PORT ST. LUCIE – He’s the most proven quarterback in the entire Treasure Coast area.

With heart over height as his mantra, Malik Torres has shown that he has what it takes to be an effective leader in more ways than one.

The Centennial 2023 quarterback led his team to a gritty 16-9 road win over Clewiston in last Friday night’s (Aug. 26) season opener. He connected on 24 of his 38 passes for 238 yards, 1 touchdowns, and no interceptions with a 63 percent completion rate.

Also, the 5-foot-11, 155 pound senior signal caller got just about every skill position player involved in the game, as he completed at least one pass to 10 different receivers.

And most importantly, Torres came through on the game’s most significant play.

Tied at 9-9, Centennial (1-0) recovered a lost fumble and was on the Clewiston 37-yard with 4:38 left in the game. In just one play, Torres dropped back with great pass protection from his offensive line and found an open Isaiah Roberts (2024 wide receiver) in the middle of the end zone for the score.

With that extra point coming right after the dagger play, Centennial went up 16-9 and held on for the win over Clewiston (0–1).

“He did his job,” Roberts said of Torres. “He kept going and never gave up. He made the right reads.”

For his efforts, Torres was selected by our voting followers as the Treasure Coast’s Offensive Player of Week 1.

Torres on his game-winner to Roberts.

“It was a play we have been trying to call all game,” said Torres, who has an offer right now from Warner. “We just went for it and caught it at the right time. Called it earlier; we just missed it…The chains never adjusted, so we just went back to it and it worked.”

Centennial head coach Josh Watkins spoke on the game-winning play.

“We tried to hit it a couple of times. We dropped it early,” Watkins said. “We got some pressure on other points. We figured we would have them free, running down the middle of the field. The O-line just protected it up. We got the throw off. Malik hit it on the money…We hit it when we needed it.”

Watkins on how the game turned out.

“We were rusty,” Watkins said. “It was a pretty sloppy game all around. The defense played great…We haven’t played a game in a while, so that’s going to happen a little bit. We definitely have a lot to clean up going into our next game.”

WEEK 2: Centennial (1-0) at DeLand (0-1) – Friday, Sept. 2, 7 p.m. kickoff