Long Gains Help Sunny Hills Stop Troy

Two sizable Sunny Hills gains in the first half--one for a touchdown and one that was short of another score by one yard--made it one long Friday night for Troy in the Lancers’ 24-14 Freeway League victory at Buena Park High.

A Sunny Hills homecoming crowd of 2,500 saw the Lancers use a 66-yard touchdown run by running back Marlon Womack and a 68-yard pass play from quarterback Steve Mellano to wide receiver Steve Ashton to set up another Womack touchdown run and open up a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter. They then coasted to a relatively easy victory.

“We are slowly coming around,” Sunny Hills Coach Tim Devaney said. “Regardless of our record (4-4, 2-1 in league), we are a young team that’s getting better.”

The Lancers made that quite clear against Troy (2-5-1, 2-1), a team that has not beaten Sunny Hills since 1979, the year before Devaney took over the Lancers.

With Womack and Jeff Willis picking up big yards on the ground almost at will, the Lancers were in command throughout the game.

Womack, who gained 141 yards in 15 carries, set up his first touchdown run with an interception of a Brent Lacher pass while playing outside linebacker.

On a second-and-nine from his own 34-yard line, Womack ran behind right tackle and appeared to be stopped at the line. But he broke free and dashed to the end zone with 5 minutes 18 seconds left in the first quarter to give Sunny Hills a 7-0 lead.

The Lancers struck again on the third play from scrimmage in the second quarter. Mellano and Ashton combined on their 68-yard pass play and then Womack ran it in from the one-yard line for his second score of the game.

Sunny Hills added a 37-yard field goal by Ashton with 2:30 remaining before the half for a 17-0 lead.

Troy got on the board on its first possession of the third quarter on a nine-yard run by James Hartford. The junior fullback, who led the Warriors with 72 yards in 14 carries, accounted for all of Troy’s points. He scored again on a five-yard run with 2:23 to play in the game and had both extra points.

The Lancers got their final points on a two-yard run by Willis in the final quarter. It was the first rushing touchdown of the season for Willis, who gained 70 yards in 15 carries.

The Warriors came close to scoring midway through the fourth quarter, when they had a first and goal at the Sunny Hills nine-yard line, but could not move closer than the three. Tackles by linebacker Robert Griffin and defensive linemen Mark Veronda and Brian Willmer on three running plays by Troy kept the Warriors out of the end zone.

Mellano passed for 83 yards and Lacher for 143, though he was intercepted four times by the Lancers.