Uncharacteristic Blunders Cost La Habra Against Troy

In a season when nearly everything has gone right for La Habra, one quarter in Friday’s game against Troy went horribly wrong.

Three critical mistakes--two interceptions and a fumble--keyed a 28-point run by the Warriors, and propelled Troy to a 55-23 victory in front of an estimated crowd of 3,500 at Fullerton High.

The victory virtually secured a playoff spot for the Warriors (5-4, 3-1), who wrap up the regular season against Sonora. The loss severely damaged the postseason hopes of the Highlanders (7-2, 2-2), who face Fullerton.

“I was scared to death until about four minutes left in the game,” Troy Coach John Turek said. “They are a tremendous comeback team. I didn’t want to score 45 points and have them win, 46-45.”

The Troy defense made sure that would not happen. It recorded eight turnovers, seven of them interceptions. Two of them were returned for touchdowns by Troy, both coming in the pivotal second quarter.

“That must be some kind of school record,” Turek said of the interceptions. “[Defensive coordinator] Dane Ilertsen came up with a brilliant game plan. And the kids gave an amazing effort.”

A stunned La Habra Coach Rick Milhizer could only lament the stunning implosion of the Highlanders.

“We hadn’t really turned the ball over all year,” Milhizer said. “But we killed ourselves tonight. I may have put too much pressure on [quarterback] Robert Morales,” who did manage to throw for 265 yards and two touchdowns.

La Habra recovered an onside kick on the opening kickoff, but things went downhill from there for the Highlanders.

On La Habra’s first play, a Morales pass was intercepted by Jason Ferrer at the Troy 40. The Warriors promptly took the ball downfield 60 yards, with Luther scooting around the right end for an eight-yard touchdown.

La Habra came back the next series to tie the score on a 33-yard touchdown pass from Morales to receiver Nick Armstrong.

But in the second quarter, the turnovers came in clusters for the Highlanders--and so did the Warrior touchdowns.

Troy went ahead to stay on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Luther to J.D. Lawrence in the left hand corner of the end zone with 11:36 to play in the half.

After the kickoff, Morales threw his second interception, as Joe Connell picked off the pass at the 48 and ran unencumbered down the left sideline for a touchdown.

After a Highlander fumble, which Troy recovered at the La Habra 45, the Warriors kept the ball 10 plays. The last one was a 29-yard touchdown pass by Steve Muther to Lawrence, who caught the ball at the three and scored.