TORRANCE TRIBUNE December 7, 2017 Page 5
Trojans Take Home Pac-12 Title
By Adam Serrao
With quarterback Sam Darnold under center,
the USC Trojans won their first conference
title since 2008. With a 31-28 victory over the
Stanford Cardinal last Friday night in Santa
Clara, the Trojans showed just how gritty they
can be and how good they have become in
such a short amount of time. Unfortunately
for USC, its two losses on the year banished
the team from College Football Playoff conversation
and landed it in this year’s Cotton
Bowl. Even still, the Trojans not only showed
that they have become a force to be reckoned
with, but also proved that they have come a
long way since their inconsistent play at the
beginning of the regular season.
USC fans got everything that they could
have possibly asked for out of the game against
Stanford last week. Not only was it close and
competitive throughout, but it came down to a
gritty fourth down stand with seconds ticking
off of the clock in the fourth quarter of play
that would wind up determining the Trojans’
fate. Uchenna Nwosu, the outside linebacker
for USC, was the hero of the game this time
around, gashing the Cardinal offensive line to
fly through and make a game-saving stop on
the one-yard line. “Probably the biggest stop
of the year,” Trojans running back Ronald
Jones explained of the play.
USC came away with the slim three-point
victory, but not before Jones rushed for 140
yards and two touchdowns while simultaneously
moving into the top five on USC’s career
rushing list. Darnold, the star quarterback who
will likely have just one game remaining in
the Cardinal and Gold before taking off for
the NFL, finished with 325 yards through
the air and two touchdowns while also being
named MVP of the title game played at Levi’s
Stadium in Northern California. “It’s special to
see how far we’ve come as a team,” Darnold
said with a smile on his face after his team
had finally secured the win.
With the victory, the Trojans became the first
team from the South Division to win the Pac-12
title. It wasn’t easy, either. The defense had to
put up with the prolific play of both opposing
quarterback K.J. Costello and opposing running
back Bryce Love. Costello only completed five
passes in the first half of play, but came on
strong in the third and fourth quarters to finish
with a total of 192 yards through the air and
two touchdowns. Love, on the other hand, had
carried Stanford all year long and attempted to
do so again in this game with a total of 125
yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Despite the good play of Stanford, the game
still ended in USC’s favor. Even with the win for
USC, the team still found itself on the outside
looking in on this year’s four-team College
Football Playoff. “Obviously, the reality is we’ll
need some help,” USC coach Clay Helton said
following his team’s victory, before the playoff
standings were announced. “But we deserve
to be in the discussion, especially the way we
finished the season. [We’re] hot right now.”
If only the season were two games longer,
the Trojans may have had a better chance to
prove themselves and their 11-2 overall record.
Unfortunately for USC, those two losses were
enough to keep the team behind the likes of
Clemson, Oklahoma, Georgia and Alabama
in the end-of-year standings. “We’re sitting
here as champion,” Helton continued. “That’s
important. We sit here with 11 wins. We sit
here with an unbelievable strength of schedule.
We had the opportunity to show on national
TV who we are.”
Although they did not finish in the final four,
it can still be said that the Trojans had an excellent
season and perhaps even overachieved in a
year when they weren’t expected to do much at
all. With the amount of injuries suffered on the
team and the amount of youth on the offensive
side of the ball, the achievements of USC this
season can certainly be considered impressive,
to say the least. As it turns out, a 30-27 loss
at Washington State in September could turn
out to be the only thing that kept the Trojans
out of the playoff. That slim, three-point loss,
which could have realistically gone either way
once all was said and done, may just turn out
to be the one game that comes back to haunt
USC and all of its fans once this year’s season
officially comes to an end.
Despite the Trojans’ impressive win over
Stanford, there simply wasn’t a possible combination
of championship game results last
Saturday that could have vaulted the team into
the College Football Playoff conversation. Even
still, the team’s first conference title since 2008
should be celebrated--and a matchup against
Ohio State in this year’s Goodyear Cotton
Bowl Classic is certainly not something to be
taken for granted. That game will take place
on December 29 in Arlington, Texas and could
provide the Trojans with the perfect pedestal
to finish the season off strong with a statement
win against an extremely elite opponent from
the Big Ten.
