Unbeaten Orange Glen Overtakes Point Loma

The road to the title leads past the defending champion, and Orange Glen High worked its way through the Point Loma defense Saturday night at Torrey Pines High School for 14 third-quarter points en route to a 21-14 San Diego Section 3-A semifinal playoff victory.

Orange Glen (12-0) now has the chance to put a perfect ending on a perfect season Saturday at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium against Morse, which lost to Point Loma, 16-14, in last year’s 3-A championship.

There may be a bittersweet ending to the storybook season. It is expected that Orange Glen Coach Dave Lay will be named today as an assistant under new San Diego State Coach Al Luginbill.

“It might be positive,” Lay said with a smile after the game as one of his players doused him.

Point Loma took a 7-0 lead, but with 8:55 left in the half, cornerback Marcel Brown, Point Loma’s best defensive player, was injured whil tackling Dennis Esposito. Brown stayed down on the Orange Glen 16 for 20 minutes before attendants took him to Scripps Memorial Hospital.

A spokesman at the hospital said Brown was up and walking in the X-ray room later. But Point Loma might as well have loaded its championship hopes into the ambulance with Brown. Facing the best passing offense in the county, Point Loma could ill afford to play without him.

It was 14-7 at halftime. Then Orange Glen quarterback Cree Morris, who completed 11 of 26 passes for 283 yards and a touchdown, passed 28 yards to Tim Richter to set up the Patriots first third-quarter touchdown, a 2-yard Shane Copeland run. Morris then completed 3 passes to Jake Nyberg later in the quarter to set up the winning touchdown, a 6-yard Copeland run.

Both teams started the game with all cylinders firing. In the first half alone, Point Loma used an onside kick, a delayed draw play, a double reverse and a shovel pass that went for 67 yards from Danny White to Ron Evans.

Point Loma recovered the onside kick to open the game, but the Orange Glen defense held tight. The 67-yard shovel pass set up Point Loma’s second touchdown, a 2-yard Ron Lawson run that snapped a 7-7 tie with 2:23 left in the half.

Earlier, Point Loma took a 7-0 lead when White and receiver John Louis hooked up for a 53-yard touchdown pass with 10:47 to play in the second quarter.

Orange Glen tied the game two plays after Brown’s injury. Morris found a hole in the secondary when Brown’s replacement fell down, and he threw to Nyberg for a 64-yard touchdown play.