TORRANCE TRIBUNE August 3, 2017 Page 3 Up and Adam City Manager Appoints Michael J. Browne as Interim Torrance Police Chief Tartars on Track to Avenge Poor 2016 Football Season By Adam Serrao Football is back in town and the Torrance High Tartars are lacing up their cleats and putting on their helmets in anticipation of what will undoubtedly be another extremely entertaining season. It wasn’t long ago that the Torrance football team had enough firepower to give Pioneer League opponents a good scare on the way to what seemed to be perennial playoff appearances. The team has since dropped off a bit from its winning ways and now, you’d have to rewind the clock back to the 2014 season to find the last time the Tartars made it into the playoffs. Torrance High may have taken a tumble in each of the last two seasons, but there’s no doubting the fact that Rock Hollis runs a tight ship as head coach. With his leadership, a team that finished in fifth place with just one win a season ago should benefit from a long offseason of growth and maturity to take a step forward against divisional rivals this year. There isn’t much nice to say about a Tartars team that managed to win just one game out of the 10 that it played one season ago. To look on the positive side of things, the one win that Torrance did have last year was a dominant one, to say the least. Junior running back Ethan Meyers ran for 93 yards on 24 carries and scored a touchdown. His teammate Eric Suarez also put together a great game with 177 yards and one touchdown on just nine carries to beat the Centennial Apaches by a final score of 28-6. The bad news? The Apaches were the one team in the Pioneer League with a worse record than the Tartars. Centennial wound up finishing in sixth place without a win throughout the entire regular season. While the team’s one victory last season may be easy to list for Torrance, its defeats were unfortunately a lot more prevalent. A 40-0 loss to Mira Costa in the first game of the season was a precursor for what was to come. The Tartars followed that with losses of 35 points to Culver City, 41 points to El Segundo, and 46 points to Lawndale. Rivalry games have always had the tendency to bring out the best in other teams. That’s why when Torrance took on the South High Spartans and the North High Saxons, the final score of the games wound up being a lot tighter. The Tartars still fell short when the last seconds ticked off of the clock, but their four and seven point losses respectively proved to be a lot closer and offered much more competition than any of the team’s other setbacks. Torrance’s solid running game is what coach Hollis hopes will be the key to more victories this season. The aforementioned Meyers will be back for his senior season in the backfield, while Suarez will become a junior. Add to the list senior Kyle Sell and the Tartars have a three-headed rushing attack that should be as good as any that the Pioneer League is able to boast. Torrance’s weakness last season was in the passing game. Former quarterback Ryan Carroll has moved on to college, leaving the team with the likely option of senior Nicholas Ahlers to take over under center--though both he and senior Nathan Gottlieb got in very limited reps passing the ball last season. While it shouldn’t be entirely difficult for this Tartars club to exceed its output from one season ago, it will have to do so against some pretty stiff competition. Opening Day, which takes place Thursday, August 31, will be against a Marina Vikings team that finished with a record of 4-6 last season and should be a good barometer for Hollis’s club to start the new year. Matchups against Culver City, Peninsula and El Segundo will come before the usual Pioneer League schedule that will feature rivalry games against the Tartars’ inner-city opponents from South High, West High and North High, to name a few. Torrance will undoubtedly be ready to hit the field and take center stage under the lights when the season finally gets underway for the team in three weeks. Hollis and the Tartars will be looking for their first winning season since 2015 and their second successful year since 2012. With much added experience returning to the squad, including a slew of as many as 20 players who played on the team in their junior year last season, Torrance should have the experience necessary to compete with the Pioneer League’s elite. Stay tuned as Hollis and his club compete for the title of Torrance’s best football team and look to get themselves back into the playoffs for the first time in what seems like a very long two years to a group of Tartars faithful fans. – Asixlion@earthlink.net • Community Briefs Torrance City Manager LeRoy J. Jackson is pleased to announce the appointment of Michael J. Browne as Interim Torrance Police Chief. Browne replaces Mark Matsuda who is retiring this month after 30 years of service to the City of Torrance. Interim Chief Michael J. Browne had a successful career with the Torrance Police Department until his well-earned retirement in December 2011. Prior to retirement, Browne served as Deputy Chief and held a variety of positions and assignments in the Department for 38 years, including four years as Deputy Police Chief. Chief Browne began his career in law enforcement with the Torrance Police Department in May 1973. He led by example during his entire career with the Department. He was promoted to Sergeant in 1991, Lieutenant in 1997, and Captain in 2002. Chief Browne served in various assignments and positions including patrol, Field Training Officer, Detective, Gang Sergeant, Watch Commander, Crime Impact Team, traffic, special operations, and internal affairs to name a few. Chief Browne said following his appointment as Interim Chief, “I am honored to once again serve the Torrance community and lead the finest