Villa Park Drops Orange Into Title Tie

Villa Park salvaged an otherwise disappointing season by dropping Orange into a tie for the Century League championship by defeating the Panthers, 27-13, Friday night at El Modena High.

The loss forced Orange (6-4, 4-1 in league) into a first-place tie with El Modena, which defeated Canyon, 27-23, Thursday night to also finish 4-1. Villa Park (5-3-1, 2-2-1), which finished fourth, still has a slim chance of making the playoffs as an at-large team.

Orange will be the league’s top-seeded playoff team by virtue of its 14-13 victory over El Modena.

Grant Pearsall ignited Villa Park with a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown for a 19-13 lead in the third quarter after Orange had rallied for a 13-13 tie on Jamie Worthem’s one-yard touchdown run.

Pearsall also set up the Spartans’ fourth-quarter touchdown with a 28-yard reception of an A.J. Strapp pass to the Panther three, setting up Ryan Tsui’s three-yard touchdown run. Hector Flores scored on a two-point conversion run with 9:57 left to make it 27-13.

Villa Park took a 10-0 first-half lead on a one-yard touchdown run by Tsui and a 37-yard field goal by Jeremy Bentley.