Villa Park Rushes Past Foothill

Villa Park raced to the front of the Century League standings by running over Foothill, 59-25, Friday at Tustin High.

Two Villa Park backs--Dache Dameron and Nick Busciglio--each gained more than 100 yards rushing and the team had 416 on the ground.

“We whipped them on the line of scrimmage,” Villa Park Coach Pat Mahoney said. “The steamroller just kind of got going.”

Villa Park (2-5, 2-0) is alone in first place with a half-game lead over Canyon.

But Mahoney was hardly feeling over-confident about his team’s situation.

“This is no bigger than the next game and that’s against El Modena. They have beaten us the last two years.”

Two touchdowns late in the first half gave Villa Park momentum, and it was carried over to the third quarter when the Spartans scored three touchdowns to open a 46-13 lead.

“The coaches couldn’t get us to shut up at halftime,” Dameron said. “But they finally got us settled down and we just came out and got going again in the second half.”

Villa Park opened the second half with a seven-play drive that went 63 yards and ended on a 13-yard scoring pass from John Jackson to Dallas Dapper. The touchdown put the Spartans up, 32-13. Jackson, a sophomore, was seven of seven for 89 yards.

Villa Park’s next two touchdowns were set up when Foothill (3-4, 1-1) botched punts.

The first was a high snap and Villa Park took over at the Foothill 30. Busciglio capped the drive with an eight-yard touchdown run.

The next Foothill punt was blocked by Villa Park’s Bert Cabada and Sonny Uelgitone, who came up the middle. The Spartans started at the Foothill two and Dan Munoz scored on the first play.

He also scored Villa Park’s next touchdown on a 68-yard run as Villa Park went ahead, 52-13.

The fourth quarter was little more than a series of penalties, including three consecutive unsportsmanlike conduct calls against Villa Park and poor defense by both teams.

On the first play from scrimmage after Munoz’s 68-yard scoring run, Foothill’s Dana Pino-Dempsey ran 65 yards up the sideline for a score.

The scoring continued on the next play when Foothill tried an onside kick.

The ball was knocked out of the pile and Villa Park’s Josh Harnett picked it up and raced 43 yards untouched for a touchdown.

In another Century League game:

Santa Ana Valley 14, Canyon 14--Olu Davis rushed for two touchdowns for Canyon, but Hardy Fatu’s one-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter rallied Santa Ana Valley at El Modena High.

Canyon (2-4-1, 1-0-1) took a 14-7 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter when Davis scored on a 35-yard run.

But Santa Ana Valley (2-4-1, 0-1-1) came back on the next series, helped by a pass interference call that gave the Falcons a first down inside the Canyon 10.