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Orange hands Segerstrom first loss
ORANGE – It has been a long time since Orange students had a reason to invade The Plaza.
Their football team gave them one Thursday night. Orange beat previously undefeated Segerstrom, the No. 1 team in the CIF-Southern Section's Southern Division rankings, 45-33, at El Modena High.
It has been at least a half-dozen years since Panthers football got a victory big enough to renew the decades-long tradition of driving round and round the traffic circle at The Plaza in Old Town Orange.
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It was a half-dozen years ago that Orange last made the CIF playoffs. The Panthers finished the 2006 regular season at 6-4 overall and 3-2 in league.
This year's Panthers are 5-3 overall and 2-1 in the Golden West League. They are tied for first place with Segerstrom, which is 7-1 overall and 2-1 in league.
Orange junior running back Aaron Aguilar led the charge. He rushed for 226 yards and five touchdowns. While playing defensive back, he recovered a fumble that led to his first touchdown.
Aguilar, averaging 117 yards a game, ran behind what was an outstanding offensive line of Abel Pararea at center, Aaron Gray at left tackle, Josh Hernandez at left guard, Manny Huerta at right guard and Jonathan Garrett at right tackle.
Segerstrom's David Perkins went into the game as the league's most formidable running back. Averaging 156 yards a game, Perkins went for 199 on 14 carries.
But two of his runs were for touchdowns of 73 and 52 yards. Subtract those, and Perkins rushed for 74 yards on 12 carries.
"Stop No. 2," Aguilar said of Orange's game plan, referring to Perkins' uniform number.
"He's been running for something like 200 yards a game (in league). We had to play physical."
Orange plays Ocean View on Oct. 27 at El Modena High. Segerstrom's next game also is Oct. 27, against Santa Ana at Santa Ana Stadium.
