Hawthorne Rallies to Win, 20-17

Hawthorne fans are used to seeing Tarrick Brock make Willie Mays-like catches in center field for the Cougar baseball team, but he went to the wall for football team on Thursday night.

Brock’s acrobatic 19-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter gave Hawthorne a come-from-behind 20-17 victory over Santa Ana at Santa Ana Stadium.

Brock leaped high between Santa Ana defensive backs David Fausto and Marc Contreras to haul in Jamil Williams’ pass at the back of the end zone with 4:01 remaining in the game.

“Tarrick is an incredible athlete,” Hawthorne Coach Goy Casillas said. “He’s going to be making acrobatic catches like that for us all year.”

Hawthorne (2-0) is the top-ranked team in Division III. Santa Ana is 0-2.

A failed fake punt by Santa Ana punter Gustavo Plasencia gave Hawthorne the ball on downs at the Santa Ana 27-yard line with five minutes remaining. Brock’s scoring catch came two plays later.

Santa Ana took advantage of Hawthorne’s lethargic play in the third quarter to erase a 13-3 deficit.

The Saints recovered a fumble by Cougar tailback Morell Ollis at the Hawthorne 27-yard line midway through the quarter. Three plays later, Santa Ana quarterback Albert Perez threw an eight-yard touchdown pass to fullback Kevin Pola to cut the lead to 13-10.

Santa Ana tailback Dasy Tech set up the Saints’ go-ahead score. He broke a 68-yard run across midfield to the Hawthorne one-yard line, where he was tackled by Turron Watkins. Robert Tabile scored to give Santa Ana a 17-13 lead.

The 5-foot-10 Tech led all rushers with 224 yards in 22 carries.