TUSTIN – Sonora picked a good time to play its best game.
The Raiders took a large, early lead and beat Tustin, 42-13, Friday in a CIF-Southern Section Southwest Division first-round playoff game at Tustin High.
Sonora, which finished third in the Freeway League, improved to 9-2. The Raiders will play host to San Clemente (9-2) in the second round Friday at La Habra High.
San Clemente, the division’s second-seeded team, beat another Freeway League team, Sunny Hills, in Friday’s first round.
Jacob Fimbres scored four touchdowns, three running and one receiving. He rushed for 133 yards on 21 carries and had three receptions for 45 yards.
Fimbres said Friday’s game was the Raiders’ best of 2015.
“We were focused all week in practice,” he said, “and nothing distracted us today.”
Fimbres, a 5-foot-10, 165-pound senior, scored on two 1-yard runs and one of 13 yards. He caught a screen pass that he turned into a 34-yard touchdown play.
Fimbres has scored 34 touchdowns in 11 games. He was second in Orange County in touchdowns scored, behind Brethren Christian’s Jordan Leonard, going into this week.
Sonora quarterback Cole McDonald rushed for 123 yards and one touchdown and threw for 154 yards and a touchdown. The Raiders’ Jason Clayton had four receptions for 62 yards and on defense contributed an interception.
Tustin, the No. 2 team from the Empire League, finished 8-3.
It was 14-0 less than five minutes into the game.
Sonora scored on its first possession on McDonald’s 66-yard touchdown run. Tustin fumbled on its first offensive play, with Miguel Lopez recovering at the Tustin 21. Fimbres scored four plays later on the 13-yard run for the 14-0 lead.
The Raiders extended their lead to 21-0 when Fimbres took a screen pass, weaved his way through the secondary and scored on a 34-yard play.
Tustin scored on the first play of the second quarter on a 4-yard run by KC Carr. Fimbres followed that by taking a lateral to the left, then going diagonally right for a 30-yard touchdown run and a 28-7 lead.
Fimbres’ third touchdown of the first half was a 1-yard run with 28 seconds left that pushed the Raiders’ lead to 35-7.
His fourth and final touchdown was his other 1-yard scoring run, this one with 5:45 to go in the fourth quarter, to make it 42-7.
The fourth quarter was played with a running clock; when a team is ahead by 35 or more points at any time in the fourth a running clock is used.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
