Orange County Prep Football : Roskelly Gives Valencia Plenty in Reserve

After Valencia High School football team’s 31-6 victory over Brea-Olinda Saturday, Valencia running back Keef Leasure stood on the sideline in a clean, white jersey and said he was healthy and ready to play again.

Ready or not, there was teammate Randy Roskelly, covered with mud and glory, who scored two touchdowns, including his first ever, in the Tigers’ first Orange League victory this season. He gained 203 yards in 8 carries.

Roskelly was starting in place of Leasure, who has seen limited action because of an ankle injury after scoring nine touchdowns in his first four games.

Valencia is 5-2 overall and 1-1 in league play. Brea is 3-4 and 1-1.

Valencia Coach Mike Marrujo said Leasure’s status was day-to-day and was not sure if the running back would be healthy for next week’s game with Anaheim. But Marrujo was pleased with the performance of Roskelly and his entire team.

“We played with a lot more intensity,” said Marrujo, whose team gained only 127 yards in total offense in last week’s 24-10 loss to Western. “We were very embarrassed with what happened last week.”

Against Brea, Valencia was overpowering in the first half, scoring all of its points and limiting the Wildcats to 50 yards.

The Tigers started their first-half scoring binge with Paul Rivera’s 37-yard field goal on their first drive. The next time they had the ball, wide receiver Terrance Green scored on a 29-yard reverse play, taking the handoff from Roskelly. On the Tigers’ third possession of the night, Roskelly took a handoff from quarterback Robert Navarett on first down and ran 67 yards for a touchdown. And this was all in the first quarter.

On Valencia’s first possession of the second quarter, Roskelly ran 72 yards for his second touchdown. On Brea’s next possession, Nacho Garcia intercepted a pass from Brea quarterback Chad Marlow at the Brea 37-yard line and was tackled. From there, Navarett threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to Rob Luna for what ended up being the Tigers’ final touchdown of the game. Rivera was a 4 for 4 on extra-point kicks. Navarett completed 5 of 9 passes for 84 yards in the game.