Savanna No Match for Valencia

They came in with matching records, but that’s where the similarities ended Friday night at Glover Stadium.

Seventh-ranked Valencia looked every bit the ranked team, scoring a 48-14 Orange League victory over Savanna in front of 1,200.

Savanna (6-2, 1-2) played like a team that looked better on paper than on the field.

The Rebels’ Paul Waldrop, the county’s second-rated passer, had as many passes intercepted as he had all season--three--in the first half, leading to three touchdowns.

Jermaine Gray had two of those interceptions, and he was on the receiving end of two more touchdowns, a 69-yard scoring pass from Rob Petko, and a 15-yarder from running back Chris Draft in a piece of trickery that extended the Tigers’ lead to 27-0.

On the next play, Joey Secoda intercepted a Waldrop pass and returned it 24 yards for a touchdown. It was the first of two touchdowns for Secoda, a safety who now has five interceptions. He returned an on-side kick 44 yards in the third quarter after Savanna’s second score.

Gray also recovered a second-half fumble.

Draft, who had scored earlier on a three-yard scoring run, then made it 41-0 when he cut back against the Rebels’ defense and scored from 25 yards.

It was all part of a 34-point second quarter that knocked Savanna out of the game.

Beginning with a seven-yard scoring pass from Petko to Paul Tamblyn, Valencia (7-1, 3-0) scored on five of its first six possessions. Its only failure came on the first play of the second series, when Petko fumbled after being hit by Omar Perez. It was moot, really, because Valencia had just taken possession on a fumble recovery, and the Tigers got the ball back three plays later on the first of Gray’s interceptions.

“We were hoping the offensive line would come out and make some blocks,” Valencia Coach Mike Marrujo said. “And our defense made some big plays. But our defense has played well all year.”

The Tigers, who have four shutouts, lost their fifth with 22 seconds left in the first half.

Trailing 41-0, Savanna scored on a 33-yard pass completion from Waldrop to Rani Kohouch.

The Rebels added another on their first drive of the third quarter, going 90 yards and finishing with an eight-yard run by Canhuy Nguyen.

Kohouch had an outstanding night, catching 14 passes for 202 yards, but 10 came after falling behind by 41 points.

Waldrop finished 17 of 28 for 255 yards.