Point After: Chargers On Pace For Glory?
Chantilly's Torrian Pace has the Chargers in position for another regional championship, and possibly a return to the state title game. His 351 yards on 36 carries and 5 touchdowns ended Westfield's season and helped the Chargers advance to Saturday's regional final against Oakton.....
Photo By: Marc Gold / Gameday Magazine
Chantilly's Torrian Pace has rushed for 2,609 yards this season and 32 touchdowns. In his last 4 games, Pace has run for 1,154 yards and 14 touchdowns. His play is a big reason why Chantilly is one of the hottest teams in the Northern Region playoffs.....
Photo By: Marc Gold / Gameday Magazine
One guy that will have the duty of keeping Pace in check on Saturday is Oakton's Jack Tyler. Tyler and the Cougars held Pace to 87 yards in the first meeting between the two teams this year. It was the only time all year Pace was held under 100 yards in a game.
Photo By: Dave Bernhardt / Gameday Magazine
CHANTILLY, VA - This past Friday night, the thousands in attendance at Westfield High School witnessed one of the great performances in playoff history. Chantilly's Torrian Pace took his team on his shoulders and carried them to victory 35-28 over their cross town rivals.
While the headline on Friday night was deservedly about Pace's 5 touchdown performance, when you put this win for Chantilly under the microscope a little more, there is a much bigger thing going on.
The Chargers were ranked in our Top 5 to start the season because we believed they had the type of team that could make a run for the state title, just like the 2006 Chantilly team did.
With Pace back after an outstanding junior season, Chantilly also had a dominant offensive line returning. We projected that combination to be dangerous, and it has proven to be true. They had questions at quarterback, but senior Roger Strittmatter has developed into a solid player behind center, thus giving the Chargers more balance offensively as the season has progressed. With all that said, the big story is still Torrian Pace.
Through 12 games, Torrian Pace has rushed for 2,609 yards on 277 carries. For the non-math majors, that is 9.4 yards per carry. Given the fact that Pace has carried the ball 277 times, that stat is incredible. In addition, the senior tailback has 32 rushing touchdowns after his 5 touchdown performance Friday against Westfield. Again, incredible!
With the help of his offensive line, Pace has finished with over 300 yards rushing 3 times this season, and over 200 yards 6 times. That too is incredible. However, the scariest thing about this Chantilly team now, is their confidence.
I have to admit, I questioned whether or not the Chargers could get rid of the so-called Westfield demons that have haunted them so many times over the years, but they did in impressive fashion Friday. On our daily show "Gameday All Access" last week, I asked Tom Whipple and Bruce Bornarth who the most likely team was to get hot in the post-season. We all chose other teams like Broad Run, Oakton, and Stone Bridge, but the answer for me is now Chantilly.
Friday, they played like a team on the road to glory, and I highly doubt any team still in the tournament wants to see them, including Oakton, who will host the Chargers this upcoming Saturday in the regional championship.
Mid-way through the second quarter against Westfield, the Chargers trailed 20-7, usually a deficit that would cause panic in an offense that rarely throws the football. However, Chantilly stuck to their plan, and they trusted in Pace to lead the way, and he delivered.
Late in the 4th, Pace had to leave the field after being tackled by Westfield's Ben Casper. His ankle rolled up under Casper, and the Charger faithful had reason to be concerned. A few minutes later, a roar from the Chantilly bleachers erupted as #25 gingerly jogged back to the huddle. Head Coach Mike Lalli didn't hesitate to give his banged up tailback the ball either, and Pace ripped off 3 big runs to put the Chargers ahead for good.
All I can say is, Pace has the heart of a champion. He could barely walk off the field, and a few minutes later he wouldn't be denied of the end-zone. That is the kind of stuff that people talk about years later. I know I will. I asked Lalli if he had ever coached a player like Pace, and he didn't hesitate with an answer.
"I've never coached anyone like Torrian," said Lalli. "I've seen guys like Royster at Westfield, and Keith Payne over at Oakton. Those guys were special guys for their teams, and we are hoping {Torrian} can do the same for us. He has so far, so we are hoping he can keep it up for us."
Pace finished officially with 351 yards on 36 carries, and scored all 5 touchdowns including the deciding one late in the 4th quarter. This all was done against a solid Westfield defense that limited Pace to just 115 yards the first time the two teams met in September.
I left the stadium on Friday night with the feeling that something special is brewing with the Chargers, and I think anyone who watched the game probably felt the same way.
Chantilly also showed me something else on Friday, and it was the ability to adjust. In the first game against Westfield, the Chargers were inept at throwing the football. Not so on Friday night as quarterback Roger Strittmatter looked poised in the pocket, and he delivered several crucial passes in the game.
