SoCal HS Teams Get Early Tests
SoCal HS Teams Get Early Tests
Southern California HS teams have been testing each other out before the Christmas break to get themselves prepped for the regular season ahead.
That regular season kicks off really soon—the first weekend in January in fact—so there isn't much time for these teams to get themselves up to speed.
Carlsbad HS, which is mostly made up of players who go on to play for the Thunder club later in the season, breat Orange Lutheran 68-5 in a warmup game for both. The center pairing of Nathan Wilson and Hezekiah Anglin was quite effective for Carlsbad while the forwards were good in the contact area, led by hooker Ray Taele, hard-charging flanker Logan Zumbro, and big lock Quintin Johnson. Their set piece work is ... improving ... said Head Coach Josh Williams. But there's time for that.
In a slightly closer game, Loyola defeated Rancho Cucamonga 28-17. For Loyola this was a good start as they have, after one season, needed to get a new Head Coach as their inaugural Head Coach, Cristian Ordriguez, has taken a new coaching position and a new day job that basically make it too difficult to coach the high school team. The pieces are in place, however, and Loyola has had a massive recruiting year.
On Sunday La Jolla defeated Villa Park 54-21.
So now on to the closest and perhaps most meaningful game of the pre-Christmas matches, with Torrey Pines vs Los Alamitos. This was actually a league game in the SoCal Single-School Division (SoCal's School season also has a Multi-School Division where teams have players from mostly the same school but might need to augment numbers—Torrey Pines won the Single-School Division in 2022-23 while Los Al won the Multi-School, but Los Al is now in the Single-School group.)
Los Alamitos brought their big, powerful runners and looked to go after the Torrey Pines defense with some straight-ahead running. Pines responded with some tough defense and a smart kicking for territory. It was a bit of a boxing match, then, with both teams working their approach to test the other. Torrey Pines got the first score when center Sam Siolet ran in from short-range. That made it 5-0 and that lead held through halftime.
In the second half both teams started to unveil a few more tools from their toolbox. Los Al worked it close and big prop Tupu Toloai thundered over from 10 meters out. Greg Evers converted for a 7-5 Los Alamitos lead early in the second half. Torrey Pines flyhalf Rocco Pool unleashed a deep, towering restart to put Los Al under pressure. Good defensive work resulted in a turnover for TP and quick phases set up No. 8 Will Barrett for a run through and, with Pool's conversion, a 12-7 Torrey Pines lead.
Back came Los Alamitos as they targeted the undersized Torrey Pines backs, challenging them to make tackles. But they had to commit numbers to the tackle and as a result Los Al was able to run a a nice backline move that circled around to the weak side. There center Exodus Ali found space.and raced in from 30 meters to score in the corner. Tie game 12-12 with five minutes left.
Los Al looked set to score again but an excellent tackle and steal by Violet kept the game tied. Finally, as time wound down, Torrey Pines worked their way inside the Los Al 22. Pines worked through the phases but the powerful defense of Los Alamitos made sure they didn't go anywhere. Finally, however, with less than a minute to go a high tackle gave Torrey Pines a penalty.
Pool calmly slotted the kick and Torrey Pines had a thrilling early-season win.
“Opening games are fun but nerve-wracking because going in you don’t really know what you have,” said Torrey Pines Head Coach Matty Sandoval. “Especially for us this year because we replaced 11 starters. But I like this group. They’re gamers, and they proved it tonight.”
Next up in SoCal, San Clemente plays Carlsbad, Murrietta takes on Rancho Cucamonga, and La Jolla plays Coronado all in the Multi-School league opening day, January 5. The Single-School Division will see Torrey Pines face off with San Marcos, while Los Alamitos hosts Servite, with both games on January 6. All of those are league games. Non-league games include Loyola at Long Beach Poly and John Muir at Orange Lutheran. These leagues finish up February 16 with the championship games.