SPRINGFIELD TWP 42, LOWER MORELAND 14
Nathan Torrealba had himself a night.
The Spartans’ junior quarterback threw for six touchdowns – five in the first half – in a stellar outing.
“Nathan really put us on his back,” Spartans’ coach Chris Shelly said of the Archbishop Wood transfer. “We knew how good he was coming into the season. He’s just been terrific since day one.
“He fits in great with our team. As a transfer kid, you always worry about the chemistry, but he’s been tremendous.”
The Lions got on the scoreboard first, scoring on a four-yard run to go on top 7-0 after the extra point. Torrealba answered with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Zymir Small. The missed extra point allowed the Lions to go into the second quarter with a 7-6 lead.
“We talk all the time about keeping composure, and some things felt hard for us on the first drive defensively,” Shelly said. “We had some penalties, and you have to give Lower Moreland some credit. Those kids can play. They played hard, and they punched it in. I think it was a good learning lesson for our guys. We responded.”
Did they ever.
The second quarter belonged to Torrealba and the Spartans.
Torrealba connected with Small for his second touchdown pass of the night – this one for 49 yards. The successful two-point conversion – Torrealba to Small – gave the Spartans a 14-7 lead, and they were just getting started.
Before the quarter was over, Torrealba had his third, fourth and fifth touchdown passes – the first a 34-yard pass to Logan Curcio, the next a one-yard pass to Jacob Soto and the third a 10-yard pass to Curcio that sent the Spartans into halftime with a 35-7 lead.
In the third quarter, Torrealba’s second touchdown pass of the night to Soto – this one for 13 yards – put the Spartans on top 42-7 before the Lions scored on a 50-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Torrealba’s six-touchdown performance came on the heels of a six-touchdown rushing performance by Zymir Small a week earlier. Torrealba connected on 10 of 13 passes for 213 yards and six touchdowns. He also had 11 carries for 127 yards., contributing 340 yards of total offense.
“I kind of kidded with Nathan because I give out ‘dude dinners’ to the skill kid that steps up and becomes the dude,” Shelly said. “Zymir had been ‘the dude’ the last two games, and Nathan wanted it bad. Nathan made a statement, and he reminded me of it.
“I was so happy for him because he’s been doing all the little things for us as far as leading our team, managing our team, managing our plays. He doesn’t really get caught up in stats, which is important. For him to go off like crazy – he made some great throws, but he ran the ball really well. You can’t really ask anymore from a kid. He was really good. We got punched in the mouth on that first drive, but our kids responded. By the second half, we got our younger kids in the game.”
The Spartans’ coach also credited the effort of Logan Curcio, who had five receptions for 120 yards.
“He was tremendous,” Shelly said. “We know how talented he is. He kind of gets lost sometimes because we have a kid like Mekhi (Paschall), but Logan had a tremendous game. He caught a couple of touchdown passes, and I thought he played well overall. He really stepped up, which is nice to have.
“Jacob Soto had two touchdown passes as well. We knew these two kids were diamonds in the rough almost, and it was nice to see those young guys step up.”
Up next: Springfield Twp (3-0) will host Father Judge in a non-league game Friday, and Lower Moreland (2-2) will host Jenkintown Friday.
Lower Moreland 7-0-0-7 14
Springfield Twp 6-29-7-0 42
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