ANAHEIM – Santa Ana combined a stout defense with key playmaking by Jonathan Briseno to defeat Loara, 28-14, and clinch third place in the Golden West League on Thursday night at Western High.
By finishing third, the Saints (6-4, 3-2) earned a guarnteed spot in the CIF-SS football playoffs. They haven’t been in the playoffs since 2009.
“We’re happy to start bringing back that winning tradition and some of that old glory to Santa Ana football,” first-year Santa Ana coach Charlie TeGantvoort said. “The game was crazy because Loara could have been in (the playoffs), too, and we knew they’d play their best game.
“I’m proud of our team. We played great defense and stepped up to hold down some of their key players.”
With a victory, Loara (1-9, 1-4) could have forced a coin flip to decide which team received the league’s third guaranteed playoff spot.
Briseno made big plays on both sides of the ball.
The 5-foot-8, 175-pound sophomore returned an interception 74 yards for a touchdown to put Santa Ana ahead 7-0 in the first quarter.
Playing quarterback, he guided the Saints on three scoring drives. He culminated two of the drives with 1- and 9-yard touchdown runs.
Briseno rushed for 82 yards on 18 carries and completed 4 of 9 passes for 29 yards with one interception.
Fabian Martinez rushed for 81 yards on 11 carries for the Saints.
Santa Ana’s defense enjoyed a big game, limiting Loara to 114 yards passing and 53 rushing and had four interceptions.
