TORRANCE TRIBUNE September 22, 2016 Page 3 North Falls to Culver City for Second Loss Story by Adam Serrao Photos by Dirk Dewachter After seeing the West High Warriors come out with a win over the Culver City Centaurs in the first week of the regular season this year, North High and head coach Todd Croce figured that they should find the same success. Forcing a startling five turnovers on the night would have everyone else believing that they would, too. Perhaps the road trip to Culver City was too much for the team, or perhaps the offense just came in unprepared. Whatever it was, the Saxons looked overmatched despite a number of breaks in the game and ultimately took a 37-14 loss last Friday night in Culver City. It looked like it was going to be a shootout from the start of the first quarter. After Culver City marched down the field and scored on their opening possession of the game, North starting quarterback Glenn Searcy put together a drive for the Saxons. Searcy found JJ Belmontes for a 43-yard touchdown pass to tie the game, 7-7, almost before anyone could get comfortable in their seats. After looking good to start the game, however, both teams quickly came unraveled shortly thereafter. Safety Brayden DeOcampo stopped a potential touchdown by intercepting Culver City quarterback Jonathan Martin. Moments later, North running back Saeed Galloway fumbled the ball back to Culver City. The Centaurs would turn the ball over three times in the first quarter alone. North wasn’t able to capitalize off of the turnovers. ‘It was amazing that in the red zone we were able to come away with footballs,” coach Croce said of his team. “We could have come away with so much more but we just shot ourselves in the foot left and right.” Galloway would fumble twice on the day for the Saxons, earning himself a brief spot on the bench. While the sloppy play persisted, North’s offense would stall. They’d go into the half trailing 21-7, unable to score since the opening drive of the game. The Centaurs continued to extend their lead in the third quarter before Galloway attempted to redeem himself early on in the fourth with a 1-yard touchdown to finally get the Saxons on the board again. The touchdown would only enliven the play of Culver City and their quarterback, as Martin threw two more touchdowns to keep the game out of reach and seal the 23-point victory for the Centaurs. Galloway ran for 113 yards and a touchdown for a Saxons team that will now welcome the Morningside Monarchs to North High. Searcy threw for 129 yards and a touchdown for North while opposing quarterback, Martin, threw for 224 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. West High The West High Warriors found out firsthand about the curse of the Bay League when they took on the Redondo Beach Sea Hawks last Friday night in Redondo Beach. Coming into the game, the Warriors looked to be the class of the Pioneer League while Redondo was struggling, coming off of two straight losses in which they only scored a total of six points. After getting a touchdown in the opening quarter, the Warriors were quiet for the rest of the night. A 58-10 loss said it all as the Warriors moved to 2-1 on the season, yet still remain in first place in the Pioneer League standings. Redondo began their onslaught early, putting 14 points on the board before the Warriors could even blink an eye. West starting quarterback, Drake Peabody, finally put a dent in the damage by getting the Warriors on the board with a 72-yard touchdown run. West would manage three more points in the second quarter, but were shutout for the rest of the game. The Sea Hawks led 42-10 at the half and 49-10 in the third quarter as the game was clearly out of reach early. Peabody did most of his damage on the ground, rushing for 92 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries. He also threw for 62 yards before being pulled from the game in the third quarter because of the blowout. The Warriors will try to regain their confidence and get headed back in the right direction this week, but will have to do so against another Bay League opponent in the Mira Costa Mustangs. Torrance High The Torrance Tartars were up against the same type of beast as the Warriors. Without a victory all year, the Tartars were scheduled to attempt to gain their first of the season last Friday night against the Bay League’s first place team, the Peninsula Panthers in Palos Verdes. The Panthers ran all over the Tartars. The team’s starting running back, Jeffery Jimena ran for 293 yards and two touchdowns while Marco Merola added two more touchdown runs and three catches for 37 yards. Torrance quarterback Ryan Carroll provided the only offense of the night for the Tartars, going 9 of 20 through the air for 198 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions. Ivan Ramirez accounted for a passing touchdown for Torrance, also gaining 128 yards receiving as the Tartars ultimately took a 35-17 nonleague loss to drop to 0-3 on the year. Torrance will look for their first win of the season as they take on the El Segundo Eagles this week. South High The South High Spartans were riding a high after their first win of the season two weeks ago against Hawthorne. For first year head coach Matt Mishler, it was his first victory as well, but the excitement of the occassion quickly turned to despair. A 29-12 loss to Santa Fe at home forced the Spartans off track for at least another week as they look to stay competitive in a tough Pioneer League this year. The South High Spartans are going to struggle on offense all year long with the young team that they have. That’s exactly what they did in the game against Santa Fe. South was only able to amass a total of 190 yards of offense in the game as starting quarterback Anthony Bjazevich completed eight of 21 passes for 132 yards with two interceptions. Santa Fe was up 12-0 after the first quarter and 19-0 at the half as they looked to pull away early. The Spartans didn’t get on the board until the third quarter where they relied on Bjazevich to do it all. The quarterback finished the game with 33 yards on the ground and two rushing touchdowns, providing all of the offense for a South High that was in desperate need of more. The Spartans will have to get things figured out soon if they want to receive a playoff spot this season. A matchup with Santa Monica waits this week before league play begins the first week of October. • Ryan Carroll (Torrance No. 2) runs upfield as teammate Tony Dacosta (Torrance No. 63) and Peninsula’s Alex Bobb (Peninsula No. 88) tangle at the line of scrimmage. Ethan Meyers (Torrance No. 4) tries to sneak outside the line of scrimmage but is stopped short by a peninsula defender. Jeffrey Jimena (Peninsula No. 6) of Peninsula breaks through the line of scrimmage as Torrance’s Ivan Ramirez (Torrance No. 7) awaits him. Daniel Madrid (Torrance No. 23) brings down Tyler Hazard (Peninsula No. 22) during the third quarter of play. Up and Adam
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