SOUTHERN SECTION FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS : Tehachapi Runs Past Orange Lutheran

Orange Lutheran High School couldn’t overcome its quarterback problems and lost to Tehachapi, 27-7, in a Division IX quarterfinal game Friday night at Santa Ana Stadium.

The Lancers’ starting quarterback, Lenny Gavin, was able to throw, but couldn’t run after straining knee ligaments in the first quarter. Phil Matheson, Gavin’s backup, could run the Lancer option but couldn’t pass because of an old arm injury.

Consequently, Orange Lutheran, which closed the season at 9-3, tried 33 running plays but only five passes. And Tehachapi’s swarming defense smothered the run until the last play of the game, when Brandon Orman broke a 79-yard gainer down the right sideline for the Lancers’ only score.

“There wasn’t anything we could do,” Orange Lutheran Coach Tim Taube said. “We played with a lot of heart, but we couldn’t go to the air to loosen up their defense.”

Tehachapi (11-1), the second-ranked team in the division, got all the offense it needed from tailback Eric Young, who carried 23 times for 164 yards.

After the first series of the game, Young returned Ben Schroder’s punt 50 yards for Tehachapi’s first touchdown. Young added two more scores--vaulting from five yards out in the first quarter and outrunning the Orange Lutheran defense 70 yards in the fourth.

Tehachapi’s other touchdown came on Demitri Segal’s four-yard plunge in the second quarter.

Orman led the Lancers with 95 yards in nine carries, and Matheson, who intercepted a pass to end his career at Orange Lutheran with a school-record 12 interceptions, added 21 yards in four attempts.