TORRANCE TRIBUNE November 2, 2017 Page 5
Up and Adam Surprising Rams
Catching NFL by Storm
By Adam Serrao
Maybe it took a trip to London to finally
get the world to realize that the team is for
real. Maybe it’s just a new head coach and
an explosive offense led by second-year
quarterback Jared Goff that has the Los
Angeles Rams sitting tied for first place in
the NFC West standings. Either way you spin
it, the Rams have won four of their last five
games and are now 5-2 heading into Week
9 of the NFL season. After 10 long years of
a tumultuous, losing brand of football, who
would have thought that the Rams would
have had what it takes to be a competitive
team in the NFL in what is now just their
second season in Los Angeles?
The outlook for the Rams is currently as
sunny and bright as the typical seven-day
forecast in Los Angeles. The last time the
Rams finished the regular season with a
winning record was in 2003, when they also
won five of their first seven contests of the
year. New head coach Sean McVay certainly
hopes that this season ends in the same successful
way that the 2003 season did, when
the Rams took home the NFC West title and
lost in the divisional round of the playoffs.
“He has a standard and it’s pretty high in
terms of precise football execution,” Rams
general manager Les Snead said of McVay,
who is currently the youngest head coach
in the NFL. “We needed a culture change,”
star defensive tackle Aaron Donald added.
“You just want to bust your butt for him.”
McVay’s youth and exuberance can certainly
be said to be one reason for Los Angeles’
stark turnaround from a 4-12 finish just one
season ago. Another reason can be what he
and the rest of the coaching staff has done
for an offense that is one of only two in the
league to score over 200 total points in the
season dating back to last week. Jared Goff,
the quarterback who looks like a new man
now that Jeff Fisher is gone, has the Rams
offense leading the league through their bye
week in scoring, averaging 30.3 points per
game. Goff’s nine touchdown passes to just
four interceptions gives the Rams a distinct
weekly advantage on the offensive side of the
ball that the team has not experienced since
the glory days in St. Louis when they were
nicknamed “The Greatest Show on Turf.”
Instead of Marshall Faulk, who occupied
the backfield in those days some 18 years
ago, now resides Todd Gurley. Gurley, like
the Rams as a whole, is also enjoying a
resurgent season in which he has averaged
4.3 yards per carry and gained 627 yards on
the ground. Gurley has also been getting it
done as a receiver, compiling a total of 293
yards and three touchdown catches thus far,
giving the team a potent, dual-threat offensive
weapon to line up behind Goff.
No team is complete without an elite defense
and although the Rams began the year
slowly on that side of the ball, new defensive
coordinator Wade Phillips has now seemingly
turned things around. While the Rams may
have given up a total of 96 points in weeks
two through four of the regular season, they
have only allowed a total of 33 points in
the three games since then. Currently L.A
is allowing 19.7 points per game, which
ranks the team as the league’s 10th best scoring
defense. Coming off of a 33-0 shutout
over the Arizona Cardinals at Twickenham
Stadium in London with Donald now back
from his holdout and fully integrated into
Phillips’ system, that shutout may be a sign
of things to come. It also certainly bodes
well for a Rams team that is headed into a
mixture of tough matchups against the likes
of the Houston Texans, New Orleans Saints,
Philadelphia Eagles and Seattle Seahawks,
among others.
It may be an understatement to say that
the Rams are the biggest surprise of the
2017 NFL season so far. What’s even more
surprising, though, is that the young team is
finding ways to get the job done on the road
too. Four of the team’s five wins entering the
break have been away from the Coliseum in
Los Angeles (counting the game in London),
as a variety of players continue to get the job
done in the face of adversity. “We’ve got a
lot of good contributors who understand their
importance and their role, and you just try to
make a habit of pointing them out” McVay
explained. “That lets them feel appreciated
because it is recognized and that credit is
well deserved.”
It’s not just the Donalds, Goffs and the
Gurleys who are getting the job done, but
also the Matt Longacres (who leads the
team in sacks), Malcolm Browns (backup
running back) and Marqui Christians (special
teams ace) who are flying under the radar,
giving the Rams a fully balanced attack.
That fully balanced attack is precisely what
Los Angeles will need as it gets into the
part of the schedule that will see the team
take on many of the NFC’s elite lineups.
Through the first half of the season,
Los Angeles already has more wins than it
had all of last year. While only time will tell
if they can hold onto the first place spot in
their division, it has become overwhelmingly
clear that this young Rams team is certainly
headed in the right direction.
