Bring Dr. Frankenstein's creation to life

By Michael Ashcraft --

Dogged by injuries, Corsair football drew upon its second string for its final game of the year, and some players came up big.

Levi Photenhauer, who has champed at the bit all season for a chance to play, knocked down a punt which his teammate Kane French smothered in the end zone for a TD to bring to life Dr. Frankenstein's creation, which was down in the 2nd quarter a shock 3-28.

And Matthias Neos featured at QB for 1st stringer Sam Vaulton, who was nursing a concussion. Matthias struggled to settle in. He made some great passes and some bruising runs but often didn't get the first down.

Tariq Brown was on fire. He sprinted a kickoff return to the 50 and received a touchdown pass from among a swarm of defenders late in the game to make it 19-35.

Despite their efforts, Santa Monica College closed it season with a loss 19-42 to West LA College.

"It was not the way I wanted to end," said Matthias. "Hopefully next year we can clean up some of the penalties. We made a lot of dumb mistakes, including myself -- I had a few guys open and I missed them. We would have hoped that we would've been a little more cleaned up in the last game of the year."

West LA racked up three quick touchdowns in the first half, as Matthias was trying to find himself. The loss of Spencer Neos on the D-life (torn ACL last week) meant that the West LA running back found holes to drive up the middle.

All Santa Monica managed was a field goal.

Down 3-21, the Corsairs were dying on the field and needed someone to spark them to life. "We were shell-shocked," Coach Kelly Ledwidth said.

Enter Levi, the smallest kid on the team, and Kane, the tallest kid on the team. Small and tall combined for a shock punt block and recovery TD. With West La kicking off, it seemed to be just the thing to get back in the game.

"It happened real fast. Glad to be able to help out the team," said Levi, at 5'8". "I lined up, a hole opened up like the Rea Sea, and I just ran and put my hands up."

The quintessential predator, Kane, at 6'6", smartly pounced on the ball for a touchdown.

"I was thankful to be there at the moment," Kane said. "My teammate had a great block, and I just picked it up."

In the second half, Tannen Vagle, defensive shock trooper, tackled the quarter back for a safety to make it 12-28.

In the fourth quarter, Tariq returned the ball to the 50 yard line on a kickoff return and then made receptions to help with the runs to drive for a touchdown.

With six minutes left in the game, Tariq caught a high ball as he was thronged with defenders for SMC's last touchdown to make it 19-36.

"That was CRAZY. They had defenders all over me. I knew I was going to get hit. I just focused on the ball to catch it," Tariq said. "Just trying to give our offense and team something to build off of."

On its last drive, SMC threw and interception. The game ended at 19-42.

"I was really proud the way our guys battled back after that first quarter and they way the stuck together and hung in there all the way to the end," said Coach Ledwidth. "It could've gone like it went last week early, and they shut it off and fought back. It was good to see them do that."

Read the rest of the Santa Monica College's football games:

• Loss against Santa Barbara.
• Victory against LA Valley College.
• Loss against Antelope Valley
• Loss against Moorpark College.
• Victory against Orange Coast.
• Loss against Pasadena.
• Victory against Compton.

Michael Ashcraft teaches journalism at the Lighthouse Christian Academy in Santa Monica. Two of his former students are on the SMC team.