PREP FOOTBALL : Century League : Santa Ana Cashes In on Bailey’s Scoring Catch, 27-21

If Santa Ana High School’s Darrell Bailey continues to catch last-second, game-winning touchdown passes like he did against El Modena Friday night, he’ll have enough money by the end of the season to buy a new pair of shoes.

Moments after Bailey had caught a 10-yard scoring pass from Richard Fanti with 13 seconds remaining to lift the Saints to a 27-21 Century League victory over the Vanguards, a youngster came onto the field and stashed a 10-dollar bill in Bailey’s hand.

“That’s from my mother,” the boy told Bailey. “She wanted you to have it.”

Bailey seemed a bit stunned, but he wasn’t about to complain.

“Catch a ball and get money--not bad,” Bailey said, adding that the boy was a friend of the family. “If I keep this up in the playoffs, I’m going to start saving up.”

Bailey wasn’t the only one to get his money’s worth. The 5,000 fans in Santa Ana Stadium saw an exciting game in which the lead was exchanged three times, twice in the fourth period.

Santa Ana drove 64 yards for the winning touchdown, the big play being a third-down, pass-interference call that gave the Saints a first down on the Vanguard 47.

Trailing, 21-20, Fanti, who passed for 160 yards, scrambled for 12 yards. Robert Lee, who finished with 158 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns, added a 19-yard run. After three more running plays, Santa Ana was faced with a fourth-and-one on the El Modena seven.

Instead of attempting a field goal with 40 seconds left, the Saints elected to go for the first down, which Fanti achieved when he ran around the left side. An illegal procedure penalty pushed Santa Ana back to the 10, but Fanti lofted a pass into the right corner of the end zone, and Bailey out-jumped Vanguard defensive back Mike Lynem for the game-winning catch.

“It was a goal-line fade,” Bailey said. “It was a matter of timing, that’s all.”

Santa Ana is 4-0 in league and 8-1 overall. The Saints may have helped knock El Modena out of the playoffs for the first time since 1973. The Vanguards (2-2 and 4-5) are in a third-place tie with Canyon.

El Modena must defeat Foothill (and Canyon must beat Villa Park) next week to create a three-way tie for second with Foothill, El Modena and Canyon, and force a coin-flip to determine the league’s second and third playoff representatives.

The Vanguards had their chances against the Saints. They fell behind, 14-6, with 3:44 left in the third quarter when Lee broke free for a 61-yard touchdown run. But El Modena came back to tie it on the last play of the period when Trey Frank threw a two-yard touchdown pass to John Thompson on fourth down.

Thompson set up the score with a diving catch of a pass for a 27-yard gain. He then added the two-point conversion when he took an inside handoff and lunged into the end zone.

Santa Ana then drove 75 yards in 7 plays, including Fanti’s 45-yard pass to Robbie Fanti, to go ahead, 20-14, as Lee ran nine yards for the touchdown. But Julian Rea’s extra kick was wide left.

The Vanguards then drove 67 yards in nine plays, with Frank again throwing a two-yard touchdown pass to Thompson after Ross Bauer’s 39-yard run put El Modena in scoring position. Brian Hoey, who kicked field goals of 22 and 37 yards, added the extra point to give the Vanguards a short-lived, 21-20 lead.

Canyon 35, Santa Ana Valley 6--The Comanches scored 28 points in the third period to overcome a sluggish start to beat the Falcons in Fred Kelly Stadium.

Poor offensive execution kept Canyon (2-2, 4-5) from mounting any serious threat throughout most of the first half. Valley (1-3, 2-7) took a 6-0 lead in the first quarter, after an 80-yard punt return by Paul Peteres set up a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Joe Castro.

Turnovers led directly to three of the Comanches’ four touchdowns in the third quarter. Linebacker Jason Wilborn intercepted a Castro pass and returned it 16 yards for a touchdown, giving Canyon a 21-6 lead. Wilborn then recovered a fumble, and two plays later halfback Ray Schull scored on a four-yard run, making it 28-6.

Less than two minutes later, defensive back Chris Jeppson recovered another Valley fumble, setting up fullback Dale LaRue’s 12-yard scoring run.