ORANGE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL / PREP EXTRA : Sunny Hills Grows Up in 21-17 Victory Over Sonora

Sunny Hills will remember Friday night’s 21-17 Freeway League victory over Sonora at Buena Park High School as a game in which a young defense and tough quarterback made clutch plays late in the game.

Trailing, 17-14, in the fourth quarter, quarterback Greg Garand directed Sunny Hills’ seven-play drive that he capped off with an eight-yard touchdown run with 8:42 left to play.

“This was a critical game for our cornerbacks,” Lancer Coach Tim Devaney said. “Since [Shawn] Brass was able to have his way with us on the ground, we needed the secondary to come up big.”

Sonora’s Brass carried the ball 29 times for 255 yards.

Sonora (3-3, 0-1) had just entered Lancer territory when Zand Broumand intercepted quarterback Kevin Rodriguez’s pass at the 27-yard line.

Still, Sunny Hills (2-3-1, 1-0) could not keep the ball. After seven plays, Tom Ringl intercepted a Garand pass and the Raiders had the ball on their 46-yard line with 2:16 left to play.

Trying to capitalize on the momentum of Ringl’s interception, Rodriguez went long on the first play. But Adam Rodriguez, a 5-foot-8, sophomore cornerback, was able to intercept the pass, allowing Sunny Hills to run out the clock.