police department in the nation. I look forward to reuniting with former colleagues and getting to know new ones. The Department will continue to provide excellent public safety for our community.” City Manager Jackson commented, “Chief Browne was and is an exemplary example of the type of law enforcement leader and professional to best assist us during this change in leadership.” The Torrance Police Department has been proudly serving the community of Torrance for over 80 years, and currently employs 227 sworn safety staff and 128 civilian staff. – Source: City of Torrance Summer Fest to Benefit Junior Leadership Torrance Program The Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce [TACC] Foundation presents Summer Fest, an evening event slated for Sunday, August 20 from 4 p.m. until 9 p.m. in front of the Depot Restaurant on Cabrillo Avenue. The event serves to benefit the Foundation’s new Junior Leadership Torrance [JLT] program, designed to influence and inspire the future leaders of the community. Modeled after the TACC’s highly-regarded Leadership Torrance program, JLT will consist of approximately 30 sophomore students from various Torrance area high schools who have been selected by Torrance Unified School District faculty. Selected students will have displayed an aptitude for the professional processes of the business world, and will participate in a series of activities and excursions aimed at sharpening their leadership skills and identifying career path opportunities in corporate, non-profit and municipal arenas. Assistant Chief and Fire Marshal for the Torrance Fire Department, Bill Samp, is co-directing the JLT program and sees the value in affording local high school students with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity through the program. “Junior Leadership Torrance provides a student the unique opportunity to take the next step in self-evaluation, be surrounded by other promising leaders, and gain insights into the application of leadership in real world organizations in our community,” stated Samp. Whether through tickets/table purchases to Summer Fest, event sponsorship or silent auction donation, support of the Junior Leadership Torrance program will allow the TACC Foundation to continue its work in positively impacting the future of Los Angeles’ workforce, thereby improving the long-term economic vitality of our region. Guests of Summer Fest will enjoy a delectable BBQ buffet by Chef Shafer, hosted beer, wine and martini bar, silent auction, and live music. All donations are tax-deductible. The TACC Foundation is a 501(c) 3 organization. Tickets are $100 per person before August 6, after which the price increases to $125 per person. For more information, please contact (310) 540-5858 or reserve tickets at www.torrancechamber.com/summerfest. – Source: Torrance Chamber Providence Los Angeles Area Medical Centers Awarded for Women’s Health Services A total of 13,445 babies were delivered last year at the six Medical Providence enters in the Los Angeles Area, hospitals that each earned five-star national recognition for high quality labor and delivery care. Healthgrades, a leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals, announced today 41 awards for obstetrics, gynecology and labor and delivery for the six hospitals: Providence Holy Cross, Providence Saint Joseph and Providence Tarzana medical centers in the San Fernando Valley; Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica; and Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Centers in San Pedro and Torrance. “Thousands of new parents put their trust in us each year because we deliver the quality they count on,” said Michael Bernstein, M.D., chief medical officer, Providence St. Joseph Health, Los Angeles Region. “Each birth involves a team of experts – and credit goes to those obstetricians, laborists who care for our mothers-to-be 24/7, nurses, lactation experts, respiratory therapists and other specialists who are available when necessary.” The five-star rating indicates hospitals’ clinical outcomes are significantly better than expected statistically when treating a condition or performing the procedure being evaluated. “Consumers place high-quality outcomes at the top of their wish lists when selecting a hospital, so health systems that have achieved this particular distinction stand out among their peers,” said Brad Bowman, M.D., chief medical officer, Healthgrades. “Especially in an environment where consumers have more choices than ever before about where to receive care, a hospital’s commitment to achieving high-quality outcomes for their patients is more important than ever.” To help consumers evaluate and compare hospital performance, Healthgrades analyzed all-payer state data for 17 states from 2013 through 2015. Healthgrades found there is a significant variation in hospital quality between those who have received five stars and those that have not. For example: In addition to the five-star recognition for labor and delivery, the hospital received dozens of awards for gynecology and gynecologic procedures including surgery. Providence Little Company of Mary Torrance received six total recognitions under the general categories of Labor and Delivery as well as GYN Surgery. – Source: Providence • Visit us online: www.heraldpublications.com DISH DEALS!! $49./99 mo. for 24 months ADD HIGH-SPEED INTERNET $14./mo. Switch to DISH and Get a FREE Echo Dot Control your TV hands-free with DISH Hopper + Amazon Alexa “Alexa, go to HGTV.” LIMITED TIME! Mention oer code FreeEchoDot Requires internet-connected Hopper® or Wally® and Echo, Echo Dot or Amazon Tap device. CALL TODAY - PROMO CODE: FreeEchoDot 1-866-945-7295 95 where available 190 Channels Now only ... Requires credit qualication and commitment
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