Orange Bullies Its Way Past Katella

After two frustrating weeks, the Orange High football team was looking for someone to bully Thursday. Katella played the 98-pound weakling to perfection.

The Panthers, winless in their first two games, pushed and shoved and generally kicked sand in Katella’s face. The strong-arm tactics were enough for a 34-3 ego-soothing victory in a nonleague game at El Modena.

“We definitely were hungry for a win,” Coach Buddy Bland said. “We had to get (victory) No. 1.”

The Panthers (1-1-1) had been oh-so close through two weeks.

In their opener against Newport Harbor, Orange led, 10-7, with 1 minute 15 seconds left, only to give up a touchdown and the game. The following week against Saddleback, the Panthers led, 14-0, at halftime, but settled for a 14-14 tie.

“We played well against Newport Harbor and lost and we played well against Saddleback and tied,” Bland said. “Our problem was we were hurting ourselves with penalties and turnovers.”

Orange continued to hurt itself Thursday, fumbling four times and amassing more than 100 yards in penalties. However, against Katella, those mistakes hardly seemed to matter.

The Knights (1-2), who gained only 31 total yards last week, had 101 this week. They also turned the ball over five times.

On offense, Orange manhandled Katella upfront, finishing with 250 yards rushing. Jamie Worthem had 84 yards in 14 carries and Nathaniel White had 74 yards in nine carries.

But the catalyst for the Panthers was quarterback Noah Kimbwala, who passed for 145 yards and rushed for 35.

Kimbwala scored on runs of five and 11 yards. His passing style, at times, looked unorthodox, throwing on the run and gambling against double coverage. But he did complete six of 10 passes for 145 yards and threw touchdown passes of 57 and 22 yards to John Bowker.