Santa Ana Valley Ends 13-Game Losing Streak

SANTA ANA — Santa Ana Valley’s Falcons finally brought a halt to their 13-game losing streak--the longest in Orange County--with a season-opening 13-7 victory over University on Thursday night at Santa Ana Stadium.

“We made a lot of mistakes and had a lot of problems, but I would have taken a half-point win,” said a relieved Falcon Coach Scott Strosnider.

The Falcons committed four turnovers but were rescued by an 89-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Tristan Lynch in the first quarter and the running of sophomore Dwayne Cherrington, who gained 118 yards in 16 carries.

Falcon mistakes gave University a 7-0 first-quarter lead. After a clipping penalty negated a 78-yard touchdown run by Cherrington, T.J. Willmott intercepted quarterback Aaron Tuioti’s pass and returned it 14 yards for the touchdown. Chris Peake kicked the conversion.

Lynch then took the kickoff on the Falcon 11 and raced all the way to the end zone to make the Trojans’ lead short-lived.

Enrique Farias’ fumble recovery on the Trojan 24-yard-line set up the winning touchdown--a 12-yard run by Vaaiti Sio on the first play of the second quarter. Eric Wei blocked Israel Hernandez’s conversion attempt.