ANAHEIM – At-large entrant El Modena upset Orange League champion Katella, 19-12, with big plays on both sides of the ball Friday in a first-round CIF-SS Southern Division game at Glover Stadium.
The Vanguards (4-7) stunned the Knights (7-4) with a 93-yard touchdown pass from Garrett Gramm to Clint Wodark in the first quarter and put the game out of reach on Robert Laviguer’s 47-yard interception return for a touchdown and a 19-6 lead early in the fourth quarter.
El Modena’s most consistent offensive threat was halfback Kenneth Lamb, who gained 120 yards on 23 yards and delivered 40- and 24-yard runs on a 90-yard, 11-play drive for a touchdown 21 seconds before halftime. Lamb caught a 7-yard pass from Gramm to lift the Vanguards to a 13-0 lead.
El Modena also limited Katella star running back Jameyson Mowdy to 47 yards on 14 carries. The Knights played most of the game without starting quarterback Ricardo Armenta, who has been slowed by an ankle injury for the past three games. Armenta entered the game with three minutes remaining and threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to James Fatasia with 13 seconds left in the game.
Fred Macias scored on a 9-yard run with 4:16 left in the third period to bring Katella to within a touchdown, 13-6. Macias led the Knights with 68 yards on 12 carries.
Katella turned the ball over five times, three on interceptions and twice on fumbles.
El Modena plays Santiago, a 13-9 winner over Estancia, in the second round next Friday.
El Modena faced a third-and-7 on the 93-yard touchdown pass play. Gramm hit Wodark in stride with a deep throw behind a single defender and he sprinted the rest of the distance.
“They (Katella) put everyone up in the box and you need to make them pay for it,” El Modena coach Ed Drazanek said. “That was offensive coordinator Matt Mitchell’s design.
“We don’t have a lot of stars, but we have chemistry. At this point in the season, it’s the teams who are toughest up front who win.”
