Brea Olinda Finally Gets Past Savanna in the Fourth Quarter

Coach Jon Looney was not surprised his Brea Olinda team had to struggle with a somewhat underachieving Savanna squad, pulling out a 17-14 victory in the fourth quarter in front of an estimated 2,000 at Brea.

“This year any team can win the league,” Looney said. “Any team. This is my 13th year, and this is the most even I’ve ever seen it.

“Anything can happen.”

What has been happening lately for Brea Olinda (4-3, 2-0) has been late-game heroics.

Friday’s game was the third straight which the Wildcats pulled out a victory in the fourth quarter. This came on a one-yard run by Jesse Vargas with 7 minutes 43 seconds left to play.

Brea Olinda’s ability to run the ball swung the game in its favor. Scott Leing rushed for 122 yards, and Vargas had 63 yards and Eric Albrecht added 38. For the game, the Wildcats had 242 yards in 42 carries.

They needed them all since quarterback Matt Kalcevich struggled, completing only two of 10 attempts for 20 yards. The Wildcats were also called for 10 penalties for 97 yards.

Savanna Coach Fred Di Palma has been prodding the Rebels (3-4, 0-2) most of the season to develop a hunger as well as a mean streak.

“I’ve been waiting for the kids to say, ‘All right, let’s play football,’ and mean it for four quarters,” Di Palma said. “I know everybody says that but too often we’ve let down and relaxed. Even when we’ve gotten leads on teams we haven’t been able to put them away.”

Di Palma gave his team a chance to show some fortitude in the first quarter when, on a fourth and one from the Rebel 43, he decided to got for it. But Jason Brown ran into several tacklers and was stopped for no gain.

Brea took the ball and drove to the Savanna one-yard line before stalling, and settled for Scott Davis’ 18-yard field goal.

After forcing a short punt that landed at the Savanna 40, Brea made it all the way into the end zone. Albrecht capped a six-play drive with a two-yard scoring run.

Trailing by 10, the Rebels struck back. After moving the ball from their 34 to the Wildcat 35, Cameron King--who rushed for 84 yards and two touchdowns--threaded his way through the Brea defense and delivered a 35-yard touchdown run, to bring his team within 10-7.

The Rebels took their only lead in the third quarter, taking the second half kickoff 89 yards in 11 plays. King scored on a two-yard run.

“I was afraid for a second, because when they get emotionally up, they really get up,” Looney said of Savanna. “But when they get down, they struggle.”

Savanna got one final chance to win the game, but quarterback Ryan Poland, who passed for 129 yards, had a pass intercepted by Albrecht near midfield with less than a minute to play.