Page 6 November 27, 2014 TORRANCE TRIBUNE West Limps Along To Stay Alive By Adam Serrao Some might wonder what it’s going to take for head coach Greg Holt and his West High Warriors team to finally lose a game. Opposing teams certainly share in that wonder, but for Holt and the Warriors, winning is beginning to just come naturally. Last Friday night at West High in the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Western Division playoffs, the Warriors kept their winning ways rolling strong. The win didn’t come easy, as the Warriors offense suffered a severe loss, but Cueva and West will take any playoff win that they can get. With a 52-41 victory over the Calabasas Coyotes, the Warriors advanced to the CIF semifinals for what is now the third year in a row. It didn’t look pretty for the Warriors as the first quarter kickoff got underway. Hope gleamed eternal for West High and their faithful as the ball soared through the air, lights flickering as it passed by. Almost as soon as it landed, though, the Warriors found themselves in a major hole. When the first quarter was all but said and done, it was clear to everyone watching which team was ready to play at the start of the game. Trailing 21-7 heading into the second, Cueva and the Warriors knew that they would have a lot of work to do if they wanted to keep this year’s playoff hopes alive. In stepped Dale Rouse. Last week’s three TD hero of a game in which the Warriors beat Santa Monica, Rouse got back to work to dig his team out of an early hole in this one. Trailing 21-14 in the second quarter, Rouse did his initial damage on the defensive side of the ball. Soaring high into the air, Rouse came down with an interception that gave his team the ball and all of the momentum. On the ensuing drive, starting quarterback Trevor Mallett hit Rouse on a 30-yard completion. The wide receiver/ defensive back would later get paid off for all of his hard work as he took the ball in from two yards out to score a touchdown and knot the game up at 21 apiece. Things would get worse before they got better for the Warriors. Not only did Calabasas score a go-ahead touchdown midway through the second quarter, but West also suffered a key loss on the offensive side of the ball when star running back Brett Ojiyi went down with an apparent shoulder injury. When asked about Ojiyi’s status, coach Holt explained, “We don’t know yet, maybe a shoulder sprain. We’ll see.” A full second half of football in a close playoff game didn’t seem to bode well for the Warriors, but Cueva and his team did what they had been doing all year long; look for the next man up. That man was Michael Timmerman. Timmerman stepped in for the injured Ojiyi in the second half and seemed to not miss a step. “The last couple of weeks we’ve been giving him more repetitions than usual in case something like this happened,” Holt explained. It looks like the preparation certainly paid off for Holt and the Warriors. After Rouse came down with another impressive 30-yard touchdown to tie things up at 28-28 just before the half, Timmerman decided that it was his turn to step up. A 28-yard gallop capped off by a 6-yard touchdown run put Timmerman on the map for his team and gave West a 38-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter. “People had to step up when players went down and we couldn’t give up, even when we were down,” Rouse said of Timmerman and his team. The Warriors certainly didn’t give up and wouldn’t see a deficit again in the game. On their next possession, Mallett broke things open for his team as he took the snap from center and fooled the defense, keeping the ball and running, almost completely unscathed, to the end zone to give his team a 45-28 lead in the fourth quarter. Calabasas would try with all of their might to come back from their three-score deficit, but at that point it was too little, too late. The Warriors (12-0, 5-0) high powered offense took a while to get going, but once it did they blew the Coyotes out of the water showing exactly why they are still an undefeated team on the year. Mallett completed 15 of 28 passes on the night for the Warriors, amassing 276 yards and two touchdowns. Rouse had three catches for 84 yards and a touchdown receiving while also racking up two touchdowns on the ground and an interception on defense. Timmerman stepped in nicely for the injured Ojiyi, carrying the ball 15 times for 95 yards and a touchdown. This is now the third year in a row that the Warriors have made it to at least the semifinals. They will now take on their formal rivals from the Bay League, the Palos Verdes Sea Kings (11-3, 5-0), who beat the West two years ago in the championship game by a final score of 35-14. You can bet that coach Cueva and his Warriors will be looking for revenge against their old foe. Follow the results of the game here and get out there to root on Torrance’s own West High Warriors in their search for a CIF championship as they take on Palos Verdes this Friday night at 7:30pm in Palos Verdes. • Cardinal and Gold Left Feeling Blue By Adam Serrao Flash back to the 1990s. That’s the last time that the UCLA Bruins took three straight games over their rivals from the South, the USC Trojans. Well get out your pens and pencils because it’s time to update the history books. With a 38-20 