Falcons’ Late Rally Tops Foothill

Santa Ana Valley scored 29 points in the final 10 minutes to record a dramatic 39-28 victory over Foothill in a Century League game Friday night at Tustin High.

Foothill (0-8, 0-3) dominated the first three quarters and had a 28-10 lead after a three-yard run by Skyler Champion with 10:08 left in the game. Champion finished with 195 yards rushing and three touchdowns.

But Santa Ana Valley (7-1, 3-0) didn’t give in. The Falcons went 77 yards on nine plays on their next possession for a score. Miguel Guerrero found Lance Johnson open for a 13-yard touchdown to pull Santa Ana Valley to within 28-17.

On its next possession, Santa Ana Valley marched 59 yards in less than a minute and scored on Guerrero’s 29-yard pass to Eliu Fatu. Fatu also caught the two-point conversion from Guerrero to narrow Foothill’s lead to 28-25.

Santa Ana Valley got the ball back after Aaron Barragan intercepted a Mike Castillo pass with 2:14 to go. Four plays later, Guerrero found Fatu open for a 14-yard touchdown to give the Falcons a 32-28 lead with 1:32 to play.

Foothill drove the ball to the Santa Ana Valley 38-yard line with under a minute left, but David Guevara intercepted a Castillo pass and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown to seal the game.