On February 2, 2024, the Torres boy’s soccer team fought a very tough battle with a Division 2 competitor known as Linda Marquez High School, who are located in Huntington Park. Marquez was first in their league due to the win they got over Torres at their home. They were 9-0 in the Southern League before facing our almighty Toros. The Toros stripped away the best record in the league from Marquez despite being tied in records. This is because when Toros beat them on a senior night, the Toros had the advantage. After all, they scored 3 more goals on Maces who were 3rd in the league.
Senior Night- The strength of the schedule also matters and records as well. Toros had a better record overall. The Esteban Torres Toros went 24-4 overall, had a win percentage of 85.70, and a streaking hot streak of 9 wins in a row. On Senior night the opportunity came for questions to be asked and answered. The question that was asked was “How was senior night for you?”. The goalie of the boy’s soccer team, Inez Aponte, recorded this response “Senior Night was a night to remember for me, As captain of the team it’s a pleasure to share this field with the people I love most. Senior Night was one of the best days of my life. I took the W, played amazingly, won our rivals Marquez, and WON LEAGUE. Everything was beautiful.” Another player from the soccer team, Luis Hernandez, recorded this response “My senior night was something to remember a good game against a rival. I had a great night fighting along with the team while hearing the supporters cheer for us.”
CIF- On February 21, 2024, the Torres boy’s soccer team won the semi-finals against Maces High School, moving them to the CIF final. The boys were so excited to move on to the next round. CIF finals took place at LA Valley College, on February 24, 2024. The Torres soccer team was victorious, scoring 2 goals on the opposing team, Valor Academy, Making the final score 2-1 for the CIF final. Torres boys were full of excitement, jumping with joy and proud of each other despite differences/bumps on the road, due to it being their first year winning CIF.
After the CIF game, there was an opportunity to ask Coach Henry a question. The question was “What’s something your players have taught you this soccer season.” His response to this was “This year they taught me, honestly mental health, the struggles, the stories they have, living their life situations cause people just look at the sport they don’t think about what the players are going through, you know some of these guys work and have time to come and train and playing what 4 games out of the week sometimes training and you know sometimes they have to miss work cause they wanna win, they wanna be champions and that’s what it takes to be a champion” This response hit home to some athletes who don’t talk about their struggles with mental health and living situations. It is always better to seek help and assistance, Athletes are humans too.
Although they won CIF, the next goal is to be state champions, making this Torres’s deepest playoff run in history. Let’s support our Toros as we hope they stay victorious in the state and bring home a state championship.