HS Game of the Week: Torres 48, Verdugo Hills, 16 | 8.25.17

Note From The Editor: The Torres “Toros” began their new season with an amazing fireworks show led by their All-American candidate, and senior running back, Tiquan Gilmore. To see more action, we kindly refer you to go to our full “Play-By-Play” coverage of the game. In addition, we direct you to our write-up of the game to go along with your viewing. Rico Cabrera, Sr./Editor, East L.A. Sports Scene

Game Summary: After a rocky start to the game, in which the Toros found themselves trailing by a score of 9-0 in the opening quarter, Tiquan Gilmore (C) then decided to rally his team up for battle to win this all-important “Week Zero” home game. Immediately after the first Verdugo Hills TD, Gilmore broke off an 80 yd. kick-off return for a TD. The PAT was good, making the score 9-7. On their next possession, Gilmore added another TD by way of an 80 yd. run from scrimmage. With that score, the Toros would never look back. The Toros offense, led by Gilmore, continued to move in overdrive in the second quarter with Gilmore accounting for three more TDs before the halftime score would read 41-9. Gilmore added his seventh TD of the game in the third quarter on a 30 yd. “sweep right” and with the “mercy rule” (running clock) invoked for the full second half, the Final score ended at, Torres 48, Verdugo Hills, 16. The Toros (1-0) would then travel for their first road game against the Hollywood HS “Sheiks” on Thursday, 8/31/17. At stake for this game was a rematch of last year’s playoff loss to the Sheiks.

More….Gilmore racked up unbelievable rushing totals with a total net 241 yds. on just 9 carries. On the Toros forsrt series of downs in the game, he scored on an electrifying 80 yd. run down the left sideline. He woud also run out of the shotgun formation on the way to a 60 yd. rushing TD. And for good measure, he returned an errant Verdugo Hills “Dons” pass into a huge “Pick-6.” On most of his scoring runs and his interception, Gilmore was very rarely touched as evidenced by his highly adept running skills and his ability to break loose at any given moment against a defense that just couldn’t make any open field tackles on him. As the saying goes, “speed dominates,” and in the sporting sense, it was a sight to see for the Torres student body, the many home supporters from the community, a number of D-1 college recruiters, and of course, East L.A. Sports Scene.

Big props went out to the deliberate “O” Linemen who provided many of Gilmore’s misdirection and cut-back runs with precison line of scrimmage, and downfield blocking. The “D” linemen, linebackers, corners, and safeties also did a great on their side of the ball by limiting the opponent to minimun rushing and passing yardage, while managing to make two interceptions and recovering a critical Verdugo Hills fumble on their own 1 yard line early in the game.

Toros Game StatLine: #7 Tiquan Gilmore/RB-CB/9 carries/241 yds./7 TDs/439 All-purpose yds./4 Rushing TDs/1-80 yd. kick-off return/1-71 yd. punt return/1-47yd. INT/Pick-6;#42 Jalen Williams/DE/12 Tkls (3 solo-9 asst);#11 Antonio Greer/DE/10 Tkls (4 solo-6 asst)#54 Deonte Leon/DT/11 Tkls (4 solo-7 asst);#59 Ish Arciga/DT/5 Tkls;#5 Heriberto Zepeda/7 tkls (1 solo-6 asst);#2 Andrew Morales/CB/1 INT;#9 Mario Gonzalez/CB/1 INT; and #21 Kenny Torres/PK/4-5 PATs.