Brea Olinda Starts Slow but Finishes Off Norwalk

Brea Olinda opened the game with a kickoff out of bounds, gave up a 33-yard run on the second play of the game and committed a pair of first-quarter turnovers.

That was the bad news for the Wildcats. The good news was that they also find time in the first quarter to score three touchdowns and pick up 234 yards en route to a 49-8 victory over visiting Norwalk in the first round of the Southern Section Division IX playoffs Friday night.

The Wildcats (10-1) will face Fullerton (6-5) in the second round.

Norwalk drove to the Brea 20-yard line on the opening possession before Brea’s Justin Stitt recovered a fumble, the first of six turnovers by the Lancers.

Scott Lieng broke loose for a 61-yard run to the Norwalk one and Chris Sanford scored from there and Jeff Marshall kicked his first of seven successful conversion tries to give Brea Olinda a 7-0 lead.

A fumble recovery by Martin Alvarado set up the second Wildcat score. Michael Prenovost caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Travis Blood with six minutes 48 seconds left in the first quarter.

Lieng scored the third Wildcat touchdown with 50 seconds left in the first quarter on a 55-yard run to increase the Brea lead to 21-0.

Brea Olinda scored on its next two possessions to increase its lead to 35-0 with 6:30 left in the first half. Matt Winkler caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Blood and Deonta Birdsong scored from the 13 for the Orange League champions.

By halftime, Brea Olinda had gained 346 yards with Blood connecting on 10 of 17 passes for 164 yards. Lieng led the first-half ground attack with 141 of his 154 yards.

Brea Olinda scored a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter on a one-yard run by Sanford and a 21-yard run by Ken Washington.

Norwalk scored its only touchdown in the final quarter, which was shortened to 10 minutes because of lopsided score.

Nick Stagnaro had a pair of interceptions and the Wildcats also recovered four fumbles. Blood finished 12 of 20 for 199 yards but had two passes intercepted.