Orange Glen Shuts Down Ross, Upsets Rancho Buena Vista

Rancho Buena Vista entered Saturday night’s Section semifinal at Mira Mesa High against Palomar League-rival Orange Glen never having lost a playoff game.

The Longhorns had won two consecutive Section championships and were expected to head into a third consecutive title game against Morse next week. That they beat Orange Glen by 14 points earlier this year simply reinforced this thinking.

Except they ran into an unexpected blockade, the Orange Glen defense.

Orange Glen limited Markeith Ross, the Section’s all-time rushing leader to only 44 yards on seven carries in the second half and helped Orange Glen to the biggest upset of this year’s playoffs, 24-7.

Orange Glen, a team no one thought would advance past the quarterfinals, now advances to the title game against Morse Saturday night in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“Nobody thought we could win,” said quarterback Omar Navarro, who completed 14 of 20 passes for 144 yards. “Nobody gave us a chance at all.”

When reminded that no one will give Orange Glen a chance next week against undefeated Morse, Navarro just shook his head.

“Hey, no one thought we could beat Helix last week (15-14 in the quarterfinals), but we upset them,” Navarro said. “That was a gut check, and tonight . . .”

Navarro had to think about that one. Saturday’s victory was not only an upset, but total domination in the second half. Total domination against arguably the best running team in the county. And, as every self-respecting football man outside Joe Montana knows, playoff games are won on the ground.

Yes, it would take some thought to put this one in perspective. As it turned out, Navarro gave up trying to do so and appeared puzzled as to how RBV’s offense pulled a second-half Houdini.

“We knew they were going to come out strong in the second half,” Navarro said. “They’re a good second-half team. They came out strong in the second half last week and blew out Point Loma.”

That would not be repeated, however, and everyone pointed at the Orange Glen defense when asked why.

Craig Bell, Rancho Buena Vista coach, said he knew his team was going down “as soon as their defensive line started getting a lot better than our oiffensive line.”

Rob Gilster, Orange Glen coach knew his defense would key the victory--or loss.

“Our defense just shut them down,” he said. “I thought we could win this type of game, but I knew our defense was going to have to play the way it did if we were.”

Navarro put it succinctly.

“Our defense was awsome,” he said. “Seven points--seven points.”

RBV had been scoring 34.6 points per game during the season.

In the second half, Orange Glen scored on its first two drives to put the game out of reach.

Up 14-7 going in to the third quarter, Orange Glen got the ball at its 45 after Rancho failed to get a first down on its first possession. After eight plays and driving 44 yards, the patriots had to settle for a 28-yard David Napier field goal.

RBV again failed to get a first on its next possession and had to punt. Orange Glen took over on its 41 this time, but appeared to stall when, on third and four from the RBV 41 a Navarro pass to Kris Plash went for only three yards.

Not to worry. Orange Glen faked the punt, the snap going to up man Andy Buh, who ran 15 yards before being tackled.

Two plays later, Joaquin Randall scored his second touchdown of the evening on a three-yard run up the middle.

Randall scored his first touchdown on a three-yard option in the second quarter.