Estancia football shut out by Santa Ana in Orange Coast League opener
SANTA ANA — Estancia High started its Orange Coast League football campaign on the right foot, with Alexis Galindo romping through Santa Ana’s defense for 33 yards on the first play from scrimmage. That was nearly it for the positives.
Santa Ana was nearly unstoppable Friday night, scoring on eight of 11 possessions en route to a 53-0 thrashing of Estancia at Santa Ana Stadium that could have been far more pronounced.
J.J. Garcia ran for 111 yards and three first-half touchdowns, Sergio Torres was nearly perfect in throwing for 185 yards and two scores, and the Saints rolled up 513 total yards while limiting Estancia (2-3) to just 38 yards and two first downs before a fourth quarter played with a running clock.
“There’s not a whole lot [of positives],” Eagles head coach Mike Bargas said. “We’re young and we make some mistakes, and you just can’t make mistakes against a team like this. We had a nice little drive in the first series and we couldn’t capitalize on that, then we put our defense behind the 8-ball, and then we started getting tired. And when [the opponent is] bigger and a little faster, it’s hard.
“We’ll see. We’re battered, but hopefully we can retool. ... We’ve got to swallow this bitter pill and get ready for next week.”
Santa Ana (4-2, 2-0 in the Orange Coast League) claimed its second victory of the week — Long Beach Millikan on Thursday forfeited four victories, including a 62-13 season-opening rout over the Saints — to join title-favorite Orange and Santa Ana Calvary Chapel— its opponent next week— atop the Orange Coast standings with two wins. It has won all five meetings with Estancia, with an average victory margin of 41.8 points, since joining the league in 2018.
Galindo keyed the Eagles’ attack in place of Noah Aires, a senior standout who was held out for precautionary reasons after suffering a concussion in last week’s win over Westminster La Quinta. He ran for 68 yards on 12 carries.
Almost all of the sophomore’s yardage came on the run to start the game, which led to a 45-yard Jose Anguiano field-goal try that fell short, and on 14- and 16-yard gains as Estancia marched into the red zone against Santa Ana’s reserves in the final minutes. Quarterback Riley Witte, who split time with Oscar Vasquez, hit on six of eight fourth-quarter throws for 39 yards to finish nine of 16 for 47 yards.
Three Santa Ana touchdowns were called back because of penalties — the Saints reached the end zone on two of the drives — and another possession ended with Garcia fumbling the ball away at the goal line.
The three drives that didn’t lead to points: A three-and-out at the start, Garcia’s giveaway at the end of the first quarter (collected by Jared Colin in the end zone), and another halted by halftime three plays after an offensive pass interference call killed a score.
Torres completed nine of 11 throws and threw third-quarter touchdowns covering 32 yards to Adrian Sanchez and 49 yards to Joseph Foster.
Estancia, which is home next week against St. Margaret’s (0-6, 0-2), fumbled the ball away three times, twice on kickoff returns, and the Saints scored from successive second-quarter possessions starting at the Eagles, 17-, 18- and 34-yard lines. The most painful turnover, perhaps, was Jordan Rooker’s at the end of a 60-yard kickoff return after Garcia gave Santa Ana a 6-0 lead on a 12-yard run a little more than midway through the first quarter.
“[Those turnovers] are a killer. We couldn’t catch a break on that stuff,” Bargas said. “If we do that and we score [after Rooker’s return], then it’s a different story, but we just let the game slip away from us.”
Santa Ana 53, Estancia 0
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Estancia 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 — 0
Santa Ana 6 - 26 - 14 - 7 — 53
FIRST QUARTER
SA — Garcia 12 run (kick failed), 5:13.
SECOND QUARTER
SA — Garcia 5 run (run failed), 11:24.
SA — Garcia 8 run (Ixta kick), 8:46.
SA — Hughes 5 run (kick failed), 5:31.
SA — Flores 9 run (Ixta kick), 2:39.
THIRD QUARTER
SA — Sanchez 32 pass from Torres (Ixta kick), 8:14.
SA — Foster 49 pass from Torres (Ixta kick), 2:32.
FOURTH QUARTER
SA — Cervantes 28 run (Ixta kick), 7:51.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
SA — Garcia, 19-111, 3 TDs; Cervantes, 6-73, TD; Hughes, 8-57, TD.
E — Galindo, 12-68.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
SA — Torres, 9-11-0, 185, 2 TDs.
E — Witte, 9-16-0, 57.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
SA — Foster, 4-123, TD; Sanchez, 4-45.
E — Vasquez, 2-18; Bautista, 2-13.
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