Big first half boosts Santa Ana over Marina in football

A strong second half wasn’t enough for the Marina High football team on Friday night, which lost 28-21 against host Santa Ana in a nonleague football game.

The Vikings trailed by two touchdowns going into intermission, and all momentum was on the Saints’ side. But Cade Palma received the kickoff to start the third quarter and took the ball to the Saints’ 42-yard line, giving the Vikings hope.

Two big runs started a four-play drive down field that saw senior Brandon Savea make his way into the end zone with a tackle-breaking 17-yard run up the left side.

“We know that we are capable of putting points on the board quick,” Marina coach Jeff Turley said about his team’s second half. “We had three opportunities in which we could have scored. But they were called back because of penalties. We can move the ball. We can get it there. We just were not finishing.”

Marina (2-2) found the end zone two more times to cut Santa Ana’s lead to seven, both of which came in the fourth quarter.

Vikings quarterback Ian Green led his team with both his arm and his feet, passing for a touchdown and rushing for 112 yards and a score.

However, Saints running back Allen Pacheco proved the be the difference maker after rushing 157 yards in the first half and 234 total. Pacheco was responsible for three of the four touchdowns that gave the Saints the win.

Santa Ana (2-1) stuck with its running game for most of the night, airing it out just seven times.

“We go with the whatever-works gameplan,” Santa Ana coach Charlie TeGantvoort said with a smile. “We looked forward to this one. They made us stumble a little bit but we knew it was going to be a fight and they we could get back on track.”

Santa Ana 28, Marina 21

Santa Ana ………..7 7 7 7 — 28

Marina …………..0 0 7 14 —21

FIRST QUARTER

SA — Pacheco 3 run (Mojica kick good), 3:47

SECOND QUARTER

SA — Pacheco 29 run (Mojica kick good), 6:58

THIRD QUARTER

Mar — Savea 17 run (Stitt kick good), 10:21

SA — Macias 85 run (Mojica kick good), 3:47

FOURTH QUARTER

Mar — Bontrager 1 run (Stitt kick no good), 11:22

SA — Pacheco 32 run (Mojica kick good), 4:21

Mar — Robinson 5 pass from Green (Two point good), 1:32

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

Mar — Green, 17-112 yards, 1 TD

SA — Pacheco, 30-234 yards, 3 TD

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

Mar — Green, 8-11-0, 59 yards, 1 TD

SA — Macias, 3-7-0, 28 yards, 0 TD

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

Mar — Carberry, 1-15

SA — Gomez, 3-28

JAMES TOWNEY is a contributor to Times Community News.