Perhaps no football team in the Ocean League has been more decimated by injuries this season than Beverly Hills and it was evident Friday night against Morningside at Coleman Stadium in Inglewood. The Normans were down to their fourth- and fifth-stringers at certain positions and that, coupled with a lack of red zone production, led to their third consecutive defeat, 6-2, in a defensive struggle against a fired-up opponent determined to notch its first league win on homecoming. “The defense played well, but it’s tough to win when you have so many guys out,” Normans coach Donald Paysinger said. “Also, the field was in terrible shape because it rained earlier in the day and Inglewood played here [Thursday] night. Neither team could move the ball.” Having lost top wide receivers Broderic Smith and Willie Green earlier in the season, BHHS played Friday night without leading rusher Frank Brown, who suffered a concussion in the Normans’ 42-0 loss to defending league champion Inglewood the previous week. That left running duties to first-time starters Eddie Hong and Monte Monroe. Senior quarterback Brandon Adams missed several practices with the flu and took only a few snaps against Morningside, leaving the job to senior Cameron Countryman and junior Chase Crossly. Both offenses looked stuck in the mud and the teams combined for nine punts, but BHHS still had a chance to win the game, driving to the Monarchs’ 6-yard line. After Countryman was sacked at the 12-yard line, the Normans thought they had scored when tight end Madison Monroe caught a pass from Crossly and appeared to break the plane of the goal line on fourth down, but officials ruled him down at the 1-yard line, giving the ball back to Morningside. However, Beverly Hills’ defense rose up and wrapped up quarterback Dana Dodson in the end zone for a safety that trimmed the Normans’ deficit to four points with 2:03 left. After Morningside punted the ball back, BHHS tried a reverse on its first play but the ball was fumbled and recovered by defensive lineman Trayvion Carter, who returned it to the Normans’ 12-yard line. From there, Morningside proceeded to run out the clock. “I’m almost positive it was a touchdown,” Monroe said of his “almost” game-tying catch. “The ball was across the goal line and my knee wasn’t down. They took it away, but that’s the way the game goes.” Beverly Hills had penetrated the 10-yard line in the third quarter as well, but a wobbly pass was intercepted by Kenny Willis, who returned it to the Monarchs’ 42-yard line. Morningside’s only score came one play after a turnover. Countryman was hit and fumbled as he was cocking his arm to throw a pass and Carter recovered at the Morningside 34-yard line. On a quick count, senior Chad Conner raced 66 yards on a quarterback draw to give the home team a 6-0 lead. The snap was bad on the extra point attempt and the kick was blocked. “It was just your basic run up the middle, the coaches told me it would be open and it was,” Conner said. “This was real big. Everyone came out for our homecoming and you always want to win that game. Defensively, we just had to stop No. 1 [Countryman]. He was their big-play guy.” Countryman was held to 31 yards in nine carries and completed three of seven passes for 19 yards. Conner had 89 yards in 12 carries and Dotson gained 74 yards in 12 carries for Morningside, which closes the season with its annual grudge game against Inglewood next Thursday. Beverly Hills hosts Culver City at Nickoll Field next Thursday night. The Centaurs lost to Santa Monica 17-14 Friday night. Santa Monica can clinch the league title outright with a victory over Hawthorne. “We have too many injuries and it’s hard to execute the way you want to when you have eight or nine starters missing,” Paysinger said. “We didn’t have one of our best linemen [Julian Jackson], who got injured last week. So we came in short-handed and it showed.” Records: Beverly Hills 2-7, 1-3; Morningside 4-5, 1-3. Be sure to follow Beverly Hills Patch on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook . Go here to see the original: Normans’ Offense Sputters Against Morningside
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No Home Sweet Home for Normans
The Beverly Hills High School campus was adorned with Halloween decorations like jack-o-lanterns, spider webs and skeletons, but it was the Normans who got spooked in Friday night’s homecoming game at Nickoll Field. Indeed, defending Ocean League champion Inglewood was the scariest thing BHHS encountered all evening, as the visiting Sentinels forced five turnovers and dominated from start to finish in a 42-0 drubbing that left the Beverly Hills players and coaches looking like they had seen ghosts. “I knew that they were a good team,” BHHS coach Donald Paysinger said. “Our game plan was to establish the run. It was a combination of them being more physical and us not executing the way we needed to. We planned on using both quarterbacks [Brandon Adams and Cameron Countryman] all along and we did, but neither one could get into a rhythm.” Inglewood scored its first points on Devian Shelton’s 14-yard run midway through the first quarter. In the second quarter, he scored on a 36-yard fumble return, Deandre Johnson caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from Derrick Woods and Woods scored on a quarterback sneak to give Inglewood a 28-0 lead going into halftime. “I was really impressed with our defense,” said Inglewood coach Stephen Daniel Thomas, who lost 35 players to graduation off last year’s 9-3 squad that reached the quarterfinals of the CIF playoffs. “Offensively, I think we were a little sloppy, but our defense has played well all year.” After a festive halftime show, which included performances by the BHHS cheer squad and marching band, and the announcement of the homecoming court, the Normans came out determined to give their fans something to cheer about early in the second half. After Beverly Hills was forced to punt on its first possession, the Sentinels fumbled at their own 35-yard line and the Normans recovered. They failed to capitalize, however, driving inside the 5-yard line before running back Frank Brown was stuffed behind the line on fourth-and-goal. “I was more disappointed in our passing game,” Paysinger said. “Whether it’s running or throwing, you need one or the other working and tonight we had to be able to pass a little to open up the running game and we couldn’t do it.” Shelton scored on a 67-yard run in the third quarter and Johnson caught a 32-yard touchdown pass from Woods in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring. “Losing Broderick Smith and Willie Green definitely hurt our offense because they are big-play guys, but things like that happen,” Countryman said of his two teammates who are out due to injury. “There are no excuses. We thought we’d win. The bottom line is we’re not playing very well as a team. The last two games are huge just from a pride standpoint. We want to finish strong.” The loss dropped the Normans into a tie for fourth with Hawthorne in the league standings. Santa Monica is one game ahead of Culver City and Inglewood going into Week 9. The Normans face last place Morningside in an away game next Friday, then host Culver City in their league finale Nov. 10. “The fact that we were playing the defending league champions doesn’t change anything,” Paysinger said. “If you asked most of our players who won league last year they couldn’t tell you. We don’t look in the past, we look at what’s in front of us. We have to get better.” Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Final Inglewood 7 21 6 8 42 Beverly Hills 0 0 0 0 0 Scoring Summary 1st Qtr. Inglewood — Shelton 14 run (kick good) 2nd Qtr. Inglewood — Johnson 36 fumble return (kick good) Inglewood — Johnson 16 pass from Woods (kick good) Inglewood — Woods 1 run (kick good) 3rd Qtr. Inglewood — Shelton 67 run (kick blocked) 4th Qtr. Inglewood — Johnson 32 pass from Woods (Woods run) Records: Inglewood 3-5, 2-1; Beverly Hills 2-6, 1-2. Be sure to follow Beverly Hills Patch on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook . See the rest here: No Home Sweet Home for Normans
