Santa Ana Valley and Orange Tie

Santa Ana Valley boys’ soccer Coach Adnan Bayati knew what to expect Friday against Orange. So he asked for extra security, trainers and administrators to attend the Century League game.

When the teams played Jan. 12, seven yellow cards and a red card were issued. Friday at Santa Ana Valley, the team battled to a 1-1 tie in game that had four red cards, six yellow cards and nearly 20 minutes of injury time.

The tie, coupled with Canyon’s 4-1 victory over El Modena, creates a three-way tie for first with Orange, Santa Ana Valley and the Comanches. Orange has three games remaining; Valley and Canyon have two.

The fifth-ranked Falcons (14-4-4, 4-1-3) set up the tying goal with 15 minutes remaining when Orange defender Erik Medrano was whistled for going over the back of Carlos Figueroa on a header in the box.

Roberto Blanco then made the penalty kick, sending it low and to the left of goalkeeper Aldo Zuniga.

“I thought the refereeing was horrible,” Orange assistant coach Kevin Esparza said. “There’s no way that penalty should have been called on a 50-50 ball. They should’ve just let it go.”

The third-ranked Panthers (12-3-5, 4-0-3), who received all the yellow cards, had more scoring chances but were slowed by the penalties, including red cards to starting sweeper Danny Califf and center midfielder Jose Velasquez.

After missing several opportunities to take the lead, Orange scored in the 60th minute.

Giancarlo Villar broke down the left side and sent a shot at goalkeeper Marco Hernandez, who deflected the ball in front of the goal where sophomore Erik De La Cruz was waiting to tap in his second goal of the season.

In other Century League games:

Canyon 4, El Modena 1--Bryan Hertel, Brandon Avery, Jeff Pioch and Carlo Cortez scored for Canyon (14-8-1, 5-2-1).

Foothill 3, Villa Park 0--Joe Ludin had one goal and an assist for host Foothill (8-7-7, 2-1-5).