– Aserrao6@yahoo.com •
Warriors Win Biggest
Game of Their Season
By Adam Serrao
After losing a decisive Pioneer League battle
to the North High Saxons, the West High Warriors
have been nothing short of impressive
as they’ve battled back in the standings with
incredible victories week after week. After
being shut out by the Saxons in a 3-0 football
equivalent of a pitchers’ duel, West wiped
the floor with their next two opponents by a
combined score of 100-9. Last Friday night at
West High, the Warriors welcomed the Leuzinger
Olympians to town in a divisional game
that was sure to decide second place in the
standings. Head coach Juan Cueva and West
High may have gotten off to a slow start in
the contest, but an incredible comeback 42-41
victory eventually put the Warriors in prime
position for a playoff push.
The night didn’t get off to such a hot start
for Cueva and his club against Leuzinger.
Before his team knew it, they were down
28-14 at the half and 34-14 midway through
the third quarter. “We showed that even
though we got down in the first and second
quarters, we wanted to finish out the game
and that’s what we did,” explained Warriors
wide receiver Dutch Silverlake. Silverlake was
the hero of the game, coming away with an
interception in the final seconds to ultimately
seal Leuzinger’s fate.
West High quarterback Brandon Poffenbarger
could very well take home offensive honors
as well. Poffenbarger kept his team in the
game all night long, beginning with a 25-yard
touchdown pass in the first quarter to tie the
score. Poffenbarger threw four touchdown
passes in total on the night, but perhaps none
more important than his last. The Warriors
never lost hope and battled back into a game
that saw the team down by 20 points with less
than eight minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
Two touchdowns in four minutes of play put
West down by just six points with two minutes
to go on the game clock. The Warrior defense
came up with a stop--and after the Olympians
punted, Poffenbarger came to the rescue. His
16-yard touchdown pass to Venture O’Neal not
only allowed West to take its first lead of the
game, but also left Leuzinger without enough
time on the clock. The Warriors successfully
overcame a 20-point deficit to capture what
became their third victory in a row.
“Coach told us to never give up,” Silverlake
went on to explain. “We finished out the game
and got the W.” Both West’s strong defensive
effort in the second half and Poffenbarger’s
confidence led the Warriors from behind
and to victory. “When our defense stopped
them there and we got the ball back, I knew
I could step up and make the big play,” the
quarterback said of the final two possessions
of the game. Leuzinger jumped out to a huge
lead on the back of running back Elijah Miles,
who ran for three touchdowns in the first half
and 252 total yards. West’s (4-5, 3-1) win not
only instills even more confidence in a team
that now controls its own fate in the race for
second place in the Pioneer League standings,
but also gives it tons of momentum heading
into the final game of the season this Friday
night at home against the Torrance Tartars.
North High
The North High Saxons have officially hit
their stride under head coach Todd Croce and
with a 21-0 shutout over the Torrance Tartars
on the road, they have all but wrapped up a
Pioneer League championship this season. The
victory was North’s fifth in a row and the team’s
third shutout in the last four games. Though the
Saxons must still fend off the pesky West High
Warriors in the standings for an outright league
title, a matchup this week against the South
High Spartans shouldn’t provide much resistance
for a team that is playing at the top of
its game.
The North High defense is perhaps even
more impressive than the offense lately. An
interception for a touchdown by Mehki Jordan
set the tone for the Saxons and led the team
to a 14-0 halftime lead. North dominated the
pace of play throughout the entire game and
eventually tacked on another touchdown on
the Tartars’ defense in the fourth quarter to
cruise to an easy 21-0 victory. The Saxons
will welcome the South High Spartans to their
home field this Friday night. The Spartans are
a team that just received their first victory of
the year with a 41-0 shutout over the last place
Centennial Apaches. With a victory, North
(7-2, 4-0) will capture the Pioneer League
championship outright. Torrance (3-6, 2-2), on
the other hand, will get a matchup against its
rivals, the West High Warriors. A victory for
West will give it sole possession of second
place in the standings and an at-large bid
into the playoffs.
South High
The South High Spartans finally received
the matchup that they had been waiting for
all season long and took full advantage of it.
A game against the Centennial Apaches was
sure to decide last place in the final Pioneer
League standings this season. Head coach
Matt Mishler made sure that he had his guys
ready to hit the field and play.
After returning the opening kickoff for a
touchdown, Mishler knew that his team was
likely destined for a high-powered night. Starting
quarterback Drew Nash didn’t let his head
coach down either. Two touchdown passes by
the sophomore, in addition to running back
Anthony Rugnetta’s two touchdowns on the
night, eventually led the Spartans to a 41-0
victory for the team’s first win of the season.
South (1-8, 1-3) will get a matchup against the
first place North High Saxons this Friday night
in the team’s final game of the regular season.
– Aserrao6@yahoo.com •
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face an underpayment penalty by the IRS.” •