Crenshaw Clamps Down at End : Prep football: Cougars shine on offense, defense in fourth quarter to defeat Manual Arts, 16-8, in season opener.

Crenshaw High turned a seldom-used screen pass into a 40-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter, then held on to defeat Manual Arts, 16-8, in a City Section nonconference season-opener Friday at Crenshaw.

Coach Robert Garrett dug deep into the Cougars’ playbook with 2:53 to play and called for a middle-screen pass from Ricky Lumford to Anthony Lowrence.

“Coach Garrett does a great job and he did [with the screen-play] because he caught us very tired,” Manual Arts Coach Glenn Bell said. “On that play, we did a lot of arm-tackling and a lot of reaching.”

The play not only caught Manual Arts by surprise, it also amazed some of the Cougars, including Lumford and Lowrence.

“I never had run that play before,” said Lowrence, a senior who rushed for 37 of his game-high 56 yards in the fourth quarter.

After a two-point conversion run by Justin Crenshaw that gave the Cougars an eight-point lead, Manual Arts did not waste any time moving the ball deep into Crenshaw territory.

Thanks to a 34-yard pass from Willie Lafitte to Erwin Burton and a pass-interference penalty against Crenshaw, the Toilers found themselves with fourth down four to go from the Cougars’ eight-yard line with eight seconds to play.

That’s when Crenshaw, a 4-A Division finalist last season, made the defensive play of the game, tackling Lafitte as time ran out.

“We want to pick up where we left off last year, so this game was important for us in establishing ourselves around the city,” said Lumford, who passed for 128 yards and scored the Cougars’ first touchdown with a one-yard sneak in the first half. “We made a lot of mistakes, but the key for us was that we came away with a victory.”

Manual Arts had seven penalties for 60 yards and a fumble into the Crenshaw end zone by Burton, who finished with eight catches for 177 yards--including a 43-yard score in the first half.

Lafitte completed 10 of 18 passes for 199 yards and one touchdown.