Taking a New Direction

The bandwagon supporting West Torrance’s football team is more crowded these days. Quarterback Matt Roquemore smiles when he talks about those enamored with the Warriors’ 4-0 start this season.

“A lot more people are showing up for our road games,” said Roquemore, a senior.

Teammate Phillip Hons said he could feel the difference on campus, where some of the same students that flung barbs during the team’s 0-9-1 campaign last season are now trading high-fives.

“It was tough,” said Hons, a junior running back, about last year. “Guys were [getting] on us.”

Greg Holt has certainly been through his share of ups and downs in his 11 seasons as West Torrance’s coach. Although he appreciates that a rags-to-riches story is always a good one, he is also quick to temper the excitement.

There is reason for such caution and it began Friday with a nonleague game at North Torrance, a rival expected to win the Division X Pioneer League.

North Torrance handed the Warriors their first defeat, 45-23, gaining 382 yards of total offense -- all on the ground. Ruddy Irving and Dionte Harvey each carried 10 times, with Irving gaining 214 yards, including touchdowns of 60 and 82 yards, and Harvey going for 115 yards, with scores of 52, one and 39 yards.

The road doesn’t get any easier.

West Torrance played in the Division IV Ocean League last season and finished in a tie for last place with Santa Monica while competing against North Torrance, Redondo, El Segundo and South Torrance.

After the South Bay Athletic Assn. voted last summer to realign its schools into three six-team leagues, West Torrance was moved, along with South Torrance and Redondo, to the rugged Division III Bay League, which features traditional South Bay powers Manhattan Beach Mira Costa and Rolling Hills Estates Peninsula along with vastly improved Hawthorne.

“Quite frankly, we know we’re up against the best part of our competition this year,” Holt said. “We don’t have one single Division I player on our team. You look at Mira Costa and they’ve got a couple of those guys. Redondo has [linebacker Kevin] Ellison. North, man, they have some athletes.

“We’re just going to coach our guys up the best way we can. Bottom line, can my guy tackle their guy?”

West Torrance will face its daunting task with a key ingredient acquired during its first four weeks of play: confidence. It was sorely missing a year ago.

In its season-opening, 19-6 victory over Santa Monica, Holt saw the look of wonder in his players’ eyes when they took a lead into halftime.

“I said, ‘Hey, don’t you guys realize how big this is?’ ” Holt said. “We hadn’t won in like our last 12 games and we needed to finish it off.

“It was big for the program. Had we let that game slip away, who knows if those feelings start setting in again. Now they know that they can compete.”

Roquemore has inspired much of that confidence. A two-year starter, the left-hander has completed 62 of 114 passes for 934 yards and nine touchdowns with four interceptions.

In addition, he has made big plays as a full-time starter on defense, returning an interception 36 yards for a touchdown in a 28-20 victory over Palos Verdes last week.

Holt says Roquemore has matured and learned from his mistakes.

“There are times when things might break down all of a sudden and he does a good job of making something happen,” Holt said.

Hons has been a productive running back with three 100-yard-plus games.

However, North Torrance Coach Todd Croce credits Roquemore for the turnaround, which also includes victories over Torrance and El Segundo.

“He’s playing like a senior. He’s making a majority of the right decisions and they’re coming at the right time,” said Croce, whose team won last year’s game, 49-14. “Last year, they would not have won these games.”

Now comes the key question: Can West Torrance keep it going?

“We know we’ve got a rough road ahead of us but we’re striving to win the league championship,” Roquemore said. “People will still doubt us. We just have to keep proving them wrong.”

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Turnarounds

A look at the football programs that have improved their records the most entering this weekend:

*--* Team 2004 2003 West Torrance 4-0 0-9-1 Montclair Prep 4-0 1-9 Glenn 3-1 0-10 Desert Hot Springs 3-1 0-10 Huntington Park 3-1 0-9 Sage Hill 3-1 0-8 Artesia 3-1 1-9 Coachella Valley 3-1 1-9 Colony 3-1 1-9 Laguna Blanca 3-0 1-7 Silver Valley 2-2 0-10 Rialto 2-2 0-10 Alta Loma 3-0-1 2-8 Huntington Beach 3-0-1 2-8 La Sierra 4-0 2-8 Nogales 2-2 0-10 Santa Monica 2-2 0-9-1

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