Wilson’s Tailback Takes Control to Run Past Servite

NORWALK — Maybe it’s still too early for football.

At the end of the first half Friday night at Cerritos College, it looked as if the players’ minds were on baseball--after two quarters, the score was Servite High School 3 and visiting Long Beach Wilson 2.

Fittingly, it was the best player on the field--Wilson tailback Mike Steward--who took control of the game in the second half. Steward’s run on a fourth-quarter fake punt gave Wilson a 14-12 victory in front of 1,100.

“Steward is a very good football player,” Servite Coach Larry Toner said afterward. “He was like a man among boys out there tonight.”

Steward helped cut into a 10-2 Servite lead on the first play of the final quarter when he took a handoff to the left, cut back across midfield, then sprinted past the Servite defense for a 25-yard touchdown run.

The next Wilson drive stalled at the Servite 36-yard line. But with 5 minutes 11 seconds left, on fourth and 16, Wilson Coach John Brennan crossed everyone up when he called for the fake punt.

The ball was snapped to the up-back, Brian Poyer, who handed off to Steward on a reverse. Steward did the rest, accelerating down the left sideline and outrunning Servite’s Billy Ray to the goal line.

“We’re still learning,” Toner said. “When we get snookered like that on a fake punt on fourth down, we’ve obviously got some coaching errors to take care of.”

Especially tailback Chandler Robbins (107 yards on 13 carries), who broke a series of tackles to bust loose along the left sideline for a 57-yard third-quarter gain. That set up Mike Wallock’s two-yard touchdown dive on the next play, giving Servite the 10-2 lead.