Sea Hawks' fate.

"We just made way too many mistakes to win," senior running back Deon Williams said of his team's performance. "I thought we controlled the game and should have won, but in the end it came down to the fact that we just let too many scoring opportunities get away."

Williams finished with a game-high 119 yards on 20 carries, outgaining Saxon star Ryan McDaniel, who finished with 68 yards on 11 carries. It was McDaniel who was able to reach the pylon twice—including the game winner, which came on 28-yard burst through the middle of Redondo on the first play of overtime—while Williams was shut out.

"I thought our offensive line did a good job opening up holes for me," Williams said. "We have a lot of positive things we can take away from that game. We can't let this loss get us down because we still have our whole season."

Redondo looked poised to jump all over the Saxons as senior Londone Hawkins took the opening kickoff and went 75 yards before being tripped by a North (1-0) defender on the Sea Hawk 20-yard line. Redondo failed to move the ball on three plays and a 30-yard field goal attempt by Bradshaw sailed wide right.

"That was pretty much how the game went all night," Simon said. "We would get the ball all the way down the field and then we would shoot ourselves in the foot."

Playing in his first varsity game, sophomore quarterback Harrison Faecher was 12 of 21, connecting with six different Sea Hawk receivers for 108 yards, but had three costly interceptions.

"It was a lot faster than playing freshman," Faecher said of the difference in the speed of play. "I think I got a little excited and rushed some throws. Tomorrow I will look at the film and try to learn from this game so that these same mistakes will not happen again."

Sea Hawks Senior Davion Goodall had a game-high four catches for 81 yards and senior tight end Cameron Vaughn had three catches for 44 yards. Vaughn was also a force on defense, recording three sacks for Redondo.

"We just need to come to practice next week ready to work," Faecher said. "We have goals that we want to accomplish this season so we can't dwell on one game."

Redondo's offense, led by the running of Williams and the passing of Faecher, amassed 299 yards while the Sea Hawk defense held the Saxons to 266 yards of offense.

North got on the board first on a 71-yard pass from quarterback Jorge Hernandez to Mike Jurado in the first quarter to give the Saxons a 7-0 lead. Redondo came right back on the next possession to tie the score with a 82-yard drive that ended with Sea Hawk senior running back Brandon Kim breaking through on a four-yard run with a touchdown.

Kim finished the game with 25 yards on six carries and one touchdown.

The Sea Hawks scored their final points in the third quarter on a botched Saxon punt attempt that was recovered in the end zone by Redondo sophomore Harry Whitsen to tie the score at 14-14.

The road for the Sea Hawks doesn't get any easier as they welcome perennial powerhouse Gardena's Junipero Serra High School next week.

"It's not the way we wanted to start, but I think we had some very positive things that we can take away from this game," Simon said of the loss. "We controlled the game—we just didn't get the win."

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