Page 6 January 22, 2015 TORRANCE TRIBUNE The Ohio State University By Adam Serrao For one reason or another, not many people have paid much attention to the Ohio State football team of late. Whether it’s because they are fresh off sanctions, in a Big Ten conference that doesn’t traditionally get much love, or because they have just found a way to slide under the radar over the past few years, is hard to determine. One thing that can now be concluded with accuracy, however, is that “THE” Ohio State, as they like to say, is back. Under head coach Urban Meyer, the Buckeyes have now thrust themselves into the limelight and won this year’s first ever College Football Playoff national championship. With a 42-20 victory over the Oregon Ducks two Mondays ago, Ohio State has successfully put themselves back on the map. At the beginning of this year’s college football season, you would have been hard-pressed to find anyone at all who would tell you that they thought the Ohio State Buckeyes would win this year’s national championship. Even their head coach, Urban Meyer, saw the feat as clear long-shot possibility. “To say we had this vision back in September or even August, no, not a chance,” Meyer stated plainly. “I thought this was a team that could battle and battle and find a way to win a bunch of games and then a year later go make a run at it.” Well, they battled and then battled some more. They battled so much that they snuck right into the playoff brackets and made a run at the whole thing. Meyer and his squad full of youngsters were the last remaining club on the field when the confetti dropped from the ceiling. The scary part about this Ohio State team is twofold. The first fold is that if you remember back to one year ago today, the Buckeyes were undefeated heading into the final two-game stretch of the season. The team looked almost just as good then, but sanctions, including a bowl ban, prevented Meyer and the Buckeyes from attaining even the possibility of participating in any postseason play. Fast forward one year later and Ohio State has, maybe unsurprisingly, won the entire thing. The other fold is that this Buckeyes team is still so young. Half of the starters that have now won it all are either freshman or sophomores playing against guys who are at least two years older than them in most cases. With a combination of speed and toughness, however, coach Meyer has gotten it done yet again. “This may go down as the greatest coaching job in the history of college sports,” former Ohio State Hall of Fame offensive tackle Orlando Pace said of the coach. Like he did two previous times with the Florida Gators, Meyer has built the perfect college football team that, even amidst injuries, is made to be reckoned with. Let’s not forget that even this year, the Buckeyes snuck into the playoff system as the fourth and final team in. In last year’s old BCS system, Ohio State wouldn’t even have had the chance to compete for the national title. After suffering two huge losses at the quarterback position where two potential Heisman Trophy contenders went down to injury, the team rallied around third-string sophomore quarterback Cardale Jones. Jones was lost on the depth chart earlier in the season behind Braxton Miller, who took over for then starter J.T. Barrett. With a mixture of good luck, talent, and keen coaching ability, however, Jones and Meyer STARS & STRIPES A M E R I C A N M A D E C L O T H I N G S T O R E COME CHECK US OUT! 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We are paid by partner communities, so our services are completely free to families. Saxons Rolling in League Play By Adam Serrao As the beginning of league play continues to get underway, the North High Saxons boys’ basketball team is emerging as one of the Pioneer League’s toughest contenders. By defeating the West High Warriors (0-2, 5-13) last Friday night at North High’s own gymnasium, the Saxons (2-0, 9-8) not only won a key inner-city rivalry game, but they also kept pace with traditional Pioneer League basketball powerhouse the Leuzinger Olympians (2-0, 8-9) in the race to stay in first place. While the Warriors continue to struggle early on in the young divisional season thus far, they were able to keep the game close throughout. Finally submitting to a 58-54 loss, however, showed that North and West could simply be headed in different directions this season. It was North who got off to the hot start in this one, jumping on top of the Warriors early with a 9-0 lead to start the game before taking a 13-7 lead after the first quarter ultimately came to an end. It looked as if it would be all downhill from there for the Warriors, but a gritty team under head coach Andrew Furuto stuck with it and delivered an excellent second quarter. Nathan Tanada led the way on offense for the Warriors. His 16 total points led all scorers on the night as he went 6 for 12 from the field and helped West score 22 second quarter points to take a 29-28 halftime lead. The Warriors lost the third quarter, trailing in the scoring battle 15 to 14, but the game was still tied going into the pivotal fourth quarter. Aaron Ogata scored eight of his team high 14 points in the second half to help North not only stay in the game, but pull into the lead in the final quarter. The game was tied at 52 late, after a see-saw start to the fourth. In the end, it was Ryan Burnett who saved the day for the Saxons scoring the go-ahead bucket with just seconds remaining in the game to add to the 58-54 North High victory. Burnett finished with 10 points. The Saxons have now won their first two consecutive league games after defeating West and Centennial earlier in the week. The schedule will get tougher from here on out for head coach Luke Dupperon and his Saxons, so they will have to stay on their toes to keep pace with Leuzinger, who they will face off against this Friday night. The Warriors, on the other hand, will continue on with their rough go of a season and look to get things turned around against Centennial and South High this week. It’s still early enough for West to catch a second win and challenge for a playoff spot in the Pioneer League this season. South High The South High Spartans have been on a run of late and continue to have a successful 2015 season up to this point. An early loss in league play vs. Leuzinger is the only thing that is separating South from a seven game winning streak. As it is, the Spartans have won six of their last seven, including their last two league matches. Latest in the victory column came a nail-biter against Centennial. It took more than four quarters to decide this one, but South was eventually able to pull things out in overtime with a 63-58 victory last Friday night at South. Centennial sits at the bottom of the Pioneer League standings so far this season, but they certainly gave the Spartans a run for their money. With 20 first quarter points, the Apaches jumped on top of South with a four point first quarter lead. By halftime, however, Sophomore Jordan Tang had woken up for South High. His team and game high 28 points helped the Spartans to a 32-29 lead at the half. Tang was 10 for 21 on the night from the field. Things remained close for the entirety of the game and the back-and-forth matchup ended in a tie at the end of regulation. Ultimately, Ajeya Kukreja and Michael Yost came to the aid of Tang with nine points and 10 rebounds, and 10 points and eight rebounds respectively. An eight-point overtime period was enough for South to finally put the Centennial away by five points. Next up for South is rivalry matchup with West High this Friday night. Torrance High The Torrance Tartars just so happened to run into the team that is giving everyone in the Pioneer League problems this season. The Leuzinger Olympians came to town last Friday night and ruined the start to Torrance’s weekend. Another close game throughout led to a nail biter for both teams. Giovanni Jackson was the standout player of the game for the Tartars as he led all scorers with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Kousha Modanlou added 19 points to the effort but it was ultimately Leuzinger who put together the better team game as the Olympians pulled out a 60-59 win over the Tartars. Torrance (0-2, 7-11), losers of three of their last four games, will look to get things turned around and attain their first league play victory of the season when they face off against league and cross-town rivals, the North High Saxons this Wednesday night at North. Head coach Paul Nitake has ample time to get things turned around for the Tartars with various key matchups against league opponents remaining on this season’s schedule. • Douglass M O R T U A R Y “Our Family Serving Yours Since 1954” B U R I A L - C R E M A T I O N - W O R L D W I D E T R A N S F E R P E T M E M O R I A L P R O D U C T S 500 EAST IMPERIAL AVENUE EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA 90245 Telephone (310) 640-9325 • Fax (310) 640-0778 • FD658 See Ohio State, page 9
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