Prep Wrapup : Zak Odom Shows Curtis Conway-Like Moves as Leuzinger Wins Opener

While Bishop Montgomery’s version of “The Fridge” flopped on opening night, cool-handed quarterback Zak Odom of Leuzinger pulled off a convincing impersonation of Curtis Conway.

Odom, who played in the shadow of the former Hawthorne star last season, put on some nifty moves of his own as he passed for three touchdowns and ran for a fourth to lead Leuzinger to a 27-0 victory at Bishop Montgomery in the football opener for both teams Friday night.

Although not as fast as Conway--who is?--the 5-foot-11, 165-pound Odom possesses the quickness and passing ability to be nearly as dangerous.

He demonstrated his versatility against Bishop Montgomery, rushing for 50 yards on eight carries and completing seven of 10 passes for 137 yards.

“Speed kills,” observed Bishop Montgomery Coach Steve Carroll. “Their quarterback hurt us the most.”

The Knights didn’t appear to have anyone capable of keeping up with Odom, receiver Quang Banks and tailback Marvin Johnson, who, appropriately enough, wear jersey numbers 1-2-3.

Banks caught three passes for 102 yards, including a 62-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, and hard-running Johnson gained 43 yards on nine carries before leaving the game with a leg cramp in the third quarter.

In all, Leuzinger used seven running backs and finished with 156 yards on the ground. The Olympians had 293 yards in total offense.

“We’ve got some kids who can run the ball,” said Leuzinger Coach Steve Carnes. “And the offensive line did a good job.”

The same could not be said for Bishop Montgomery.

The Knights opened the game with their best lineman, 6-4, 330-pound Chris Maumalanga, playing fullback in the power-I, the way the Chicago Bears used William “Refrigerator” Perry on short-yardage running plays a few seasons ago.

The formation proved not only ineffective but defective as well.

On the game’s first play, quarterback John Zimmerman handed the ball to Maumalanga, but the big fella was not expecting it. The fumble was recovered by linebacker Manny Gonzales at the Knight 30-yard line, and five plays later Odom hit tight end David Ashworth with an 11-yard scoring pass to put Leuzinger ahead for good, 7-0, with less than three minutes gone.

Bishop Montgomery continued to use Maumalanga in the backfield, mostly as a blocking back, but the Knights had trouble sustaining drives. They finished with just 38 yards rushing and 68 in total offense.

Carnes wasn’t impressed with Maumalanga as a running back.

“Guys like that don’t belong in the backfield,” he said. “They belong on the line.”

Although it was a disappointing head coaching debut, Carroll said he was pleased by Bishop Montgomery’s play in the second half.

After spotting Leuzinger a 21-0 halftime lead, the Knights played evenly until Odom and Banks hooked up for their touchdown completion early in the fourth quarter. Cornerback Matt Burrola fell down on the play.

“If one of our guys doesn’t fall down, we play them to a 0-0 tie in the second half,” Carroll said. “We knew things were going to be rough. We’re inexperienced in some places. But we’re going to get better each week.”

Bishop Montgomery’s most critical mistake came on the last play of the first half when Burrola, playing running back, lost a fumble at the Leuzinger 1-yard line to negate an 11-play, 54-yard drive that included all of the Knights’ first downs (four) for the entire game.

“That was the turning point,” Carroll said. “If we had scored, you would have seen an entirely different team in the second half. It got us out of our game plan. We had to go to the air, which we didn’t want to do. We were down by too many points to keep a conservative view of things.”

The statistics proved Carroll’s point: Zimmerman completed one of 10 passes in the second half for seven yards and was intercepted once by Banks.

Said Carnes: “Defensively, I don’t think we could have played much better. They couldn’t move the ball on us.”

Only a few weeks ago, Jamil Williams was set to open the season at wide receiver for Hawthorne. But the junior was so impressive at quarterback in practice that he beat out last year’s backup to earn the job as Conway’s successor.

Friday night he proved it was no fluke by completing eight of 15 passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns in Hawthorne’s 30-7 victory over visiting Oxnard Hueneme.

“Jamil has come on lately,” said Hawthorne Coach Goy Casillas. “We planned on starting Kalvein (Latu), but Jamil runs the offense more like we like it.”

It didn’t take long for running back Robert Coulter to make an impression at Rolling Hills.

Coulter, a junior who recently transferred from Texas, rushed for 101 yards on 17 carries and had touchdown runs of 59 and three yards to spark the Titans over Redondo, 35-10.

Coulter and his teammates will meet another newcomer Friday when they play host to Mira Costa and its first-year coach, Larry Petrill. Mira Costa opened with a 14-0 victory over El Segundo, matching its win total of a year ago.

The loss snapped El Segundo’s 14-game regular-season winning streak.

Surprise of the week? How about Palos Verdes’ 47-7 romp over North Torrance, a team most Ocean League coaches consider one of the leading contenders for the league title.

Quarterback Blake Anderson, a converted running back, paced Palos Verdes with three touchdowns on a 95-yard opening kickoff return, a 92-yard punt return and a one-yard sneak. He also did a good job of running the veer option.

Mira Costa’s girls’ volleyball team will open the season Thursday against Bishop Montgomery with the No. 1 ranking in the nation, according to the Mizuno High School Top 25.

The Mustangs return their entire lineup from last year’s 24-2 team, led by All-CIF performers Piper Hahn, Kristal Attwood and Heidi Eick.

Other Southern California teams in the poll are Corona del Mar (No. 3), Poway (No. 5), Laguna Beach (No. 8), Torrey Pines (No. 10), Woodbridge of Irvine (No. 13) and Santa Barbara (No. 14).