Driving in Spikes

By Michael Ashcraft --

He drove spikes into Compton's coffin.

"What turned this game around? To be honest, John Spikes, our captain," Coach Kelly Ledwidth told Patch. "When he drove that conversion in and then that touchdown in he gave the team all the energy that it needed. They just started playing the way we knew they could. We gave him the ball and he got a hard-effort touchdown and a hard-effort extra point, and it sparked the energy the guys needed."

Santa Monica downed the Compton Tartars in a decisive 46-18 to begin its league games brightly. After a several disappointing seasons, the Corsairs feel they have the team this year for a winning season, even though they played a sloppy loss to El Camino last Saturday.

"Second half we came and had to change the attitude when we came in and change the tempo," Spikes said. "I feel like we can go places as long as we set the tempo like that every single time, the sky's the limit."

After allowing two touchdowns, Santa Monica's defensive coach reconfigured their lineup on the field to stymie the Tartans, who had trouble driving the ball but capitalized on a few big plays to score.

At halftime, the Corsairs were losing 17-18, but they were patching holes. Compton didn't score in the second half.

Receiving the kickoff, Santa Monica passed and ran the ball to the TD. That's when John Spikes, fullback running back, made the inspirational, bruising 2-point conversion.

"I just had some dog in me," said Spikes, a student who aims to be a nurse and has overcome personal tragedy and a frustrating ineligibility last season due to a course load snafu.

When the Corsairs kicked off, they stopped Compton's runback deep. It was Spikes who made the tackle. Of course.

Then the Santa Monica defense foiled their advance. Electing to punt, Compton, which appeared to be in full meltdown mode, hiked the ball high over the kicker's head, who scrambled to recover it on the 1-yard line.

If he would have had his wits about him, he could have kicked the ball through his own field goal for a safety, conceding only 2 points and giving his team breathing space to make a comeback.

Instead, he tried to run it back and was tackled, leaving Santa Monica within five yards to score for a full six points. Thanks to Spikes. With the subsequent field goal, it was 32-18.

But Compton still made a gasp for life when they sacked Santa Monica's quarterback and recovered the fumble. With some slick passing and some respectable runs, Compton brought the ball to the Corsair 4-yard line.

And that's where they fumbled.

The Corsairs recovered and drove all the way back to a touchdown, putting the game out of reach.

"Spikes is the inspirational leader on the team," said Running Back Coach Ted Baker. He's persevered through a lot of adversity over the last 2-3 years. His father passed, who he was very close to. He had a freak thing with his academics even though he's almost a 4.0 student, it kept him out a couple years ago; he still came to practice every day.

"He still encouraged our guys. He came to every game. And now he's back and doing what he does. We love him. We feed off of his energy."

Michael Ashcraft teaches journalism at the Lighthouse Christian Academy in Santa Monica.