Orange Lutheran escapes close battle

Orange Lutheran coach Jim Kunau let out a sigh of relief when his players had put the finishing touches on a 35-20 nonleague victory over Valencia of Valencia on Thursday night at Saddleback College. 

The Lancers (4-0) led from start to finish, but the final score was not indicative of how close the game really was. The Vikings (1-2) put up a valiant effort and kept battling until the final second ticked off the clock. 

"There were some wild swings in that one," Kunau said. "The good news was when we experienced adversity, we came back. We give Valencia a ton of credit. They are extremely well coached and they are an outstanding team."

Dominick Solley's interception and 43-yard return set up a 2-yard quarterback keeper by Graham Wilbert. Valencia missed the extra-point attempt, but it cut Orange Lutheran's lead to 28-20 with 1:52 left in the third quarter. 

Orange Lutheran didn't get any breathing room until it put together a 6-play, 54-yard scoring drive late in the fourth quarter. Fullback Tyson Seneca barreled in from 2 yards out for his second touchdown of the game. That gave the Lancers a 35-20 advantage. 

The Lancers played without running back/linebacker Ricky Pemasa, who had to sit out the game after being ejected from last week's game against Tesoro. Sophomore Exavier Edwards and junior Kyle Dravis stepped in to fill Pemasa's shoes and did a fine job. Edwards had 120 yards, including a 29-yard touchdown run, on 24 carries. Dravis had 98 yards, including one carry for 76 yards. Seneca had 66 yards on 10 carries. 

Senior quarterback Blake Hyepock had a solid game, completing 8 of 14 for 167 yards with one interception. He threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Blake Ayles and a 70-yard scoring strike to Chris Woods.

Contact the writer: carias@ocregister.com