By Tim Peterson
(Irwindale)- Rio Hondo Prep scored 29 straight points after allowing a field goal in the first quarter and went on to beat Torrance 29-9 Friday night at Kare Park.
The Kares used a balanced attack to wear Torrance down. Rio Hondo Prep quarterback Alex Mustain completed 7 of 9 passes for 158 yards. But the Kares scored all four of their touchdowns on the ground as Noah Penunuri and Nate Curtis each found the endzone twice.
After Torrance took a 3-0 lead on a 34-yard field goal by Christopher Ramirez on the first drive of the game the Kares immediately answered with a 10-play, 65-yard march to go on top. Curtis scored on a 7-yard run and Caeden Holcomb bulled in for the two-point conversion for an 8-3 lead – one which they would never relinquish.
In the second quarter Penunuri capped a quick four-play drive with a 28-yard touchdown run to increase the advantage to 15-3.
The Kares took that lead into halftime and kept the momentum going in the third quarter. They drove 89 yards on their first possession of the third quarter. Penunuri picked up his second of the night on a 10-yard TD jaunt. Mustain, who also does the kicking, booted the extra point through the uprights and it was 22-3.
Rio Hondo Prep put it away early in the fourth when Curtis got loose and outran the Tartar defense for a 28-yard touchdown.
Torrance finally found paydirt late in the game when Jake Silverman scored on a six-yard jaunt.
The Kares rushed for 187 total yards with Penunuri running for 102 of those yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries. Curtis had 71 yards and a pair of TDs on 7 carries. Curtis also caught two passes for 35 yards and Tyler Dang had three receptions for 75 yards.
For Torrance Ryan Young had 71 yards on 16 carries and Silverman ran for 75 yards and a touchdown on 11 totes.
Rio Hondo Prep remained perfect with the victory improving to 6-0 while Torrance dropped to 3-2.
After they kicked Arroyo’s DELETED they didn’t play them again
Year after year Rio Hondo is the only program that defeats equal and higher rated teams on a regular basis. That is very hard to accomplish.
Thank you for covering the game and for the great writeup. A small school with 120 coed students doesn’t always get noticed. So thank you!
Rio doing what Rio does, too bad area schools won’t schedule them.