victory over the Cardinal and Gold last Saturday night at the Rose Bowl, Jim Mora Jr. and the rest of the UCLA Bruins not only kept a strangle hold on the rivalry, but beat their most hated foes for the third consecutive time, a feat that has not been accomplished by the school since 1998. A game that started off close quickly turned into something that resembled more of a rout as starting quarterback and captain of the offense, Brett Hundley, was quite possibly the star that shone the brightest. The two rival schools that matched up against each other last weekend are separated by only 12.2 miles. The variety of red and blue colored t-shirts scattered throughout the crowd in the Rose Bowl demonstrated the fact that not one team had more fans present for the game than the other. It was the Trojan fans who showed their might first, however, roaring with excitement as Hundley’s first pass of the game was intercepted by USC linebacker Anthony Sarao took the ball out of the air into his hands and never stopped running. Just like that, the Trojans were up 7-0 and hoping to turn the recent tides of this long-lasting rivalry. Unfortunately for USC, that was one of the last times their fans would be heard in an uproar and may have been the last miscue that Hundley made all game long. 326 yards and four touchdowns (three passing, one rushing) later, the No. 9 UCLA Bruins cruised right past the No. 19 USC Trojans for the third consecutive year, showing their counterparts just who is in control of the Los Angeles college football scene. “It’s hard to explain how it feels to win three times in a row versus your rival,” Hundley explained. “Everything that goes into the game, each year it gets bigger and bigger, and this year was to top it off. This was the biggest.” Hundley is right. For him, this year certainly was the biggest matchup of the entire rivalry existing between UCLA and USC. This time next year, Hundley will be dawning an NFL jersey, quite possibly leading a professional team to victory. For him, this win was everything in his last year at UCLA. For coach Mora the victory was equally as big. Before he arrived on scene the UCLA Bruins were just a pest on the windshields of the Trojans as they fought on to Pac-12 title after Pac-12 title. With this, the team’s third consecutive win over the Trojans, Mora has demonstrated that both he and the UCLA football program are now legitimate and for real. Don’t look to coach Mora for any exuberance though. After beating the Trojans for the third year in a row and for what is now a combined score of 111-62, the coach has his eyes on only one prize. “We don’t bask in moments,” Mora said immediately following the win. “We’ll just move on to the next moment.” Confident and focused, Mora and the Bruins’ next moment may come this Friday when his team takes on the Stanford Cardinal. A victory will advance the team to the Pac-12 title game where they may even get another shot at the Oregon Ducks. Even more so, advancing to the Pac-12 title game would mark the third time the Bruins have been there since its inception in 2011. All three times will have come under head coach Jim Mora who, should they advance, will have his team in the title game more times than any other team in Pac-12 history. Furthermore, should the Bruins beat Stanford and then advance to beat Oregon in what would be a revenge game, they may even be considered for a playoff spot with an 11-2 record. All of that plus knocking USC out of any possibly contention should certainly have Mora feeling confident that he has turned this UCLA program around for good. Hundley and the Bruins seemed to get whatever they wanted against the Trojans last Saturday night, gashing USC’s defense for huge gains and massive scoring drives as wide receivers were left wide open on more than just one occasion. The Bruins scored all of their points in less than 30 minutes. Thomas Duarte’s 57-yard touchdown reception put doubt into all of the Trojan fan’s eyes and the game was over when in the second half, UCLA pulled out four unanswered scores to take a huge 24 point lead into the start of the fourth quarter. Should Hundley leave for the NFL after this season comes to a close, both he and his head coach will be undefeated against their rivals and will have put up at least 35 points in every single game played. It’s safe to say now that Mora, Hundley and the UCLA Bruins have completely flipped the nature of this long lasting rivalry in favor of the Blue and Gold. Not only have they beaten the Trojans on the scoreboard, but they have beaten them with physicality on the field and with smarts at the head coaching ranks. The victory bell that now remains in UCLA’s possession will be ringing all night long, drowning out the cries of the USC faithful who will vow to be back again next year. Until that time, however, it is safe to say that the UCLA Bruins still run L.A. • New Year IMPROVED YOU as low as $31/ month She’ll worship the couch you park on FULL SERVICE CLUB The Jewelry Source 337 Main St. El Segundo. 310-322-7110 www.jewelrysourceUSA.com ©2007 150+ Group Classes per Month Strength Training, Circuit Training & Cardio Educated & Experienced Fitness Professionals Fitness Programs for Older Adults BARRE classes forming now! 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