Marina football dominates Torrance, improves to 2-0

WESTMINSTER —  It was an early 14-point deficit that the Marina High football team overcame to win its season opener last week. Thursday night, the Vikings needed merely to overcome their own miscues on their way to trouncing Torrance 56-0 in a nonleague game at Westminster High.

Marina lost two fumbles and nullified six long gains with penalties, including one would-be touchdown run. It also dropped two potential pick-six interceptions and missed two wide-open receivers for what might possibly have been two more scores. Yet despite all those mishaps, most of which came in the first half, coach Jeff Turley’s Vikings amassed a 35-0 intermission lead, then kept pouring it on the Tartars.

The Vikings (2-0), ranked No. 10 in CIF Southern Section Division 11, scored touchdowns on five of their final six first-half possessions. The hosts also outgained the Tartars 279 yards to 27 before halftime as Torrance (0-1) advanced no farther than its own 43 in the first two quarters.

Torrance finally crossed midfield with 4:30 left in the game, but never went farther than the Marina 42. The Tartars, who have lost seven straight openers and their last three meetings with Marina, had three turnovers and punted eight times.

Marina’s defense limited the visitors to 64 yards on 37 rushing attempts, including 13 stops on run plays at or behind the line of scrimmage. Only twice did Torrance gain more than five yards on a running play, and it never hit double-digit yards on any such attempt.

“I thought our defense was very stingy and we did a good job adjusting to their offense,” Turley said. “Offensively, we spread the ball out. We have a lot of weapons and our guys up front are doing a good job.”

Marina junior defensive end Darren Vasquez recovered two fumbles and was in on several stops for short gains or losses. Other defense stalwarts for the Vikings included Nathan O’Rourke, Conner Long, Ryder Malloy, Brantt Reiderich, Sean Fallon and Eric Church.

Six different Vikings scored touchdowns and the hosts were effective with the run and the pass.

Senior running back Pharoah Rush had 147 yards, including a 63-yard touchdown, on six attempts. He averaged just more than 30 yards on his first five carries and now has averaged better than 100 rushing yards per game over his last 12 contests.

Junior quarterback Jack Miller completed nine of 11 for 146 passing yards and three touchdowns, while junior receiver Dane Brenton had touchdown receptions of 23, 20 and 20 yards.

Marina collected 290 rushing yards, 171 more on the ground, and Brenton and Church combined to produce 128 yards on four punt and kickoff returns.

“It’s good,” Turley said of the lopsided triumph, which featured the most points scored by the Vikings since a 54-21 win over Whittier Christian in 2017. With research available dating back to 2004, it’s the most points Marina has scored in 152 games.

“We just have to keep working to get better each week,” Turley said. “We have a bye next, then have a tough opponent in Katella coming up [on Sept. 13].”

Nonleague

Marina 56, Torrance 0

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Torrance 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 — 0

Marina 14 – 21 – 14 – 7 — 56

FIRST QUARTER

M – Rush 63 run (Church kick), 2:25.

M – Brenton 23 pass from Del Toro (Church kick), :00.

SECOND QUARTER

M – Riederich 5 run (Church kick), 8:43.

M – Dykema 15 pass from Miller (Church kick), :37.

M – Brenton 20 pass from Miller (Church kick), :24.

THIRD QUARTER

M – Brenton 20 pass from Miller (Church kick), 8:56.

M – Lastra 45 run (Church kick), 1:36.

FOURTH QUARTER

M – Trinh 38 run (Frousiakis kick), 7:02.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

T – Willeford, 16-52.

M – Rush, 6-147, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

T – McComas, 4-10-0, 27.

M – Miller, 9-12-0, 146, 3 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

T – McEnroe, 2-22.

M – Brenton, 3-63, 3 TDs.

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