Western Quarterback Gives Anaheim the Lift It Needs to Defeat Him

Anaheim’s football players, those late-night TV junkies, did a little channel surfing Thursday night and found all the motivation they needed against Western Friday night.

The Colonists’ defense, irate over remarks by Western quarterback Brandon Brennan on a live TV interview Thursday night, pulled the plug on the Pioneers’ passing offense in a 10-7 victory in an Orange League game Friday night at Glover Stadium.

A 33-yard field goal by Joel Vasquez with 11 minutes 15 seconds left provided the winning margin for Anaheim (5-4, 2-2), which kept alive its playoff hopes.

An Anaheim victory against Savanna, coupled with a Western loss to league-leading Valencia, could give the Colonists a second-place finish. Western (6-2-1, 3-1) could clinch the league title with a victory against Valencia.

But playoffs aside, Anaheim’s defensive players were looking only to do a number on Brennan, who they claimed showed them a lack of respect during the interview. Brennan, the county’s leading passer, was 15 of 31 for 93 yards and a touchdown, but completed only two of nine passes for 14 yards in the second half.

“I don’t think Brandon helped his cause with what he said on TV,” said Todd Borowski, Anaheim’s second-year coach. “He said our secondary wasn’t good and he would pick us apart, and that this game was just a warmup for Valencia. He has got to realize that kids watch this stuff on TV.”

Defensive tackles Raul Zepeda and Steve Howard apparently did. Zepeda, a backup linebacker making his first start on the line, sacked Brennan twice in the fourth quarter and decked him on an incomplete pass. Howard recovered a Brennan fumble at the Western five-yard line with five seconds left to end the game.

“(Brennan’s comments) fired us up all the more,” Howard said. “We don’t talk trash, and we didn’t like it.”

Brennan wasn’t the only one who had a tough night. Western, which had outscored its last two opponents 77-0, struggled in the second half. One of Brennan’s favorite receivers, Jason Covarrubias, dropped a certain touchdown pass at the Anaheim 30 with 2:05 left. Covarrubias had beaten two Anaheim defensive backs by at least five yards when the pass slipped through his fingers.

Anaheim sophomore tailback Reuben Droughns, who entered the game as the county’s leading rusher (1,466 yards), struggled for 31 yards in 10 carries in the first half before finishing with 103 yards in 29 carries.

Droughns gave Anaheim a 7-0 lead when he grabbed a screen pass from Jaime Carlos, broke a tackle and raced 25 yards for a touchdown. Western tied it on the ensuing possession when a scrambling Brennan hit Josh Christensen in the back of the end zone for a six-yard touchdown.