Orange Gets Physical for 21-3 Victory

Orange High School put a damper on Woodbridge’s homecoming Friday night, inflicting a 21-3 defeat that left the Warriors with their second Pacific Coast League loss.

“It was real fundamental,” Woodbridge Coach Gene Noji said. “They weren’t very fancy. They just line up and come after you. We knew that ahead of time. Now we’ll just go back to the drawing board. We can’t dwell on the loss.

“We had a shot, early, but did it to ourselves at the end.”

Orange tailback Jim Perez fumbled in Woodbridge’s territory on the Panthers’ first possession and Warrior defensive back Scott Seymour scooped it up and ran it in for an apparent touchdown.

But a clipping penalty nullified the play.

The Panthers (5-1-1, 2-0) opened the scoring with a 33-yard touchdown pass play from junior quarterback Chris Thompson to Mike Evans. Woodbridge is 2-5, 0-2.

Warrior quarterback Gary Fishel, who was 13 for 29 with 17 yards and three interceptions, fumbled the ball toward the end of the first quarter and the Panthers recovered, but were held at midfield.

Orange linebacker Paul Minor intercepted Fishel on the Woodbridge’s 10. And the Panthers went ahead, 14-0, after a 10-yard pass from Thompson to Gregg Campbell with 11:54 to play in the half.

Thompson finished the night with 5 completions in 10 attempts for 75 yards with two interceptions.

“We’ve got awfully young quarterbacks, who don’t always make good choices,” Orange Coach Tom Meiss said. “I don’t think we’re up to our potential yet, and Gene (Noji) and his kids are always going to give you a battle.”

With a little over five minutes left in the first half, Thompson faked, ran for 14 yards and fumbled the ball on the Woodbridge 46-yard line. Fishel marched the Warriors to the 10-yard line, but could not get into the end zone, so Woodbridge had to settle for a 27-yard field goal by Troy Holme.

On Orange’s first possession of the fourth quarter, fullback Paul Minor broke loose for a 17-yard touchdown run after six consecutive carries by tailback Brian Remmel. Remmel, a junior, helped set up all three touchdowns, finishing with 146 yards in 23 carries.