For the last league game of the season the Torrance High football team arrived to a scene of green decorations and Spartan accessories galore, the sweet and savory smells of funnel cakes and homemade burgers filled the air at South High School. 

Throughout a season of trial and error their efforts had finally paid off after the long game on Friday the Torrance Tartars left the field triumphant with a win of 24-20 against the South Spartans. 

“I always have faith in my team, through all the trials and tribulations…my favorite saying is ’hakuna matata’” remarked running back Ryan Young.

With the combined efforts of linebacker Jake Silverman, safety David Johnson, 

and running backs Young and Malikai Johnson the Torrance team kept the advantage the entire game against their competitors. 

With the most carries for this game Young’s contributions were undoubtedly crucial for the Tartars’ latest victory—running both long and short burst plays the Tartars lead the first half with two touchdowns and a field goal with no significant developments from the opposing team. 

Within the first 5 minutes of the first quarter Silverman was doing a phenomenal job on defense, with a series of brutal tackles.

First quarter David Johnson was entrusted with the role of making the first TD of the game; after a pass from quarterback Connor Shearing, David Johson caught and ran the ball to the endzone for a 13 yard touchdown. Afterward in the second quarter kicker Christopher Ramirez scored a field goal from the 21 yard line. 

With the ball in the Spartan’s possession the Tartars were anxious to get the ball back, South did not keep the ball long though as with the pressure put up from the Torrance defense caused the Spartan receiver to fumble the ball. Thus, amazing everyone Silverman swooped in and recovered the ball and bolted over 30 yards down field to make the second TD for the Tartars, ending the half with a score of 17-0. 

Silverman declared “It was a good attempt [for South], but…I came with my heavy hitters and it is what it is from there.“

Entering the second half Torrance had to stay on guard a lot more than in the previous quarters. On offense in the third quarter, the Tartars ran the Spartans down from the 41 yard line down to mere feet from the goal line. With 8:42 on the clock Silverman obtained the ball and shoved through the crowd into the endzone, advancing the Tartars to a 24 point lead. 

With this the South team grew aggravated, they soon began playing some of the most intense football the crowd had seen from them all game. Two minutes later with 6 minutes and 31 seconds left in the quarter a South receiver sprinted down the field for nearly 40 yards, and spun through Torrance defense to get the Spartans their first TD of the night, accompanied with a 2-point conversion, but they were a long ways from done. 

Torrance got back on offense and made several strides toward the goal line, but were unpleasantly surprised when with 2 minutes to go in the third quarter the Spartans intercepted their plans and got the ball back for themselves. 

First thing 4th quarter the Spartan receivers were on the move toward another TD, and 45 yards later they had gained another 6 points, but were unsuccessful in making another 2-point conversion. Less than 5 minutes later the Spartans once again made it to the end zone and attempted an extra point but fell short. With what little time was left on the clock the Tartar offense stampede toward the end zone—though in the end time ran out and Torrance football had officially made the cut for CIF Playoffs. 

In preparation for these playoffs the Torrance High Varsity Football team have dedicated themselves to going 10 times harder in practice. Running back Ryan Young and Linebacker Jake Silverman are both fresh from respective hamstring and ankle injuries but have been deemed healthy and will be playing in the first upcoming game this Friday. 

Silevrman proclaims it is all a mentality; he will “believe [he] is 100% and…[he’ll] play like it.”

Mainly focusing on exercises including the entire team, they have been able to work on communication on the field as well as training up all the players so that they are all ready to make an impact on the field when the time comes. 

Even though the Torrance Football team has moved into the playoffs which is a new set of opponents for the Varsity team, the Frosh/Soph team has officially ended all practice for the season. Though a slightly bittersweet moment one thing that has come from this occasion is more practice space for the older guys. With this new increase of field space the Tartars have also taken to new methods of using the entire field and team to their advantage. 

“We are more hungry this week because we know any game can be our last game—we have to go 1-0 for the next 5 weeks, and we know the objective so we’ve been practicing extra hard,” notes Young.