Lancers Beat Santa Paula the Hard Way, 19-16

Orange Lutheran didn’t make things easy on itself Friday night in the Southern Section Division XI playoffs at Cal State Fullerton.

The third-seeded Lancers held off a late rally to defeat Santa Paula, 19-16, in a second-round game before about 1,000 spectators.

Junior linebacker Robin Olson became the unlikely hero with two fourth-quarter plays that secured the victory.

Two plays after Santa Paula intercepted a Robby Hobbs pass at the Lancer 22-yard line, Olson recovered a fumble by Jacob Macias at the nine, ending the Cardinals’ scoring threat.

The Lancers (10-2) then put together a 81-yard drive capped by Jon Talmage’s 27-yard field goal, his second of the game, giving Orange Lutheran a 19-9 lead with four minutes to play. The Lancers appeared to be in good shape.

However, another interception, this one of a pass by John Taylor, gave the Cardinals new life.

“That was a bad call by me,” Orange Lutheran Coach Jim Kunau said. “I made a lot more mistakes than the team did. We have to do more work with the head coach this week than the team.”

Santa Paula (9-2-1) quickly drove down field after the interception, and with less than two minutes remaining, the Cardinals scored on a 17-yard pass from David Maldonado to Brent Peterson, cutting the Lancer lead to 19-16.

That’s when Olson stepped up again. On an onside kick by Santa Paula, Olson pulled in the ball after it was batted by a teammate.

Santa Paula opened the game with a bang, scoring on the third play from scrimmage with a short pass over the middle from David Maldonado to Mark Rabago, who took it 80 yards for a touchdown and a 6-0 lead after a missed extra point attempt.

The Lancers came back two possessions later to score on a nine-yard keeper by Jason Taylor with 5:33 left in the first quarter. Talmage’s extra point gave the Lancers the lead for good, 7-6.

Ryan Cecil helped extend the lead when he returned a punt 39 yards to the Cardinal two-yard line. Steve Newsome carried it in on the next play for a 13-6 Lancer lead.

Orange Lutheran will play second-seeded L.A. Cathedral in the semifinals next week.