Brea Olinda Stops Valencia’s Rally

As badly as Valencia played during the first three quarters of its Orange League game against Brea Olinda Thursday night, the Tigers still had a chance to get even.

Then everything went wrong again.

Valencia quarterback Robert Hernandez rallied his team from a 21-point deficit with two second-half touchdown passes, but four consecutive incomplete passes from midfield in the closing minutes allowed Brea Olinda to escape with a 21-14 victory at Valencia.

“We always come out playing hard in the second half,” said Valencia receiver Justin Fletcher, who caught the second-half touchdowns. “If we could just come out playing hard both halves, we’d be a very good team.”

The Tigers trailed, 14-0, after a sloppy first half by both teams.

The Wildcats (7-2, 4-0) lost a 32-yard touchdown pass to a holding penalty on their second possession, but got it back five plays later on a 16-yard run by Manuel Gutierrez, who finished with 175 yards in 26 carries.

Hernandez, who came into the game with 1,072 passing yards and 13 touchdowns, struggled in the first half. He completed only two of nine passes for 26 yards and was intercepted by Justin Rigsby on the Tigers’ second possession of the game.

Rigsby’s return went for 33 yards to the Valencia 18. Four plays later, quarterback Steve Stagnaro picked up a fumbled snap and ran it in from two yards for a 14-0 lead.

Stagnaro fumbled snaps twice more in the half, losing the second on Brea’s 35-yard line. Valencia (5-4, 2-2) couldn’t take advantage, however, stalling on fourth down from the 20 when Sonny Lopez let a would-be touchdown pass slip through his fingers in the end zone.

That was just the beginning of a tough night for Lopez, who came into the game as the county’s ninth-leading receiver.

Trailing, 21-0, midway through the third quarter, Lopez was wide open on the Wildcat 10-yard line when he dropped a long pass from Hernandez. Lopez got his hands on another pass in the end zone on the Tigers’ next possession, but couldn’t pull it in. Hernandez went to Fletcher on the next play for a 16-yard touchdown pass that cut the lead to 21-6.