Southwest Goes to the Air for 28-7 Victory Over Pierce

When his team’s highly respected running game was stopped for almost all of the first half, L.A. Southwest College head Coach Henry Washington simply adjusted and went to the air, as his team secured an expected victory, 28-7, Saturday at home over L.A. Pierce.

Cougar freshman quarterback Craig Manigo threw four touchdown passes, the first two to sophomore wide receiver Ansel Littlejohn, as the state’s 14th-ranked team improved to 4-0-1, 3-0-1 in the Western State Conference.

The Manigo-Littlejohn connection first scored on a 52-yard pass on the first play of the second quarter, for a 7-0 halftime lead.

The Brahmas (1-4 and 0-4) figured to be an underdog because of a lack of depth, but stayed close in the first half by holding off the Cougars’ running attack. Washington credited the game plan of his Pierce counterpart, Bob Enger, for stopping the Cougars in the early going.

“Pierce was stacking (its line) for our running game,” Washington said. “We finally got smart and went to our other strengths. We loosened Pierce up with the pass and that got us going.”

The Cougars got going quickly in the third period, getting their second Manigo-to-Littlejohn touchdown on a 28-yard pass play little more than two minutes into the period. Manigo had another touchdown pass 32 seconds later, this time for 20 yards to Donovan Johnson. That came after Brahma freshman quarterback Jamie Grossman fumbled following a 12-yard gain on a reverse pass from running back Louis Vann.

Manigo, who completed 14 of 19 passes for 223 yards, put it out of reach by again going to the air for a 30-yard TD pass to freshman wide receiver Donald Turner with five minutes remaining in the third period.

Down by 28 points, Pierce got on the scoreboard with a 23-yard TD pass to wide receiver Shannon Culver from Grossman, who was 18 for 38 for 193 yards passing, with an interception. While the Cougars’ top rusher for the season and the game, William Jarrett, was held to 35 yards on 11 carries, Littlejohn caught six of Manigo’s passes for 131 yards. Jarrett caught three passes for 14 yards.