I'm a firm believer that the teams with balance are the toughest to defend, but a team that has a Torrian Pace on its roster that can also throw to keep a defense honest, is downright scary. Strittmatter only threw the ball 11 times, but completed 5 of them for 78 yards, and those completions were a big part of softening up the aggressive run defense of Westfield.
Lalli has never advertised that he likes to air it out, in fact, he has always held true to having a grind it out, run first approach to offense. Heck, why should he throw the ball when he has a guy like Pace scorching good defenses for over 300 yards. Pace's 300 yard games this year have come against Robinson, Westfield and Annandale, the latter two in the playoffs. He also rushed for over 200 yards against Edison, Centreville, and Annandale in the regular season.
Charger fans will remember that in 2006, Lalli's offense ran the ball predominately all the way to the state title game. They used their big tight end Danny Sims often on routes, and Chris Gentile made some plays down the field when teams started to key on the run game, but the Chargers plowed their way to the final game.
This Chantilly team is built the same way, and that could mean a return trip to play for all the marbles. Instead of Sims, this team has Mike Ryan, who is quickly emerging as a favorite target for Strittmatter. Chris Vaughn and A.J Johnson are the big play threats down the field, and the tough fullback Kevin McGrath is the unsung hero of the Charger offensive locomotive.
That brings me back to Pace, a player that as of November 16th, 2008, is yet to receive a scholarship offer. I asked Coach Lalli what the college coaches were saying about his star tailback, and he said they are hesitant to offer because of Pace's speed.
I've seen a ton of college football in my life, in fact, I've watched from the sidelines since I was 7 years old. I can spot a college football player when I see one, and Pace is a college football player.
After checking around through my various sources, Pace did run a legit 4.6 this past summer in the 40 yard dash. There are several major college tailbacks starting in the Big 12, ACC, and SEC that don't run faster than that. For that matter, the NFL's all time leading rusher, Emmitt Smith, never ran faster than that. Not saying Pace is Emmitt Smith, but he's just as fast.
At 5'10, 225lbs, Pace is, as my broadcast partner Grant Paulsen says, "A Human Wrecking Ball". He simply doesn't go down on first contact, and most of his big plays feature several broken tackles.
College coaches are notorious for sticking with the philosophy of signing kids that fit the size, make, and model of a college player. They get hung up on standards and stereotypes, but in Pace's case, this doesn't apply.
His 4.6 speed is fast enough, his height is within the guidelines, and the fact that he weighs 225lbs means he is capable of breaking tackles and taking the punishment at the next level.
I've seen some tailbacks that have been offered scholarships recently in this area, and there are some of them that don't hold up to Pace's ability. In addition to his immense talent, Pace is a 4.0 GPA student. At a minimum, you can't tell me a program like Duke who is 4-6, or a Stanford who is 5-6 doesn't need a player and a student like Pace. The fact is, they do. Pace's athletic ability is second only to his character, and that makes him a sure bet for any program.
The truth is, it will only take one college program to offer Pace, and then the offers will come flooding in. We see it often, once one program says they want Pace, the rest will follow.
I still can't understand why a JMU, Richmond, William and Mary, and the many other Division 1AA programs are not all over this kid. It is the one, true crime of this football season, that guys like Pace and his counterpart on Friday, Jordon Anderson from Westfield, have not received a scholarship offer.
The biggest difference between Pace and Anderson is tape. Pace has 3 years of long touchdown runs on film to show the colleges, and Anderson has limited tape from his best and only season at Westfield. Still, both are major college football players.
You have to wonder if somebody has to hire President-Elect Barack Obama's campaign coordinator to get these two on a college roster next fall. It just doesn't add up to me, and I feel like my eye for this stuff is pretty good.
Pace and Chantilly now have Oakton in their sights, and that will be an intriguing game. I really believe the Chargers turned their season around in the second half of the 1st meeting with the Cougars, despite falling short on the scoreboard 17-15.
Oakton's defense was the only one to hold Pace under 100 yards this year, but most of his 87 yards came in the second half surge that nearly toppled the top ranked Cougars. In fact, when the Chargers were down 17-9, Pace ripped off several big runs and then eventually punched it in to make the score 17-15.
In addition, the Chantilly defense shut down the Cougar offense in the second half, holding them scoreless in the final two quarters. That hasn't been done all year to Oakton, thus giving me the reason to believe that this game will be another instant classic.
I already know what the theme of Oakton's practice will be this week, and I'm sure you do too. TACKLE TORRIAN PACE! If this season has shown us anything, that is easier said than done.
