PREP FOOTBALL : Century League : Rojas Wins in Relief for Saints

You could count Santa Ana reserve quarterback Jesse Rojas’ statistics on one hand. He came out for football 2 weeks ago. He played 1 quarter. He threw 1 pass for 1 touchdown. And he won the game.

Rojas’ 7-yard touchdown pass to Julio Vargas with 34 seconds remaining Friday night gave Santa Ana a 7-6, come-from-behind Century League victory over El Modena in Santa Ana Stadium.

Not bad for a varsity baseball player who decided two weeks ago to play football because his friends said he should.

The Saints outgained El Modena, 202 yards to 165, but they were penalized 9 times for 102 yards.

“We got penalties and just continually did things that hurt us,” Saint Coach Dick Hill said. “It was not that the offense wasn’t capable.”

After a scoreless first half, Saint quarterback Dan Tuioti fumbled the ball on his 43 and the Vanguards’ Dave Cloer recovered.

Vanguard quarterback Adam Garcia’s pass was tipped by Santa Ana’s Estrus Crayton into the hands of Trey Frank for a 15-yard completion which set up a 37-yard field goal by Tim Hatcher with 34 seconds to play in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Garcia got El Modena on the move with a 29-yard run to the Saint 35. He then pitched to running Back Marcus Esposito for the flea flicker--a 20-yard completion to Garcia--that put El Modena on the Saint 4. Santa Ana’s Julius Fletcher stopped Esposito at the 2 to save the touchdown and, 2 incomplete passes later, El Modena settled for a 24-yard field goal by Hatcher to make it 6-0 with 6 minutes to play.

Enter Rojas for Tuioti, who was helped off the field with a leg injury earlier in the quarter.

The Saints (4-3, 2-0) took possession on their 39. Using the entire backfield, Santa Ana took it to the El Modena 7 on 11 rushing plays. On third and goal, Rojas threw the game-winner.

“It was a great drive,” Hill said. “There were only a limited number of plays we could call with (Rojas). It was a great drive by a great group of young players.”

El Modena (2-5, 1-1) managed to move the ball into Saint territory with 3 completions from Garcia to Loni Hayes, but an interception by Vargas ended the game.