santee

Friday was just another day at the office for Darnell Miller.

Santee’s senior running back arrived on time, rushed for 190 yards and three touchdowns, and clocked out early as the Falcons soared past Hawkins 35-6 to win the City Section Division III championship at Birmingham High.

Watching from the sideline, as he does almost every game, was Darnell’s 10-year-old brother, Frederick, a fifth-grader at Twenty-Eighth Street Elementary who Darnell picks up from school and brings to practice every day.

“What I love most about this sport is all the friends I’ve made. … I’m a shy person, but it’s made me more vocal, taught me discipline and to take care of my responsibilities,” said Miller, who likes football best despite also playing guard on the basketball team in the winter and running for the track team in the spring. “I just do what I do. This is my last year, so I want to finish strong.”

Darnell Miller and his 10-year-old brother, Frederick, pose with the City championship trophy and plaque after Santee’s victory in Division III.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Miller began the day averaging 15.1 yards per carry, having rushed for 3,103 yards and 37 touchdowns, and wasted no time adding to those totals against the second-seeded Hawks (10-3). He ended Santee’s first drive with an 11-yard touchdown run, added a five-yarder in the second quarter and a nine-yarder in the third quarter to make it 35-0. Quarterback Daynian Alvarado scored the Falcons’ other two touchdowns on runs of one and 13 yards.

“Darnell is a very hard working, humble young man and everything you want a captain to be,” said Santee coach John Petty, who guided the Falcons to their only other City title in 2018. “He’s the first person in the locker room and the last to leave.”

The win wrapped up a dominant run for the No. 1-seeded Falcons (10-4), who defeated their four playoff opponents by an average margin of 29 points.

The Hawks averted the shutout midway through the fourth quarter when Justin Cortez capped a 10-play, 55-yard drive with a five-yard scoring run.

His job done, Miller got to sit out the entire fourth quarter after upping his touchdown count to 43 touchdowns this season (40 rushing, one receiving and two on kickoff returns). Despite impressive stats, Miller has received only one scholarship offer — from Pikeville, an NAIA program in Kentucky.

“My goal is to keep playing, wherever that is,” Miller said.

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.”

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].