Santa Ana Falls to Jenkins and Long Beach Jordan

Ortege Jenkins rushed for two touchdowns and passed for one to lead Long Beach Jordan to a 32-13 victory over visiting Santa Ana in the season opener for both teams Thursday night.

Jenkins broke open a scoreless game early in the second quarter on a 23-yard run. Two minutes later, after an interception inside Santa Ana territory, Jenkins found Joe Hughes alone in the end zone for a 39-yard scoring pass and a 12-0 halftime lead.

Jordan widened its lead to 19-0 one minute into the third quarter, when Quoin Austin ran in from nine yards. An interception by Alex Cathcart, his second of the night, and a personal foul by Santa Ana, set up the one-play drive.

Jenkins pushed the Jordan lead to 26-0 with 2:49 left in the third quarter on a one-yard touchdown run.

Jenkins led the Panthers’ offense, rushing for 73 yards and passing for 121.

Santa Ana compounded its problems early in the fourth quarter on a bad punt snap that came to rest on its one-yard line. A play later, Courtney Robertson made it 32-0 on a one-yard plunge.

“Believe it or not, there are positives we can take from this game,” Santa Ana Coach Robert Hinman said. “We played them tough defensively in the first half, we never gave up and we have a running back for real.”

Santa Ana halfback Ladon Robinson rushed for a game-high 125 yards on nine carries. He scored from eight yards out with six minutes left in the game, then from 95 yards with a minute left for the game’s final score.