Pallares Up To Third; Valencia Wins First

Ray Pallares gained 168 yards on 27 carries and scored 2 touchdowns Friday night to move into third on the Orange County-career rushing list and help Valencia High School defeat Sonora, 33-0, in Placentia’s Bradford Stadium.

Pallares, who has 3,578 yards in a little more than two seasons, surpassed Damon Sweazy (El Toro) and Mike Keefe (Esperanza) on the all-time list and trails second-place Mickey Flynn (Anaheim) by 103 yards. Pallares needs 587 yards to break former Santa Ana Valley standout Myron White’s 11-year-old record of 4,164 yards.

Pallares put Valencia ahead, 7-0, on a one-yard scoring run with 5:07 remaining in the first quarter. Pallares carried 5 times in the 57-yard drive, netting 24 yards.

Valencia mounted a 65-yard, 13-play scoring drive that consumed 6:29 of the second quarter and gave the Tigers a 14-0 lead. Pallares scored from two yards out with 3:40 left in the half to culminate the drive.

Valencia linebacker Andy Ruscitto gave Valencia a 20-0 halftime lead when he returned an interception 36 yards for a touchdown with 3:06 left in the half.

A fumble recovery by Valencia’s Robert Rangel set up a 38-yard scoring run by Tony Goulet early in the second half and Goulet added a five-yard touchdown run later in the quarter. Goulet finished with 75 yards on 11 carries, as the Tigers coasted to their first win in two nonleague games.

Valencia quarterback Jeff Martinez completed 8 of 14 passes for 105 yards as the Tigers’ offense finished with 381 total yards.

“I’m real happy with our kids,” Valencia Coach Mike Marrujo said. “It was a marked improvement from our first game (a 7-6 loss to Westminster), and that’s what we wanted to do.

“We drove the ball last week, we just didn’t do anything inside the 20. We practiced our game inside the 20 all week and we were successful tonight when we got down there.”

Sonora (1-1) was limited to 98 total yards.