Brea Rallies to Beat Magnolia

With Magnolia trying to clinch its first playoff berth since 1985, Orange League champion Brea Olinda knew it was facing a desperate team.

After falling behind an inspired Magnolia squad, Brea needed some last-minute heroics to pull out a 26-21 victory Friday at Brea Olinda High.

Travis Blood tossed his third touchdown pass of the second half, a five-yarder to Eric Albrecht with 40 seconds remaining, to give Brea (9-1, 5-0 in league) its first undefeated league season since 1990. Magnolia ended its season 6-3-1, 2-3.

Although Blood’s passes put the Wildcats into the end zone, it was their running game, spearheaded by Scott Lieng, who rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown in 16 carries, that set up the scores.

Also, Brea’s stingy defense, which had interceptions by Deonta Birdsong and Geno Rose, held Magnolia to 14 yards in the fourth quarter and stopped the Sentinels on a key fourth-and-one midway through the final quarter.

The loss was a painful one for Magnolia, which finished tied for third in league with Valencia and Western. However, Valencia will receive the league’s third automatic playoff berth. Valencia won the coin flip which was held earlier Friday, so the Sentinels knew they had to win to get into the playoffs.

Brea, ranked third in the Southern Section Division V poll, can now look forward to the playoffs as one of the top-four seeded teams.

It didn’t look good for Brea when Magnolia took a 21-7 lead after Luis Ortiz recovered Will Speer’s fumble in the end zone with 8 minutes 25 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Speer rushed for 137 yards in 24 carries and quarterback Anthony Zaragoza rushed for 53 yards and two touchdowns in 11 carries to help push the Sentinels ahead. But Brea rallied on the ground.

Four runs by Lieng set up Birdsong’s leaping catch of a 12-yard touchdown pass from Blood to help Brea pull within 21-14 with 1:59 left in the third quarter.

Blood’s next pass was a 39-yard touchdown strike to Matt Winkler, but Scott Davis missed the conversion. Brea trailed, 21-20, with 10:07 remaining before the Wildcats got the ball back for their game-winning drive.