ANAHEIM – When sophomore Jorge Fonseca recovered Katella’s game-opening onside kick Thursday night, Coach Fred DiPalma got an inkling things were going to be breaking the Knights’ way in their Orange League matchup with Savanna.
Everything seemed to work for Katella during and after the opening kickoff, as the Knights cruised to a 56-3 win at Glover Stadium.
Katella senior running back Jameyson Mowdy took the third play from scrimmage 40 yards for a score and had another touchdown run of 72 yards, and senior quarterback Ricardo Armenta had four touchdown passes to give the Knights a 42-3 lead at halftime.
The Knights (5-3, 3-0) will hope to carry momentum into an Orange League showdown with Anaheim next week at Western High. Both teams came into the week with 2-0 league records and Anaheim needs to defeat Magnolia on Friday to keep pace with Katella.
“We talked about getting over this game, getting through this and moving forward,” DiPalma said. “It’s cliche, but the reality is it’s true. These guys have set some goals and hopefully they can achieve them.”
Mowdy finished with a game-high 163 yards rushing on 11 carries and Armenta threw for 160 yards on 8-of-9 passing, but the Knights defense also showed its share of big-play ability. Katella forced six Savanna fumbles and recovered five, including one returned 52-yards for a touchdown by Nicolas Hurtado to cap the game’s scoring late in the fourth quarter.
“We got some lucky breaks,” DiPalma said. “We had a lot of different things go right, but I’m really proud of the way the kids played.”
The Katella defense has been a plus throughout Orange League play and has only allowed one offensive touchdown – in a 27-7 win over Century on Oct. 10 – in three league games.
The Knights did have some issues stopping Savanna fullback Logan Thomas, who had a team-high 148 yards on 17 carries, but largely shut down the rest of the Rebels’ offensive weapons and recovered multiple key fumbles when Savanna (3-5, 1-2) was deep in Katella territory.
Savanna’s only score came with 1:50 remaining in the second quarter, when Jarred Pena made a 35-yard field goal to cut the Katella lead to 35-3.
Contact the writer: jbalan@ocregister.com
