Orange Still on Track to Win League Title

Orange High School moved into position to win the Pacific Coast League title by beating Laguna Hills, 21-7, in front of about 500 Thursday night at El Modena High School.

Junior Brian Remmel rushed for 85 yards in 20 carries and scored three touchdowns for Orange, which is 7-1-1 overall and 4-0 in the league.

Orange plays Trabuco Hills (7-0, 3-0) next Thursday at Mission Viejo High School. Trabuco Hills plays Woodbridge tonight at Irvine High School.

Orange has made an impressive turnaround under first-year head coach Tom Meiss. Orange was 2-8 and finished tied for last with a 1-4 league record last season.

“I’m happier than a gopher in soft dirt,” Meiss said about having a chance to play for the league title next Thursday. “It’s a restoration project and it’s starting to look candy-apple red.”

Remmel scored on a 13-yard run with 4:13 left in the third quarter to give Orange a 14-7 lead.

Orange then got a gift from Laguna Hills that set up its final touchdown.

Laguna Hills quarterback Mark Wells completed a pass to Dave Webber who turned, took a couple of steps, was hit and fumbled the ball into the arms of Orange linebacker Scott Strini, who returned the ball to the Hawks’ 11.

Remmel carried three times, scoring on a two-yard run to give Orange a 21-7 lead.

Laguna Hills, held to 33 yards rushing and none passing in the first half, scored the first time it had the ball in the second half. Marwan Saba scored on a 32-yard run with 8:34 left to tie it, 7-7. Saba had 95 yards in 16 carries for the Hawks (4-5, 2-2), which had 132 yards in total offense.

Orange sacked Wells eight times for minus 39 yards. Wells had two runs for 23 yards to finish with a total of minus 16 yards.

Orange had 202 yards in total offense.