On Wednesday morning at a city section breakfast for teams competing in this weekend's soccer championship, two linebackers from the Class of 2027 were asked to pose for a photo together because it could one day make history.
Elijah Staples, a 6-foot-3 junior from Marquez, and De'Andre Kirkpatrick, a 6-3 junior from Crenshaw, can match the skills of anyone in the state. College recruiters are taking notice, and one day, so will NFL scouts. They help break down the stereotype that there is a lack of talent in city sectional football.
Add versatile junior quarterback Chris Fields III of Carson and senior running back Darnell Miller of Santee, who topped the 3,000-yard mark this season, and you have a group of players you'll be watching on television for years to come.
Here games are scheduled for Birmingham on Friday and Southwestern College in Los Angeles on Saturday.
Marquez's coach, Rudy Fortis, heard from friends via text messages. He's in a bit of a quandary. On Saturday, his team will face his alma mater, South Gate, for the Division 1 title. Fortiz says he always cheers for South Gate – except for this week. Two seasons ago, South Gate was 0-10.
Hawkins coach Ronald Coltress is the one who turned the program around after it finished 0-13 in 2016 due to fines and coaching firings. He was the JV coach in 2017 when the team went 0-11 due to attrition. He took over in 2018 and the team went 1-9. Administrators told him to stay the course and make sure the players went to class, behaved and graduated. Hawkins is now 10-2 and plays in the Division III championship on Friday against Santee in Birmingham.
“There’s no one left,” Coltress said. “I needed to find kids who wanted to play.”
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