Calvary Chapel captures decisive win over Santa Ana Valley in Sigma League opener

Calvary Chapel players head off the field after Thursday’s victory. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Calvary Chapel High School’s football team couldn’t have had a much better debut in the Sigma League than it did Thursday night.

The Eagles were clicking on all cylinders from the start, jumping out to a 42-0 halftime lead and coasted to a 49-6 victory over Santa Ana Valley at Segerstrom on homecoming. Calvary Chapel used to be in the Orange Coast League.

Calvary Chapel (2-4, 1-0) took advantage of three interceptions and two fumbles by Santa Ana Valley (0-6, 0-1). Calvary Chapel had four touchdowns off turnovers. A running clock was used at the start of the third quarter.

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Senior Matt Peters scored two rushing touchdowns and also had a 40-yard pick six in the second quarter to put Calvary Chapel ahead 42-0.

“It really goes out to all of our captains, starting 0-4 we could have unraveled pretty easy, but we had some close losses and the team understood that, especially going against Pasadena Poly and in that bye week we really came together as a team and we kind of looked at it our season is 0-0 even if we were 1-4,” said Calvary Chapel Coach Jack McInally.

“Matt has been an incredible leader and (with) Isaiah Arriola, Waldo Castrejon and Pops Soto, we’ve really had incredible leaders. Our defense played lights out tonight, I think we had four defensive touchdowns. I’m just so excited for this league. It’s pretty nice not having Santa Ana and Orange and St. Margaret’s in there.”

Calvary Chapel’s defense allowed just 28 yards passing.

Peters set the tone with TD runs of 6 and 35 yards in the first quarter. He also had a 58-yard run and wound up with 115 yards rushing on six carries.

“Honestly, I thought it was a good win, obviously struggling in pre-season, we started off 0-4,” said Peters. “We started off league by playing really well starting off in the first quarter 28 points. Our defense did amazing, big shout-out to them and all of us got to touch the rock and score, so it was just really good morally especially after losing four games.”

The interception was special too.

“That was my first time playing d-end (defensive end) so we’ve just been trying that out and it was kind of cool to get a pick from that,” Peters said.

Also in the first half, Jeff Rauch recovered a fumble and returned it 33 yards for a score. Following another Santa Ana Valley fumble, quarterback Quinlan Russell (who also passed for 33 yards) scored on a keeper from 1 yard out to make it 28-0.

Then Castrejon scored on a 35-yard interception return to give Calvary Chapel a 35-0 lead.

Peters interception return gave Calvary Chapel a 42-0 lead at halftime.

In the third quarter, Calvary Chapel’s Noah Barthel intercepted a pass and returned it 85 yards for another TD.

Santa Ana Valley got on the scoreboard on the final play of the game when Sammy Zuniga scored on a run from two yards out. A conversion was not attempted. Zuniga was his team’s workhorse, rushing for 107 yards on 22 carries.

Fern Dercio also rushed for 58 yards on six carries for the Falcons.

“Right from the start, there were too many mistakes on offense and a good team like Calvary has good offensive power and they capitalized and jumped on us real quick,” said Santa Ana Valley Coach Alfredo Macias. “It’s hard to try and catch up with them. That’s been the case (this season), turning the ball over on our side and trying to play catch-up.

“Luckily, our kids still played hard all the way until the end and got the TD and gave us a high note getting us ready for Ocean View.”

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