Santa Ana Smashes Cypress

Entering this season, the Santa Ana High football team had three wins in the last three years. After a 35-7 thrashing of Cypress Thursday night at Santa Ana Stadium, Santa Ana has matched that total after only five games.

The opportunistic Saints (3-2) scored 22 points off of four Cypress turnovers to quell any threats by the Centurions (2-3).

Santa Ana, which went 3-7 last year after going 0-10 in both 1996 and ‘97, pounded the ball on offense, totaling 301 rushing yards. Eight different Saints had carries, led by Elliott Powell’s 98 yards in nine carries and Al Guidry’s 78 yards in 15 carries. Quarterback Rey Flores attempted just one pass.

“It’s a great thing to have so many guys who can run the ball,” Saint Coach Jesse Gomez said. “We can keep them fresh and keep rotating them in.”

Powell scored on a seven-yard run with four minutes left in the third quarter to give Santa Ana a 20-7 lead.

With the score still 20-7, Cypress drove to the Santa Ana 24-yard line early in the fourth, but Darren Shorter fumbled after a four-yard reception and Alex Godinez recovered for Santa Ana.

The Saints turned that into an 80-yard scoring drive, finished by a 37-yard option keeper by Flores for a 28-7 lead.

Two plays later, Cypress quarterback Justin Rice, who threw two interceptions, fumbled while being sacked. Guidry picked up the loose ball and went 31 yards for a score.

“We kept getting into situations to score and then found a way not to,” Cypress Coach Kerry Crabb said. “We got into the red zone a few times and came away empty--that’ll hurt you.”

Cypress pulled to within 14-7 just before halftime after recovering a Santa Ana fumble at the Saint 45-yard line with 1:24 left in the half.

Four plays and 31 seconds later, Justin Rice found Thaddius Lewis on a 33-yard fade route down the right sideline for a score.

The Saints drove 80 yards in 17 plays and devoured 7 minutes 48 seconds of playing time to take a 14-0 lead with 4:35 left in the first half.

Key plays on the drive were an eight-yard run by Guidry on fourth and six from the Cypress 35 and a 15-yard run by Frostee Rucker on third and nine from the Centurion 26.

One play later, Guidry capped the marathon march with an 11-yard touchdown run.