Western gets shutout against Magnolia

ANAHEIM - Theo Okai rushed for 121 yards and two touchdowns to lead Western over Magnolia, 12-0, in both teams’ season finale.

“Usually we get our second win in Week 2 or 3, and to wait 10 weeks to get it has been a struggle; it’s been a tough year,” Western coach Toby Howell said.

From the outset, it was a slugfest because both teams could not hold onto the football.

“It wasn’t pretty, but it was a good, hard-fought win,” Howell said.

Magnolia (1-9, 1-4) fumbled the ball on the sixth play of the game. Western gained possession and on their first play, quarterback Dominic Orman launched a 52-yard pass to Marcus Hays but the Pioneers couldn’t score.

In the second quarter, after the Pioneers’ recovered a Magnolia fumble on a punt return, they gave it right back to the Sentinels when Dominic Orman’s pass was intercepted by Julius Collins.

On the ensuing drive, Orman redeemed himself by intercepting a pass by Sentinels’ quarterback, Eduardo Mendez.

Western (2-8, 2-3) only attempted two passes the entire game, in large part because of their running attack, with Okai scoring on 3- and 1-yard runs in the second and third quarters.

Magnolia (1-9, 1-4) could never get into a rhythm with numerous penalties at crucial points of the game.
Jesse Gonzalez led Magnolia with 72 yards rushing.

“We’ve had a tough year, we’ve had a lot of stuff go wrong, a lot of kids quitting, a lot of guys hurt,” Howell said. “We kept persevering and we’re proud of the effort that they made.”