West Torrance makes positive impression at Redondo Union tournament

The chatter spread from opposing sidelines, a rotating carousel of players in practice uniforms facing an increasingly confident underdog.

“They’re well-coached,” remarked Mayfair High football coach Derek Bedell to an assistant.

“They’ve been down for a while,” Banning head coach Raymond Grajeda said.

West Torrance will be down no longer, if Saturday’s Seahawk Classic seven-on-seven tournament at Redondo Union was any indication. Yes, this is summer football, but the Warriors emerged as the surprise of the event, sweeping a table of solid programs like Mayfair and St. Anthony to go 5-0.

The Warriors were 4-8 last season, 1-4 in the spring of 2021 and 2-8 in 2019. Yet with a motivated group of seniors and a coaching staff helmed by second-year head coach Todd Butler, watch out for West Torrance in the Pioneer League come fall.

“We’re going to have a name by the end of this,” quarterback Jackson Sharman said.

Sharman could be the biggest reason for that, in a season when he’s looking to establish one of his own. A wiry 6-foot-2 with mullet-length brown hair, he hardly missed a throw against St. Anthony and fired some deep balls against Mayfair and Banning that could’ve been hung in the Louvre.

Look out for Ryan McBride, too, a tight end built like a refrigerator who showed off some solid route-running and soft hands against Mayfair.

Other standouts

—Banning’s Elijah Nuhi-Yandall is only 14 years old — Grajeda shouted as much after Nuhi-Yandall made a touchdown grab against Leuzinger — but he showcased athleticism Saturday. Standing just 5-8, he made a couple leaping grabs on deep balls against the Olympians that seemed incomprehensible. After star running back Jakob Galloway graduated, the Pilots will need someone to pick up the slack at the skill positions; Nuhi-Yandall and brother Caleb, a senior running back, seem up to the task.

—Mayfair quarterback Evan Tomich, heading into his fourth year starting for the program, led the Monsoons to a 4-1 record and drew praise from Bedell. In addition to throwing one of the best deep balls around, he also sports an awe-inspiring mullet. It, as well as Mayfair, is back on his shoulders as they look to live up to last season’s 9-1 record.

New weights

The equipment in Banning’s weight room, parent and community volunteer Monica Rodriguez said, has been there since the 1970s.

There was no air conditioning. The conditions, she said, were horrible.

Soon enough, however, the Pilots will have a brand-new facility, thanks to a grant Rodriguez wrote up a year ago that she said was approved by the city of Los Angeles for $75,000. Grajeda said the program received an additional $25,000. The money will be used to build two new weight rooms for all Banning programs, a new locker room and an area for film study.

The pandemic halted construction, Rodriguez said, but they expect the new digs to be unveiled within four to five months.

In the meantime, Banning’s had to move its weight room to a classroom inside the school, leaving players to perform jumping jacks and squats in front of whiteboards and boxy, wall-hung televisions. It’s a temporary sacrifice for new equipment that will benefit the school for years to come.

“That’s my goal — once I’m not here, the next guy, I want him to do well,” Grajeda said.