Strong Defensive Effort Helps Katella Sack Orange

The Katella defense threw a shutout for more than 3 1/2 quarters Friday night to lead the visiting Knights to a 30-7 rout of Orange in a nonleague game at El Modena High.

The Knights (2-1) sacked three Orange quarterbacks a total of six times, which helped Katella gain field position inside Panther territory early and often. Dan Sauceda had two sacks to lead the Knights.

Katella’s first three drives started on the Orange 39-, 48- and 21-yard lines, and each resulted in a touchdown.

“We didn’t have a lot of pressure on the quarterback the previous two games,” Katella Coach Larry Anderson said. “We did some things on pass rush this week in practice.”

Quarterback Jaret Wright, who completed six of 10 passes for 158 yards, scored the opening touchdown on a one-yard keeper. The senior combined with David Rojo on a 69-yard scoring pass play with 5 minutes 54 seconds remaining in the first half.

Rojo, who had 97 yards total offense in the game, also scored on a 10-yard run off left tackle in the first quarter.

Orange (1-2), which lost starting quarterback Andy Lauridsen to a first-half concussion and backup Raul Vital to a first-half elbow injury, managed only one scoring drive. Sophomore Shawn McCraw connected with George Perez on a 19-yard touchdown pass play with just 2:39 remaining.

The Panthers were paced by senior Jamie Worthem, who rushed for a game-high 73 yards in 22 carries.