PHOTOS: Orange strikes with three early TDs and coasts to 61-14 league win over Estancia

Isacc Galvan of Orange heads for the end zone for his first TD in Thursday’s game vs. Estancia. (Photos: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone)

Orange High’s football team racked up its usual big numbers on offense Thursday night, defeating Estancia 61-14 in an Orange Coast League game on senior night at Segerstrom.

To see the slide show, please click on the first photo

But the defense also shined, shutting down Estancia for the most part and forcing three fumbles. Bryan Fausto also had an interception for Orange, which remains in a virtual tie with Santa Ana for the league lead. Santa Ana (2-0 in league) plays Saddleback Friday night at Santa Ana Stadium.

Orange (7-1, 3-0) led 61-0 at halftime and a running clock was implemented at the start of the third quarter. Orange substituted freely in the second half.

“Our front defense, our linebackers and D-line played exceptional tonight,” said Orange Coach Robert Pedroza. “They got off the ball and they created turnovers in the backfield and that’s what allowed us to get going.”

Pedroza said that the front line consisting of Jeremiah Rivera, Joseph Aguilera, Blaze Iglesias, Christopher Quiroga and Nate Cook “performed well tonight. They were fast and aggressive and it was nice to see our D-line get off the ball tonight.”

Orange held Estancia (2-6, 1-2) to minus passing yards and 122 rushing yards.

Orange also benefited by a big offensive performance by quarterback Daylen Pedroza, who completed 13 of 18 passes for 256 yards and four touchdowns. He also had TD runs of 18 and 21 yards in the second quarter and rushed for 71 yards total.

“I tell everyone he’s a special player,” Coach Pedroza said. “When he’s in tune to what’s going on it’s pretty fun to watch. He was dialed in tonight and we started off hot with our running game. (Isacc) Galvan had six (about) six carries and three of them were touchdowns.”

Orange set the tone early when Galvan scampered 64 yards on the second play from scrimmage for a TD. Galvan followed that with TD runs of 10 and 22 yards to put the Panthers ahead 21-0 with 5:03 left in the first quarter. Galvan wound up with 119 yards rushing on seven carries.

Daylen Pedroza ended the third quarter by throwing an 11-yard TD pass to Issac Adetoye and a 26-yard TD pass to Mark Miller to put the Panthers ahead 34-0 going into the second quarter.

It was part of a big night for Pedroza.

“It started off in practice, Mondays, the first day is a mental day, they (the coaches) watched film over the weekend and we just do what they tell us to do in practice and we just get after it,” Pedroza said. “We just have to continue practicing hard and just do what the coaches ask for us at practice.”

Receiver/defensive back Andrew Andrade also had another big night for Orange, hauling in four catches for 129 yards and a 43-yard TD catch starting the third quarter. He was also in on a number of tackles on defense.

“After last week’s game against Costa Mesa, it was a lot of preparation for their veer offense and we trusted in our coaches on what do do and we just stuck to our plan,” Andrade said.

The touchdown catch gave Orange a 41-0 lead.

“I had to trust my offensive receivers for blocking and they did most of the work and I just made it happen,” Andrade said.

Efrain Ayala also had a 15-yard TD catch for Orange in the first half.

Estancia broke the shutout with two touchdowns in the second half against the Orange back-ups. Beto Sotomayer had a 10-yard TD run and Lucas Pacheco scored on a 5-yard TD run.

Nathan Pacheco was the Eagles leading rusher with 59 yards on 12 carries.

“We have to retool and get ready for Santa Ana next week,” said Estancia Coach Mike Bargas. “It’s not going to get any easier for us. We have to clean up the mistakes that we made. Fundamentally we had some breakdowns and I think we were a little gun-shy coming out to this game.

“It’s hard when you don’t play really good football against a really good football team. We had a lot of turnovers and we gave them the short side of the field…we gave them a lot of favors on offense and defensively, we didn’t play like we have in the past. I think we were a little intimidated by these guys.”

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone, timburt@ocsportszone.com