LOS ANGELES-Dorsey High football coach Paul Knox wanted his team to find a way to win the ballgame when they took on old CIF L.A. City Section rival Manual Arts in a Coliseum League opener for both teams. After a 2-0 season start, Dorsey limped its way into the Friday afternoon contest having suffered three consecutive defeats in a row.
Dorsey lost those three games by a combined total of 70 points, including a 45-0 whipping at the hands of Alemany High School. Heading into the game, Dorsey had allowed more points to their opponents than they had scored.
Manual Arts, with quarterback Randall Johnson running its spread offense, was also looking to reverse course of a disappointing nonleague schedule in which the Toilers lost four of their first five games. Something had to give.
Unfortunately for the Manual Arts faithful, Dorsey’s overall team speed was simply too much for their Toilers to handle. Dorsey scored quick and often enroute to a 72-7 blowout win over Manual Arts. By halftime the game was already in the bag for Knox and his team.
Stalwart defensive back Daquan Brown had the type of game that will give college recruiters plenty to look at with a couple of block punts and two interceptions.
Brown was the game-changer that Knox and the entire Dorsey team needed to stop their losing ways. His two blocked punts led directly to a safety in the endzone and a touchdown. He would later return one of his two picks for another score. It was a pretty impressive showing by the 6-foot, 175-pound senior who looked like a one-man wrecking crew against Manual Arts.
Before the game, Knox, whose team will face Crenshaw High School in about a week in a contest that will likely determine the winner of the Coliseum League, said conference play allows the Dons to regroup and start fresh as the real season begins.
“We’re trying to get on the winning side and trying to get back in the winning column,” Knox said. “Now that league is starting we have an opportunity to play for the league championship… that is what we’re looking at now. I don’t think we’ve played up to our capabilities and that’s what we’re trying to get right now.”
Knox, who has been the head football coach at Dorsey for the last 27 years, said the league is not as strong this season as in the past, but he still expects to see some stiff competition from several teams, including Crenshaw and Locke High School.
“There are a couple of teams that are down, so it really boils down to three teams-Locke, Crenshaw and Dorsey, Knox said. “Those are competitive games. The Crenshaw game looks like it’s going to be a big game for us.”
What used to be a good-old fashion rivalry between Dorsey and Manual Arts is now a thing of the past. The only team Dorsey really considers to have a rivalry with in the league is with Crenshaw, Knox said. The two schools are basically within a mile or two from each other, so the local talent pool chooses one school to attend or the other.
“It’s not really a rivalry as in the older days,” said Knox. “I think all over the league there are several big rivalries within the league, but now it kind of boils down to our rivalry against Crenshaw. That’s our big game. We’re in a good area for talent. I think the area-the Crenshaw District-there is a lot of talent there. That’s why both teams are usually pretty good.”
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com
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