FULLERTON – Cypress beat Troy, 34-27, Thursday and Quinten Pounds as usual was the best player on the field.
Pounds, a Cypress multi-purpose senior, scored on a pass reception and on a kickoff return. He rushed for 161 yards and had an interception.
Is Pounds the best player in Orange County?
“I think so,” Cypress quarterback Nick Buras said. “He’s the best player in the state, in my opinion.”
Pounds had the 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and caught a 5-yard pass for another.
He was not perfect – he threw an interception on an option passed and lost a fumble inside of the Troy 5-yard line. But he was special.
“We don’t think there’s anybody better,” Cypress coach Rick Feldman said. “We’re used to seeing these things all the time.”
Buras rushed for 78 yards and a touchdown. He completed 8 of 12 passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns, and made four extra-point kicks.
Nick Magee rushed for 85 yards and two touchdowns for Troy. He has scored five touchdowns over the past two games.
Cypress (3-0) took a 27-20 lead in the third quarter on a 15-yard touchdown run by Taylor Williams (108 yards on 17 carries), and made it 34-20 later in the period on a 7-yard scoring run by Buras.
Troy (3-1) cut the Cypress lead to seven points on a 2-yard touchdown run by Dray Shaw with five minutes remaining. Cypress ran out the clock to preserve the win.
Pounds said he enjoys all of the activity every game.
“I love helping my team,” said Pounds, who will make a recruiting trip this weekend to Washington. “I do the best I can do. But it’s really a team effort.”
Cypress scored on the game-opening possession. Buras rolled right to deliver a 16-yard touchdown pass to Bobby Brito. The extra-point kick attempt missed, leaving Cypress with a 6-0 lead.
Troy also scored on its first possession. Magee went right for a 17-yard touchdown run. The Warriors, too, failed on the extra-point try to keep the score at 6-6.
Pounds pulled in the ensuing kickoff at the Cypress 15-yard line, faked a pitchout to a circling teammate and then weaved his way for 85 yards and a touchdown. Buras’ point-after kick was good to give the Centurions a 13-6 lead.
Pounds made an interception to stop the following Troy possession. Then came a bigger interception on the Cypress possession.
Troy’s Dominic Vaccher caught Pounds’ option pass at the Warriors’ 6-yard line, went up the left sideline then cut inside at the Cypress 20 to angle his way into the end zone. Zach Johnson’s extra-point kick tied it, 13-13, late in the first quarter.
Cypress followed with a drive that advanced the Centurions to the Troy 14. But a fumble recovered by Troy’s Spencer Hayes gave the Warriors the ball at the Troy 9. Ten plays, all running plays, later Magee scored on a 21-yard run and Troy had a 20-13 lead midway through the second quarter.
The Centurion tied it again. Completions of 28 and 13 yards from Buras to Pounds kept the chains moving and set up a 5-yard touchdown pass from Buras to Pounds with 16 seconds left in the half to make it 20-20.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
