Once again, the San Pedro High football team returned to their friendly confines at Pirate Stadium eager to finally defeat a CIF-Southern Section opponent in their grueling nonleague slate, and the third time ended up being the charm against visiting Culver City.

With the offense finally waking up out of their slumber from last week’s loss at Redondo, the Pirates would go back to basics with their VINTAGE ‘Pound-N-Ground’ running assault, which provided their first two 100-yard rushers in a game this season which overshadowed the return of senior quarterback Jacob Miller from an ankle injury, as the Pirates won 44-33 over Culver City in an intersectional shootout.

Even so, Miller still threw for two touchdown passes to complete a great return from an ankle injury suffered on the final play at Downey three weeks ago, and junior WR/DB Mikey Hernandez Jr. went into all-out beast mode in the second half for the Pirates (2-2 overall).

With San Pedro nursing a slim 23-20 lead following a Culver City punt in the third quarter, Miller found Hernandez Jr. on a screen pass, then he made two defenders switch gears with a killer cutback before cruising into the end zone on a 31-yard touchdown reception and a 30-20 Pirate edge with 2:31 left.

The fourth quarter saw Hernandez Jr. come up on three more electrifying plays.

After sophomore quarterback Jonathan Martin threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Johnson for Culver City to cut into San Pedro’s lead at 30-27 early in the fourth, Hernandez Jr. ran back the ensuing kickoff 80 yards to the Culver City 15-yard line, setting up sophomore running back Kai Kaneshiro’s five-yard touchdown run with 7:42 remaining.

Hernandez Jr. would strike again, reading a fourth-and-seven pass by Martin like a book, cutting in front of sophomore wide receiver Robert Simon and picking it off, returning it 40 yards before tripping at the Culver City nine-yard line. Two plays later, Kaneshiro’s eight-yard touchdown run made it 44-27 San Pedro with 4:33 to play, basically putting the game out of reach.

Culver City (1-2) only needed 64 seconds to score as Martin’s 8-yard touchdown run, his second of the night, was the final score of the day, as San Pedro junior defensive back Brandon Johnson broke up the two-point conversion pass attempt.

San Pedro recovered the ensuing onside kick, but Culver City’s defense forced a three-and-out…

However, Hernandez Jr. lined up to punt, but he sprinted up the near sideline for a 24-yard gain for a crucial first down that iced the game for the Pirates.

Kaneshiro ran for a game-high 124 yards on 16 carries, while senior running back Brian ‘Beejay’ Halsey added 102 yards rushing on 17 carries to lead the charge for San Pedro, who got two more touchdown runs from senior WR/DB Antonio ‘A.J.’ Frazier, a cool 28-yard run where he reversed field midway through the second quarter, and sophomore running back Sean Davenport’s 24-yard burst in the third quarter.

Miller completed 3-of-5 passes for 74 yards, an interception and two touchdowns for San Pedro, who will have a bye next week before returning home to face Fairfax of Los Angeles on October 2.