Calvary Chapel breaks open close game with strong second half to defeat Saddleback

Quarterback Matt Peters led Calvary Chapel to a victory over Saddleback. (Photo: OC Sports Zone, Tim Burt).

Calvary Chapel High School’s football team broke open a close game at halftime and went on to defeat Saddleback 31-7 Thursday night at Segerstrom for its second consecutive victory to start Orange Coast League play,

The Eagles (3-3, 2-0) led 10-7 at halftime but outscored Saddleback (2-3, 0-2) 21-0 in the second half.

Sophomore quarterback Matt Peters again led the way, completing 16 of 28 passes for 233 yards, one touchdown pass and a TD run for the Eagles. He also rushed for 108 yards.

The Eagles defense was also tough, forcing six turnovers. Gavin Ghahyasi and Luke Huffman each recorded two interceptions. Saddleback also lost the ball twice on fumbles.

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Saddleback moved ahead 7-3 when quarterback Donavan Castellanos bolted 16 yards for a score with 7:06 left in the second quarter.

Late in the first half, the Roadrunners punted and Calvary Chapel took over on its own 11-yard line with about a minute left and quickly drove the ball to the Roadrunner 1-yard line. From there, Adler Avakian scored to put the Eagles up 10-7.

“Saddleback really came out strong, they kind of hit us in the mouth but I think we did a great of recovering and that touchdown at the end of the first half we took that momentum and brought it in the second half and that was all because of Matt and our line blocked really well,” said Calvary Chapel Coach Jack McInally.

“Luke Huffman had a monster game, that whole drive at the end of the first half and then he had two picks. It was a whole team effort, our defense really stepped up. I think we had four interceptions. It was our first game where our offense clicked and our defense clicked.”

Saddleback was unable to contain Peters, who led the Eagles to a 38-37 comeback win over Costa Mesa last week in the final minute.

“Their game plan was to keep me inside and we just took some deep shots to Luke Huffman, Gavin Ghahyasi and Charles Sparks, we had some great targets deep,” said Peters. “That’s like the first time we threw deep and it was a good victory.”

McInally had plenty of praise for Peters.

“He’s getting better as a thrower every single day,” the coach said. “I think Saddleback’s game plan was to keep him in the pocket and I think he burned them tonight. Matt is not just an athlete back there, he’s a quarterback. I was really proud of him.”

Saddleback struggled with penaltes and turnovers in the second half and Calvary Chapel took advantage.

“We tried to deal with adversity, we were in great positions at times, we just couldn’t find a way to put it in the end zone,” said Saddleback Coach Glen Campbell. “A couple mistakes, we left a lot on the field as far as execution is concerned. I think right before the half with about a minute and 20 left when they went down and scored, that took a lot of the momentum from us and it didn’t seem like we were able to recover from that as well as we could have but we were still in it.”

Saddleback was led by Castellanos, the senior quarterback who passed for 208 yards but was intercepted four times. Running back Antonio Morales rushed for 63 yards on 10 carries and receiver Luis Lopez had five catches for 65 yards.

“When you move it, you still got to finish it and we didn’t finish tonight,” Campbell said. “My hats off to them, they excecuted and made the plays they needed to make. They made a lot more than we did tonight.”

Peters connected with Charles Sparks on a 16-yard TD pass in the third quarter to put Calvary Chapel ahead 17-7. In the fourth quarter, Peters scrambled 30 yards for a score and Aden Moraga capped the scoring with a 2-yard TD run with 2:29 left to cap a big win for Calvary Chapel.

Sparks wound up with four catches for 90 yards. Zenden Berbari kicked a 47-yard field goal in the first quarter to give Calvary Chapel an early 3-0 lead.

Calvary Chapel now has some momentum going into next Friday’s game with Santa Ana at Santa Ana Stadium.

“We were 1-3 and feeling kind of down but we went in and beat Costa Mesa and got the win and then we beat Saddleback so it feels good,” Peters said.

Saddleback will play at Costa Mesa next Friday.

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com