With Fox 6 news anchor Marc Bailey on hand and looking on for Homecoming, the La Jolla Country Day (LJCD) Torreys (5-3, 3-0 in the Pacific League) defeated the Army-Navy Warriors (5-2, 2-1), 31-7, last Friday, Nov. 2.
“We got a homecoming win and we’re league champions once again,” LJCD coach Jeff Hutzler said. “It feels fantastic.”
Country Day’s Derek Hatfield, among others, looked fantastic in the opening minutes of the contest. The sophomore quarterback got the Torreys on the scoreboard first when he called his own number from one yard out to give LJCD an early 7-0 first-quarter lead.
Shortly thereafter, Hatfield (21 carries, 56 yards rushing and 10-of-15, 155 yards passing) hooked up with senior running back Tommy Morris (three catches, 78 yards) on a 37-yard scoring missile. That padded the Country Day cushion to 14-0 in the second quarter.
“With this being our homecoming game, there were distractions,” Hutzler said.
Later in the second quarter, sophomore running back Montell Allen managed to distract the Army-Navy defense long enough to run one in from 10 yards out to extend the Torrey advantage to 21-0.
“Because of the distractions, I think we played with a few hiccups, if you will,” Hutzler said. “We also had a week off due to the wildfires. So, this was a tough game to get ready for. We just told the team to fight through the distractions and to keep eyeing the prize.”
Senior kicker Travis Golia (four PATs) had his eyes focused in on the goalposts as he sent one through the uprights from 21 yards out to make the score 24-0 in favor of LJCD heading into the locker room at halftime.
“I’ve seen them (the Warriors) play a whole bunch of times this year,” Hutzler said. “They’re big and fast. We had a healthy dose of respect for them.”
After the intermission, Army-Navy’s Sherman Coley earned back some respect for the Warriors. The junior running back took it in on a 12-yard touchdown run to trim the margin to 24-7 in the third quarter.
Unfortunately for Army-Navy, that’s as close as they would get as Country Day senior defensive lineman John Hansbrough (two tackles, two assists) would score on a 20-yard return of a blocked punt to pretty much seal the victory.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Torreys were led by the play of Allen (four tackles, seven assists, one sack), Cody Maxwell (three tackles, seven assists), Doug Rogers (three tackles, four assists, one sack), Indi Lavarias (two tackles, four assists, one sack), Damian Bagby (four tackles, two assists), Mark Hannum (two tackles, four assists), Andy Altman (two tackles, three assists, one forced fumble), Junior Togiaso (one tackle, three assists), Connor Gibson Gerhart (one tackle, two assists, two fumble recoveries), Shanta Chaloux (one tackle, one assist), and Mike Salas (two assists and four catches, 43 yards on offense).