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Football: Locals shine for USC in rout of Hawaii

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USC kicked off its season in style Saturday afternoon at the L.A. Coliseum, routing Hawaii 49-10 and, not surprisingly, Southland players were all over the stat sheet.

Quarterback Matt Barkley led the charge, as the senior Heisman Trophy frontrunner out of Santa Ana Mater Dei High threw for 351 yards and four TDs. Max Wittek, a Mater Dei alumnus who red-shirted for the Trojans last season and earned the backup job in spring practice, relieved Barkley in the fourth quarter and went 2-of-2 for 15 yards.

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Receivers Robert Woods and Marquise Lee, both former high school All-Americans at Gardena Serra, proved an unstoppable duo. Woods, a junior, caught six passes for 42 yards and two TDs while Lee, a sophomore, turned a five-yard out into a 75-yard TD on the first play from scrimmage and returned a kickoff 100 yards for another score. Lee finished with 10 receptions for 190 yards. Tight end Randall Telfer of Rancho Cucamonga also had a TD catch.

Curtis McNeal (who ran for over 4,000 yards at Venice High and was the City Section Offensive MVP his senior year) and sophomore D.J. Morgan of Woodland Hills Taft combined for 35 yards rushing.

Hayes Pullard, who was an All-City linebacker and defensve back at Los Angeles Crenshaw, scored on a 27-yard interception return Saturday and sophomore safety Josh Shaw, a former two-way standout at Palmdale who transferred to USC from Florida in the spring, also had an interception.

USC is ranked No. 1 by the Associated Press and should the Trojans take the BCS Championship, the talents and skills of their many Southland players will be a major reason why.

-- Steve Galluzzo

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