Big third quarter lifts Anaheim to come-from-behind victory over University

Anaheim’s football team leveraged its ground game and a misplayed kickoff to come from behind and defeat University on the road 28-24 in a non-league game Friday night.

The home Trojans opened the scoring at the end of the first quarter with a 23-yard scoring strike involving two senior captains, quarterback Dylan Elmer to wide receiver Moises Keith-Chavez.

Less than a minute later Muqtader “MQ” Ahmadi recovered an Anaheim fumble. On the first play of the second quarter senior captain Deandre Miller made it 14-0 on a 1-yard run.

The Colonists (2-1) got their running game going and three minutes later cut the deficit to 14-7 on a 1-yard run by sophomore Daelan Garcia.

Midway through the second quarter, the Trojans (2-2) increased the lead to 17-7 on a 22-yard Trevor Pattock field goal.

Anaheim then went on a 10-play, 79-yard drive culminating in a 37-yard touchdown run by Senior Lloyd Nolasco. With just 19 seconds left in the half Elmer connected with Keith-Chavez on a 48-yard pass just short of the goal line. Elmer ran the ball in on the next play to give the Trojans a 24-14 halftime lead.

The second half of the third quarter would be decisive. The Colonists went on another 79-yard scoring drive, this time on 15 plays over five-and-a-half minutes resulting in a 13-yard running touchdown by Nolasco cutting the University lead to 24-21.

University failed to collect the ensuing kickoff and Anaheim recovered on the Trojan 23-yard line. Seven plays later, early in the fourth quarter, senior quarterback Jacob Campos scored on a 1-yard keeper on fourth and goal, giving Anaheim a 28-24 lead that would hold the rest of the game.

Anaheim amassed 274 yards and 18 first downs on the ground. Garcia had 132 yards on 27 carries while Nolasco added 110 yards on 18 rushes. Garcia had three kick returns for 86 yards giving him 218 all-purpose yards.

For University, Elmer completed 8 of 20 passes for 130 yards. Keith-Chavez caught four passes for 96 yards and had a 67-yard kick return giving him 163 all-purpose yards. Miller ran the ball 14 times for 51 yards.

The Trojans did force four fumbles, two in the fourth quarter, but Anaheim retained the ball three of the times.

Anaheim hosts Garden Grove next week while University meets Woodbridge at Uni.

—Courtesy Daryl Bogard, For OC Sports Zone