Kimbwala’s Passes on Target as Orange Upsets El Modena

There wasn’t much for Orange players to say. After dominating and punishing El Modena for 48 minutes, all the Panthers could come up with to describe their 28-14 victory was the obvious.

“This is the best,” linebacker Jacob Garza mumbled. “This is the best.”

An understatement from the Panthers’ point of view.

All Orange did was beat the fifth-ranked team Orange County, one that had yet to lose a game. The victory Thursday night also clinched a playoff berth for the Panthers and kept them in contention for a share of the Century League championship.

And the Vanguards, the defending league champions, never knew what hit them.

“We were actually scared coming into this game,” Orange Coach Buddy Bland said. “They had so much talent that we didn’t know what to expect. But we finally put things together.”

True enough. The Panthers, who had struggled for consistency all season, did pretty much as they pleased at El Modena High School.

The Panthers played offense, with a versatile attack that gained 408 yards. The result was 28 points against a defense that had surrendered only 67 points all season.

Quarterback Noah Kimbwala, a 38% passer on the season, completed 14 of 23 passes for 233 yards. Normally erratic, he was on target all night, including two touchdown passes.

“It was about time,” Kimbwala said. “I was tired of those 36-yard passing games. I felt on tonight.”

Running back Jamie Worthem gained 147 yards in 19 carries. His performance included an 18-yard scoring run, during which he leaped two defenders, juked two defenders, then finally just ran over two defenders.

It gave the Panthers a 28-7 lead early in the fourth quarter and was the final blow to the Vanguards.

The Panthers played defense. They confused and abused the Vanguards, who had averaged 31 points over their previous four games.

The Panthers did a particularly good job in containing quarterback Jose Prado, who had thrown for 1,357 yards and 15 touchdowns coming into the game.

However, his receivers were smothered and the Panthers applied just enough pressure to throw off Prado. He completed only eight of 22 passes for 169 yards, 80 of which came on a touchdown pass to Fred Romo.

The Panthers sacked Prado twice and hurried him on several other occasions.

“We did everything right tonight that we needed to do,” Bland said. “The kids came to play.”

And to El Modena, that was obvious.