ROLLING HILLS ESTATES >> A quick-strike attack on the game’s first play not only showed what the Torrance High football team was poised to do Friday, it helped kick off Jake Silverman’s birthday in style.

Silverman and quarterback Gibson Turner connected for an 80-yard touchdown 18 seconds into the game, and visiting Torrance bounced back with a dominant 33-0 victory over Peninsula.

“We knew (Peninsula’s) corners bit on the short route, and I did a double route,” Silverman said. “It was a beautiful ball from (Turner). We had been talking about it all week and knew it was going to be our first play.”

The Tartars offense flexed its muscles on that first drive, but its second drive was methodical. Torrance (6-1, 1-1) utilized tailback Malakai Johnson to push the offense inside the Panthers 20-yard line before Gibson and Johnson connected for a 10-yard touchdown, allowing Torrance to take a 13-0 lead.

“Our offense was hitting early, and our offensive line is the best in the South Bay,” Turner said. “We were able to run behind them all game, and it showed we can hit you on the ground and in the air.”

Turner finished the game with 164 yards on 11-of-17 passing and three touchdowns, and Torrance’s multifaceted ground attack tallied 235 yards, including 85 from Johnson and 79 from Connor Shearing.

“We knew we could run the ball,” Torrance coach Raymond Carter said. “We knew if we controlled the trenches we would win the game and that’s what we did (Friday).”

Trying to find a way to get back in the game, Peninsula (5-1, 1-1) began moving the ball utilizing the legs of Kamran Dowlatshai. But a holding call negated a 55-yard touchdown, instead forcing the Panthers into bad field position and being forced to punt.

“We were forced out of our game plan early when we got down,” Peninsula coach Dave Young said. “We had to do things we didn’t want to do. When you’re down by 20, it’s hard to run the ball and get back in the game.”

Not taking its foot off the gas pedal, Shearing gave a glimpse as to how potent the Tartars offense can be when clicking on all cylinders. Shearing broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage before racing 39 yards to give Torrance a 20-0 advantage.

“(Shearing) is a freak athlete with his legs and his arm,” Gibson said. “He brings another level to this offense where teams don’t really know what to expect.”

As Torrance’s offense was making it a long afternoon for Peninsula, behind Silverman and its defense, it made matters worse. Silverman finished with a team-high 13 tackles.

Peninsula’s offense gained just 80 yards in the opening half, including 52 on a Mario Ruggerio-Max Martinov connection.

But the Panthers offense failed to convert when necessary, picking up just two first downs in the first half.

“(Torrance) did a good job at tackling us at the point of attack, and we failed to move the sticks,” Young said. “Against a pretty damn good defense like that it’s hard to move the ball.”

Friday served as retribution for Torrance, following a 35-0 loss to Redondo the previous week.

“We were hungry for a win, especially coming off the loss to Redondo,” Carter said. “We wanted to prove to ourselves we could play really good football, and we knew this game was going to be big. We wanted to show who we really are.”