SANTA ANA – Santa Ana Valley tallied 21 consecutive points in the fourth quarter in rolling over Century, 49-21, in an Orange League opener at the SAUSD Sports Complex on Friday night.
After holding a 28-21 advantage at halftime, the Falcons (3-3, 1-0) kept the Centurions’ offense scoreless in the second half while scoring on three of their four series in the fourth quarter. Sherman Thomas scored two of the touchdowns, and Christopher Hernandez got the other one.
Thomas ran for a game-high 189 yards on 22 carries and completed all four of his passes for 47 yards. Hernandez ran 10 times for 181 yards.
Century (1-5, 0-1) cut its deficit to 14-8 less than two minutes into the second quarter on Alexis Rodriguez’s 11-yard run to conclude its second drive of the night that went six plays and lasted 2:24.
Rodriguez led the visiting Centurions with 71 yards on 16 carries and scored for the second time in on a 5-yard run with 3:11 left in the opening half. Century outscored Santa Ana Valley in the second quarter, 21-14.
The Falcons had built a 14-0 lead with 2:26 remaining in the first quarter after Hernandez ran from 2 yards out to close out a 7-play, 46-yard drive that went 3:06.
Juan Medina recovered a fumble for Santa Ana Valley on Century’s first drive of the game with 5:32 to play in the first quarter, setting up its second score of the night.
The Falcons have won their past 12 meetings against the Centurions.
Century will take on Savanna at Glover Stadium next Friday at 7 p.m. while Santa Ana Valley plays host to Magnolia at 7 p.m.
