Santa Paula No Match for No. 1 Lancers

Orange Lutheran scored early, often and in a variety of ways Thursday night and routed Santa Paula, 58-14, in the opening round of the Southern Section Division XI football playoffs at Brea Olinda High.

Running back Dee Meza scored on his first four rushing attempts on runs of five, seven, 54 and nine yards and quarterback Jason Whieldon threw touchdowns passes of 91 yards to Tim Fleming and 71 yards to Jeff Renevier as Orange Lutheran scored on its first six possessions. The Lancers (9-1) also got a safety.

Meza finished with 149 yards in 15 carries and also returned a kickoff a school-record 98 yards for a touchdown.

Whieldon completed 12 of 13 pass attempts for 287 yards and three scores.

Renevier caught five passes for 104 yards two touchdowns. Fleming caught four for 145 yards and a touchdown.

Santa Paula quarterback Chad Metelak, under pressure from a hard rush all night, completed 10 of 23 pass attempts for 117 yards with one interception. He was sacked six times, three by Lancer linebacker Ethan Williams.

Coach Jim Kunau was criticized after the game by some Santa Paula staff members who thought he ran up the score, particularly when he called three timeouts at his own 40-yard line just before half while leading 42-0.

But Kunau said the Lancers needed the work. They were idle last week because of a schedule change.

“Everyone was anxious to play,” he said. “It felt good to get out there and be physical with someone else for a change.”

Even Orange Lutheran kicker Jon Talmage got into the act. His first four kickoffs reached the end zone, setting up Santa Paula, the divisional wild-card team, at their own 20.

It took only three plays for the Lancers (9-1) to capitalize deep in Cardinal territory. Linebacker Austin Kenney sacked Metelak, who fumbled, for a four-yard loss and defensive lineman Jason Talmage recovered at the Santa Paula 16.

Three plays later, Meza scored from five yards out.