TORRANCE TRIBUNE October 5, 2017 Page 5
Up and Adam
South High Spartans’ Season Spiraling Into Cellar
Story by Adam Serrao
Photos by Dirk Dewachter
After putting everything into perspective, it
was plain to see that the South High Spartans
didn’t really have a chance against the El Segundo
Eagles last Friday night even at home.
Not only had South been without a victory
coming into the matchup, but they were facing
a first place Bay League opponent that
was 4-0 on the season going into the contest.
The Eagles, who were averaging 33 points
per game, didn’t take long before they lived
up to their lofty expectations. A final score
of 49-0 told the entire story as South High
and head coach Matt Mishler will continue
along the long and arduous journey of looking
for their first victory of the regular season.
It wouldn’t be entirely fair to say that El
Segundo simply beat the Spartans because
the Spartans beat themselves too. On the
third play from scrimmage, South fumbled
the football into the Eagles’ waiting arms,
leading to an El Segundo touchdown less
than three minutes into the contest. The rest
of the game simply followed suit. Three total
first-half turnovers by the Spartans led to four
total El Segundo touchdowns. It was quickly
plain to see that a 28-0 deficit would be too
much to overcome for a young and growing
South High team.
The one bright spot of the day for South
was the team’s ability to move the ball on
the ground. Behind quarterback Drew Nash
and running backs Anthony Rugnetta and
Sampson Kuaea, the Spartans were able to
put together a few promising drives to get
inside of El Segundo territory. Unfortunately
for South, costly turnovers would foil those
drives and wind up putting the ball right
back into El Segundo’s hands. “We looked
good in spots tonight,” Mishler said of his
Spartans. “We turned the ball over too much
and shot ourselves in the foot. We gave them
a short field a few times and we didn’t take
advantage of the good things we were doing.”
Despite looking good in spots, the Spartan
defense gave up three more second-half
touchdowns and wound up taking a 49-0 loss.
It was South’s fifth defeat in as many games
this season. The team has now been shut out
in three straight contests and four on the year,
scoring just two touchdowns all season long.
League play may just be the motivation that
the team needs to get going, but the Spartans
will get last year’s Pioneer League champs and
this year’s second place team in the first game
of divisional play this week when they travel
to Leuzinger to take on the 2-3 Olympians.
West High
After a big first quarter to start the game,
the West High Warriors had a breakdown
in the second half to eventually take a 44-
20 loss at the hands of the Carson Colts.
Brandon Osorio led West’s brilliant special
teams play by blocking a punt in the first
quarter and returning it for a touchdown to
give his team a 7-0 lead. Later, Alec Froning
blocked yet another punt that led to a Brandon
Poffenbarger touchdown to give West a 14-0
lead. In the second quarter, Max Parish kept
the elite special teams play alive when he
returned the kickoff 89-yards to the house
for a 20-6 lead in favor of the Warriors. Just
when West looked to have the game in hand,
however, things would take a turn for the
worse in the second half of play.
After leading 20-14 at the half, West would
allow Carson to slowly cut into the lead
when Devonte Lee ran the ball in from four
yards out to tie the game up at 20 apiece.
The Colts’ second-half momentum quickly
continued when a 48-yard run by Carson
quarterback Jaja Bellinger gave his team
their first lead of the game. The Warriors’
defense suddenly had no answers for the
Colts. Carson went on to score three more
unanswered touchdowns to eventually turn
what looked like a surefire Torrance win into
a Carson blowout. “Our guys played with
emotion and played well in the first half,”
Warriors head coach Greg Holt explained.
“Our defense was on the field too much in
the second half.” The Colts eventually beat
the Tartars by 24 points.
The loss was somewhat demoralizing for
West, but Holt and company will look to
get things turned around when they open up
Pioneer League play with a matchup against
the North High Saxons this Friday night at
West High. The 1-4 Warriors can take a
gigantic leap in the standings with a victory.
Torrance High
The Torrance Tartars ran into what could be
one of the South Bay’s best teams when they
took on the Lawndale Cardinals last Friday
night on the road. Behind quarterback Jalen
Hamler and running back Jordan Wilmore,
the Cardinals have one of the best one-two
punches in the area. That one-two punch
was on full display in a 42-0 blowout of the
Tartars in a nonleague game. The loss marked
the second in a row for Torrance and the
fourth in the team’s first five games of play.
It may have taken Lawndale a while to get
started, but once it did, there was no looking
back for the Ocean League’s first place team.
A 75-yard punt return by Wilmore gave the
Cardinals a 14-0 toward the end of the first
quarter. Wilmore continued his team’s big
play streak after breaking a 60-yard run for a
touchdown in the second quarter to finish the
day with 172 yards on just 15 carries. Lawndale
Ethan Meyers (Torrance #4) brings up the ball during a kickoff
return.
played an even better second half as it eventually
gave the Tartars their first shutout loss of the
season. Torrance (1-4) and head coach Rock
Hollis will look to get things turned around in
their first game of league play this week when
they take on the Centennial Apaches.
North High
Bye Week.
– Aserrao6@yahoo.com •
Joseph Toilolo (Torrance #51) and Jasyhi Johnson (Lawndale #25) battle it out at the line of scrimmage during the Torrance vs Lawndale
football game at Lawndale High.
Terence Simon (Lawndale #5) engages Jerome Duhon (Torrance #3).
Nathan Gottlieb (Torrance #18) hands off the ball in the backfield during Torrance High’s game at Lawndale.
A Lawndale offensive lineman and Torrance’s Chase Pitts (#80) both dive for the ball following a fumble by Lawndale’s Jalen Hamler.