Marina Offense Finally Heats Up, Beats Santa Ana

It took a while for the offenses to get warmed up, but Marina got hotter faster and the Vikings knocked off Santa Ana, 35-26, Friday to keep their playoff hopes alive.

The two teams combined for 710 yards of total offense, but only 44 of those came in the first quarter. Marina took the early lead when Greg Avalos intercepted a Mark Fausto pass in the Saint backfield and returned it 21 yards for a touchdown.

Santa Ana answered with a 42-yard touchdown pass from Fausto to Jose Mata to tie the score, but the Vikings kept piling on the offense. Runs of 34 yards by Mike Byers and 25 by Micah Harrison helped set up a six-yard scoring pass from Travis Anderson to Matt Thompson.

It took Santa Ana only three plays to tie the score again. Fausto scrambled for 39 yards to set up a 19-yard Oscar Miranda scoring run. Miranda, playing in his first game of the season, rushed for 94 yards and also caught a touchdown pass.

After Santa Ana punted with 31 seconds left in the half, Anderson completed successive passes of 25 and 15 yards to Mike Groh. The latter was for a touchdown, giving the Vikings a 21-14 lead with 11 seconds left in the half.

Fausto, second in the county in passing yardage entering the week, threw for 168 yards and had runs of 39, 17, and 11 yards. But he was sacked five times and four of his passes were intercepted.