Garciano, Valley Christian Turn Tables on Orange Lutheran

Orange Lutheran and Cerritos Valley Christian spent their nonleague schedules going in opposite directions.

Both played large-school opponents. But while Orange Lutheran marched to a 4-0-1 record, Valley Christian struggled to a 1-4 mark.

But as usual, when these school get together for their Olympic League meeting, you can throw out all of the preliminaries.

Such was the case again Friday night, as host Valley Christian, finding itself in the rare position of an underdog, shocked the visiting Lancers, 36-19, in front of a standing-room-only crowd of more than 3,000.

Valley Christian running back Mark Garciano did a lot of the damage, rushing 35 times for 246 yards and all five Crusader touchdowns. He also caught three passes for 43 yards. Teammate Lucas Castlen chipped in with 61 yards in 14 carries as Valley Christian held a 71-40 advantage in the number of plays.

Rushing heroics aside, Garciano figured right into that ball-control scheme that Valley Christian’s veteran coach, Mike Wunderley, came up with after spending much of the week in the film room trying to devise a way to slow down the high-flying Lancers, who averaged 28 points coming in.

“Our emphasis was on making them drive on us,” Wunderley said. “They have the ability to score quickly, but we felt if we just did the basics and got down to playing our type of football, we would be in the game.”

Orange Lutheran quarterback Jason Whieldon passed for 164 yards and would have had more had a couple of his receivers held on to deep passes. But, more or less, Wunderley’s plan was correct. Orange Lutheran had difficulty sustaining drives all evening.

Valley Christian took a 7-0 first-quarter lead, but Dee Meza of Orange Lutheran tied the score the next time the Lancers touched the ball on a 65-yard run with three seconds left in the quarter.

Scoring passes from Whieldon to Jeff Renevier of 26 and 15 yards staked Orange Lutheran to a 19-7 lead, but then Valley Christian started chipping away.

Garciano closed out the first half with a 49-yard touchdown run, then with 27 seconds left in the third he capped a 53-yard, 13-play drive with a four-yard score. Later he added scoring runs of 32 and three yards.

Despite trailing at the half, Valley Christian had run off 34 plays to Orange Lutheran’s 17.

Meza finished with 90 yards rushing and Renevier had seven receptions for 123 yards.