Foothill uses big plays to beat El Modena

TUSTIN- Foothill was waiting for one big play to finally break through Friday night.

Two plays after the Knights' Bryan Zantos picked off Anthony Daniel with 4:14 left in the second quarter, Brandon Dupre made a finger-tip catch in the endzone on Zach Griffith's 43-yard pass to help turn a defensive stalemate into an uptempo-offensive flurry as Foothill beat El Modena, 35-10, in a nonleague game at Tustin High.

Following a scoreless first quarter and some key defensive plays, Griffith settled down and opened up the offense with a crisp passing game en route to the Knights' (4-1) fourth consecutive victory.

"We fed off the defense the entire game until the offense could finally take over," said Griffith, who threw for 288 yards on 17 for 25 passing, most of it coming in the second half.

Foothill's Ben Douglas, who rushed for a game-high 143 yards and two touchdowns, scored from 2 yards out with 57.9 seconds left in the half to go up, 14-0.

El Modena (1-3) responded with a 41-yard field goal by Michael Collazo after recovering an onside kick to open the second half.

Ray Rocha's 11-yard touchdown reception from Daniel with 4:47 left in the third cut it to 21-10, but the Vanguards couldn't stop the Knights' passing attack.

Griffith connected with Patrick Parkhill two plays later for a 63-yard touchdown, and found Dupre in the endzone from 13 yards out in the fourth quarter.

Foothill's defense forced four interceptions and made three sacks, but Daniel managed to throw for 299 yards.

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Contact the writer: preps@ocregister.com