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Jordan loses to Taft on a late touchdown

By RON GUILD, Sports Editor 22.NOV.07
For Elijah Asante, the football field is his classroom when it comes to teaching life lessons.

Some might have thought his belief system would be put to the test in last Thursday’s first-round game of the City Section playoffs. But the Jordan High School coach never wavered when it came to holding out his best player in the first half for disciplinary reasons.

He saw the bigger picture, even though the Bulldogs lost, 36-28 to Taft on a touchdown with 27 seconds left.

“He wasn’t going to play in the first half so that’s not even an issue,” Asante said in response to a question about star quarterback James Boyd. “It’s something we don’t negotiate. We don’t put winning before obedience and discipline. I heard a lot of voices, ‘Put him in, put him in,’ but if I had capitulated to those desires then I’m breaking the system that we built up. Then you lose the rest of the kids.”

It’s just that philosophy that has helped in the Bulldogs going from 3-7 last year to 7-4, an Eastern League title and the first playoff home game in school history this season.

“Discipline is how we built the program,” he said. “We’ve got a great structure to build off. It’s a learning process. We use football to teach these kids to be accountable. I want them to be productive members of society, to be good people, be good fathers. Ten years from now I want them to look back and see how they were held to a standard.”

With Boyd in the lineup, the Bulldogs were able to quickly come back from a 20-6 halftime deficit.

Eric Hunter returned an interception 32 yards for a touchdown one minute into the third period.

After quarterback Bam Goodall’s 60-yard scoring run increased the Toreador lead to 28-12, Boyd (11-of-26 for 190 yards) directed a scoring drive that ended with him sneaking over from the one. Boyd’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Delvon Purvis (five catches for 116 yards, two TDs) on fourth-and-10 and Boyd’s two-point conversion run tied the score at 28-28 with 3:39 remaining.

Following a couple of change of possessions on turnovers, Taft (8-3) got a seven-yard scoring run from D.J. Morgan (31 carries for 160 yards) with 27 seconds left. It was the third TD of the day for the sophomore.

“I don’t look at this as a loss,” Asante said. “It’s a step in the direction we are headed. There’s a right way to do things and a wrong way, and there are no shortcuts.”










Taft ousts Jordan in final seconds

Morgan scores his third touchdown of the game with 27 seconds left in the City Championship Division playoff opener.
November 16, 2007

With sunlight starting to disappear and the chances for overtime growing more likely, sophomore running back D.J. Morgan of Woodland Hills Taft had a sense of urgency when he was handed the ball Thursday afternoon in the final 30 seconds of a City Championship Division playoff opener at Los Angeles Jordan.

"I'm just thinking I don't want overtime," Morgan said. "I have to run hard and get into the end zone."


And that's what Morgan did, running seven yards for his third touchdown of the game with 27 seconds left, then running in the two-point conversion to give ninth-seeded Taft a 36-28 victory over eighth-seeded Jordan.

There were a combined 10 turnovers, including six interceptions. Taft's Oliver Johnson made three of those interceptions. And the reward for the victory? Wednesday's matchup against top-seeded Lake Balboa Birmingham. Taft lost to the Patriots, 49-14, last week.

"We have to come up with a miracle," first-year Taft Coach Matt Kerstetter said of next week's game. "There's not anybody who's going to pick us. We have to play the game of our lives."

Having Morgan on the field will help. He's the younger brother of Chris Morgan, who was a state champion in the 110-meter high hurdles for Taft in 2000 and 2001. D.J. is another blossoming speedster. He rushed for 151 yards in 28 carries.

Taft (8-3) opened a 20-6 halftime lead, highlighted by Leroy Bray catching a pass from Bam Goodall for a 67-yard touchdown. The Toreadors seemed to be distracted at the start of the second half, having learned that cell phones, iPods and wallets were stolen from their bags in the locker room.

Jordan's Eric Hunter returned an interception 32 yards for a touchdown at the outset of the third quarter.

But Taft bumped its lead to 28-12 on a 60-yard touchdown run by Goodall.

Quarterback James Boyd rallied Jordan (7-4) after being held out the first half for disciplinary reasons. He scored on a one-yard run at the end of the third quarter, then threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Delvon Purvis on fourth down with 3:39 left. Boyd ran in the two-point conversion to tie the score at 28-28.

A fumble recovery by Taft's Marty Williams with 1:46 left on Jordan's 40 gave the Toreadors one last opportunity to avoid overtime.

Goodall, an improving sophomore, completed passes of 14 yards to Johnson and 12 yards to Nick Bruce. Soon, it was up to Morgan to deliver victory.

"We had to find a way to win," he said.

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com