At the City Section breakfast on Wednesday morning for teams competing this weekend in championship football games, two linebackers from the class of 2027 were asked to take a photo together, because one day, it could be historic.
Elyjah Staples, a 6-foot-3 junior from Marquez, and De’Andre Kirkpatrick, a 6-3 junior from Crenshaw, can match their skills against anyone in the state. College recruiters are paying attention and one day NFL scouts will too. They are helping destroy the stereotype that City Section football is lacking in talent.
Add versatile junior quarterback Chris Fields III from Carson and senior running back Darnell Miller from Santee, who has surpassed the 3,000-yard mark rushing this season, and you have a group of players you’ll be watching on television in the coming years.
Here’s the schedule for games at Birmingham on Friday and L.A. Southwest College on Saturday.
Marquez coach Rudy Fortiz has been hearing from friends through text messages. He’s in a bit of a bind. His team is facing his alma mater, South Gate, for the Division I title on Saturday. Fortiz says he always roots for South Gate — except for this week. South Gate was 0-10 two seasons ago.
Hawkins coach Ronald Coltress is the one who had the put the program back together after it went 0-13 in 2016 because of forfeits and firings of coaches. In 2017, he was JV coach when the varsity went 0-11 following an exodus of players. He took over in 2018 and the team went 1-9. The administration told him to stay the course and make sure players were going to class, behaving and graduating. Now Hawkins is 10-2 and playing for the Division III championship on Friday against Santee at Birmingham.
“There was nobody left,” Coltress said. “I had to find kids who wanted to play.”
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