– Aserrao6@yahoo.com - @UpandAdam6 •
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence,
then, is not an act, but a habit.”
– Pete Carroll
Saxons, Spartans Seek Pioneer
League Glory This Season
By Adam Serrao
A brand new high school basketball season
has brought along with it new opportunities
and a clean slate for all of the teams
in the Pioneer League this year. Specifically,
the North High Saxons and the South
High Spartans will look to improve upon a
2016-17 season that saw both teams make
it into the CIF Southern Section playoffs.
With the new basketball year just barely
underway, it’s anyone’s guess as to who
will take control of the season standings
and gain bragging rights in the city of Torrance.
Both the Saxons and the Spartans
are confident that they not only have what
it takes to improve upon last year, but also
have the skill and experience necessary to
outperform their inner-city rivals in what is
sure to be a competitive and entertaining
basketball season.
The North High Saxons were perhaps the
most difficult team to forecast one season
ago. A roster full of seniors that was loaded
with talent did extremely well outside of the
Pioneer League, but couldn’t seem to find a
way to defeat rivals from within the division.
In his final season at the helm of the Saxons,
head coach Gary Duperron made sure to get
his team off to a hot start. North wound up
winning three of its first four games of the
year and six of the first eight as the team
began to hit its stride early on inside of
tournament play.
Junior guard Malik Jones was a pleasant
surprise for Duperron and the Saxons,
leading the way on offense throughout the
season. His play, along with the contributions
of starting point guard Yusei Shigeta
and forward Alex Ezeani, made North High
a force to be reckoned with in 2016/17.
That force took a bit of a slide in the
standings, however, once league play came
around. The Saxons seemed to struggle
against their divisional foes, taking losses
to the Centennial Apaches and the Torrance
Tartars and suffering a season sweep at
the hands of the West High Warriors that
dropped North down to third place in the
final standings.
It turned out that third place was precisely
where the Saxons wanted to be. The team
took the resulting playoff berth and managed
to catch fire at precisely the right time in the
postseason. A first round victory over the El
Dorado Golden Hawks gave the team the
momentum needed in order to ring off three
straight playoff wins. Eventually, the Saxons
found themselves in the semifinals against
Brentwood with a spot in the championship
game on the line. North would take a loss in
the semis that day to Brentwood, the eventual
Division 3AA champs. The postseason run was
certainly one for the record books, though,
and one that the Saxons hope to repeat and
even improve upon this year.
The good news for North is that it will
regain the services of star guard Jones for
his senior season. The team will, however,
lose the services of Shigeta, Ezeani and six
other seniors from last year’s 15-man roster.
Along with Jones, North will regain the services
of six other juniors from last season,
giving the team the experience necessary to
make another run at a Pioneer League and
CIF title this year.
The Spartans did not enjoy as much success
as North High last season, but still managed
to make it into the postseason after finishing
in last place in the Pioneer League standings.
South played one game in the CIF Southern
Section Boys Basketball Championships and
was ousted in the first round with a 54-46 loss
to the Pomona Red Devils. For the Spartans,
the loss to Pomona was the team’s fourth
loss in a row to end the year.
Part of South’s huge problem one season
ago was the team’s inability to win within
its division. A 2-8 record in Pioneer League
play saw the Spartans take losses to North
High, Torrance High, and West High,
among others. Seniors Jordan Tang, Kyle
Ogata and Lawrence Maisonet led South
on offense and were the only seniors on
an extremely young roster. Though the
Spartans will be without their services for
this year, the team will regain seven other
juniors from last season’s roster, perhaps giving
South some much-needed experience on
a roster that was almost completely devoid
of it last season.
Dating back to last weekend, the Spartans
had only played one game in the new regular
season and took a close loss at home to
the Palos Verdes Sea Kings. The team will
have more than a month to get on the same
page and gain chemistry before league play
begins in early January. Like South High,
North took a loss in the first game of the
new regular season, getting blown out in the
Westchester Tip-Off Classic by the Westchester
Comets by a final score of 70-33. Upcoming
matchups against Peninsula and Culver
City should provide a good glimpse into
how the rest of the Saxons’ season should
wind up going.
– Aserrao6@yahoo.com •
Up and Adam
Finance from page 3
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