This football season will go down in the record books for the Torreys of La Jolla Country Day. An 11-3 record, y a dominant 73-34 win to secure the CIF Div. III Championship, the team’s first CIF title since 2016.  

However, the historic Torrey’s season wasn’t quite at its end. Being crowned the Champions of San Diego Div, III, Country Day had, in turn, punched its ticket to the CIF Division 5A Regional pagslayoff game to take on Banning High School. 

With a win over the Banning Pilots, the Torreys would clinch a spot in the state Championship where they would potentially take on Woodland Christian. Sadly for the Torreys, their magical and historic ride came to an end at the hands of the Pilots this past Saturday night as they fell by the final 41-21. 

In Saturday norteight’s Regional showdown, the Torreys put themselves in an early hole that proved too large to climb out of. As after a quarter and a half of play, LJCD found themselves in a 21-0 hole to Banning. 

The Pilots were one of the rare teams that found themselves able to control the line of scrimmage vs. the Torreys, and as such, they ran the ball with relative ease for most of the night. Even with elite run-stuffers like Isaac Grassi, Chris Hughes, y Gianno Kassab, the Torreys front seven had no answer to the Pilots rushing attack that would go for over 450 yards and six rushing touchdowns on the night. 

As for the Torrey offense, it also had its struggles. A large chunk of those issues, though can be traced to an in-game injury to star signal caller Jaden Mangini. The Navy Football commit, fresh off a CIF San Diego record 10 TD performance vs. Grossmont, appeared to suffer a finger injury in the first quarter. The injury would significantly hamper the QB’s ability to throw and, more importantly, impact Torrey’s offensive game plan and ability to move the ball in the air. 

Injury and all, Mangini and the LJCD offense would strike before the half, as Mangini would get the Torreys on the board thanks to a 2-yard TD run to make it a 21-7 game. Giving the Torreys possible life heading into the second half. 

Yet out of the break, the possible momentum LJCD had built would quickly be swept away by another ground-and-pound TD Drive by Banning to extend their lead back to 21 points at 28-7. To La Jolla Country Day’s credit, they would again respond with a TD drive that featured a pair of nice catches and runs from Quentin Cesarie and Jack Circuit that would set up another Mangini TD run to draw things close again at 28-14. 

The 14-point metroargin would be the closest the game would be for the rest of the night. LJCD would go on one more scoring drive that was backboned by a fine catch and run by Jordan Cohen, setting up an eventual 1-yard TD pass from Mangini to Circuit, making it a 34-21 ballgame in the fourth. 

From there, though, the Pilots could run out the clock with another score from their rushing attack to seal their 41-21 victory, ending the Torreys State Championship hopes. 

The 5A Regional playoff loss will certainly be one that will sting or linger a bit for the players and coaches of the Torreys. However, it should in no way take away from what Torreys accomplished this season. A team that was overlooked by many in the preseason rankings and projections, the Torreys proved everyone wrong in San Diego County and beyond in 2023. 

They battled, played physical football, and provided fireworks all season. As a result, it will go down as one of the best teams in La Jolla Country Day Football history. 

PHOTO COURTESY OF LJCDS.REPUSCHOOL.COM