Estancia has no answers for Sunny Hills in nonleague setback

A forgettable nonleague stretch concluded for the Estancia High football team Friday night, as a scorching hot Sunny Hills team rolled into Jim Scott Stadium and flexed its dominance.

Estancia never had an answer for Lancers running back Alex Jung, who ran wild for 325 yards and four touchdowns on 27 carries. With little offensive production to match, the Eagles didn’t stand a chance, losing the nonleague contest 27-9 and falling to 0-5 on the season.

Jung rattled of 251 yards and three scores in the first half alone, and accounted for all of his team’s offense through three quarters before being shut down for the night. And despite cruising to a comfortable victory, the senior was not satisfied with the Lancers’ performance.

“It was really exhausting,” Jung said. “But in all honesty, we didn’t play as well as we should have. We played pretty sloppy. We came into this game cocky as hell, and that’s something we needed to correct.”

The opening drive foreshadowed a long night to come for the Eagles’ defense, as Jung took seven straight carries for 67 yards and a touchdown.

Estancia answered back with a 51-yard drive of its own, but stalled out in the Sunny Hills red zone. The Eagles offense settled for a 28-yard field goal from Andy Martinez and would cease to be a factor for the remainder of the evening.

Following an intentional grounding penalty on the first play of the ensuing drive, the Lancers (5-0) went back to their workhorse back, who delivered a 72-yard touchdown scamper. This marked the first points of a 20-0 run that put the game away, with Estancia failing to record another first down until the 3:46 mark of the third quarter.

A silver lining for the Eagles can be found in the fact that their defense made an undefeated opponent one-dimensional for nearly the entire game. They also forced Sunny Hills’ quarterback Luke Duxbury, a sophomore, into a pair of interceptions. But as Coach Mike Bargas noted, a continued trend of costly mistakes and untimely breakdowns brought back painful early-season memories.

A prime example occurred midway through the second quarter with the game still within reach.

Trailing by just 10, Estancia came up with its first defensive stand of the night when it forced an incompletion on third-and-16. A personal foul, however, turned a punting situation into a 4th-and-1.

Jung proceeded to capitalize by plowing through the defense for 40 yards and his third score of the evening.

The Eagles also made two red-zone appearances that only amounted to three points.

“Defensively we played well, but it’s been the story of our whole preseason. One or two mistakes, or a stupid foul, and they capitalize on it,” Bargas said. “We got a personal foul and they scored the next play. We’re shooting ourselves in the foot, but we’re young and we’re foolish, and that’s what happens when you’re young. You do foolish things.”

Offensively, Trevor Pacheco was the primary source of production for the Eagles. The junio running back surpassed the 100-yard rushing mark for the third time this season with 158 yards and a touchdown on the ground, to go with three receptions for 20 yards.

Eighty-one of those yards and the lone touchdown of the night for Estancia, however, came as time expired on a Sunny Hills victory.

“[We need to build on] everything to be honest,” Bargas said. “We need to eliminate penalties. We need to play compete games. When we get into the red zone, we need to score. And then on defense, we need to be sure-handed and wrap up when we tackle.”

The Eagles will search for their first win of 2017 as Orange Coast League play gets underway Thursday at Saddleback.

Sunny Hills……. 13 7 7 0 — 27

Estancia…………..3 0 0 6 — 9

FIRST QUARTER

SH - 2 run Jung (PAT good) - 8:03

EST - 28 FG Martinez - 2:00

SH - 72 run Jung (2pt conversion no good) - 1:35

SECOND QUARTER

SH - 40 run Jung (PAT good)- 4:54

THIRD QUARTER

SH - 15 run Jung (PAT good) - 5:24

FOURTH QUARTER

EST - 81 run Pacheco (No PAT) :00

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

EST - Pacheco 19-158 yards, 1 TD

SH - Jung 27-325 yards, 4 TDs

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

EST - Cash 7-16, 48 yards

SH - Duxbury 4-12-2 34 yards

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

EST - Pacheco 3-20 yards

SH - Mcgee 2-22 yards

JOSH CRISWELL is a contributor to Times Community News. Follow him on Twitter: @joshccriswell