Morton Sparks South Past Morningside, 14-0

The South Torrance football team got off to a quick start in its 14-0 victory over Morningside, but the Spartans could do little else Saturday in the nonleague game at Coleman Stadium in Inglewood.

Tailback Chad Morton rushed for two first-half touchdowns to help the Spartans (3-1) rebound from a 32-3 defeat against Hawthorne the previous week.

Quarterback Mike Rosato completed six of 15 passes for 107 yards and fullback Kapano Tumale had 82 yards in 13 carries for South.

“We didn’t play as well as we did against Hawthorne, not even close,” Tumale said. “If we did, we would have kicked Morningside’s butt today. We should have won by a lot more. It was an ugly win.”

Morningside (0-3), which has been outscored, 73-0, in its past two games, crossed midfield only once and was held to minus-26 yards rushing. South committed three turnovers and had four drives stall within the Morningside 30-yard line.

“We won, but there’s not much to say,” Rosato said. “We moved the ball well at the start but then everything dropped off after that. We have to work on a lot of things.”

South took the opening kickoff and drove 69 yards in nine plays with Morton scoring on an eight-yard run with 8 minutes 50 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Spartans marched 48 yards in three plays to increase their lead to 12-0 with 4:10 left before halftime on a 14-yard run off-tackle by Morton.

Tumale broke free for a 27-yard gain and Rosato scrambled for a pickup of 12 yards to set up Morton’s scoring run. Rosato hooked up with Evan Ethridge on the two-point conversion pass for a 14-0 lead.

“Defensively, we had a good effort,” South co-coach Joe Austin said. “Of course, it’s always nice to get a win. You have to get what you can take. But overall we didn’t play a good game. We made mistakes, dropped balls and had turnovers.”