PHOTOS: Saddleback captures hard-fought win over Century to earn Zeta League title

Saddleback quarterback Andre Scott drops back to pass as Century’s outside linebacker Angel García applies pressure during the second quarter of Friday night’s Zeta League game. (PHOTOS: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone).

With the CIF football playoffs looming and a scramble for a league title at stake, both Century and Saddleback turned up the intensity in Friday’s Zeta League game Friday night at Century.

The two rivals slugged it out and when the dust cleared the Saddleback Roadrunners came away with a 42-21 victory to capture their first league title since 1988 with one week left in the regular season.

Saddleback quarterback Andre Scott had a huge game as the junior signal caller threw four touchdown passes and rushed for 81 yards and scored a touchdown.

“It means everything to our program to bring home a title and put up a banner in the gymnasium,” said Scott, who completed 12 passes for 310 yards. “I give a lot of credit to the receivers.”

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Scott’s favorite receiver was Andrew Alvarez who caught seven passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns.

“This was a rival game, and we came amped up,” said Alvarez. “We trusted the process and we’ve started something new here at Saddleback.”

The Roadrunners (5-4, 3-0) are returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2015.

Century got on the scoreboard first as running back Noe Najera sparked the Centurions’ scoring drive by rushing five times for 80 yards.

Quarterback Daniel Joya capped the drive with a 13-yard TD pass to Najera and Century led 7-0 at the 4:35 mark of the first quarter. Najera had a strong game as he rushed for 194 yards and ran for a TD and caught a touchdown pass.

Two plays following a long kickoff return by Andre Raiford, Saddleback tied the score at 7-7 on a 27-yard touchdown pass play from Scott to Alvarez. Midway through the second quarter, the duo hooked up for a second score – this time on a 57-yard TD pass – and the Roadrunners led 14-7.

The Centurions (5-4, 1-2) tied the score at 14-14 with 2:22 left in the second quarter when Joya galloped in for a TD from 23 yards.

However, moments later, Saddleback countered with a 78-yard TD pass from Scott to Raiford. While scrambling, Scott threw a perfect placed pass to Raiford. Raiford made a nice catch and then outran the defenders for the long touchdown, giving the Roadrunners a 21-14 halftime lead.  

“I almost got tripped up at the end of the play, but I made it,” Raiford said. “The team has been working at this since February, and I transferred here, because I wanted to go to the playoffs. It’s really exciting.”   

Century forced a turnover on Saddleback’s opening drive of the third quarter and moved the ball downfield for a tying score. The Centurions marched 67 yards in 10 plays. Najera capped the drive with a one-yard TD run to tie the score at 21-21 with 1:27 remaining in the third quarter.

But the Roadrunners went on to score three touchdowns in the final quarter and win going away.  Scott tossed a brilliant 63-yard TD pass to Christopher Romero who caught the ball in full stride and outran the secondary into the end zone to break the tie and give Saddleback a 28-21 lead.

Century was unable to move the ball in the fourth quarter and they shot themselves in the foot with several crippling penalties. Scott and Fabian Bravo added short TD runs in the final five minutes to put the game away.

“Our offense has been piling up a lot of yards; it’s 48 minutes of the Oklahoma Drill,” said Saddleback Coach Rob Thompson. “We have big linemen and we’ve been wearing people down in the second half. We’re tired of being in the cellar. It’s been a long time since Saddleback has won a league title, but we still have work to do. We should have scored three more touchdowns tonight, but we had a few turnovers. We must continue to finish games.”

Century Coach Lance Neal expressed a great deal of pride for his players following a very physical game.

“I’m extremely proud of our guys,” said Neal. “Saddleback made more plays down the stretch than we did. We didn’t make the big plays when we needed them. They deserved to win. We still must learn how to win games.”

Saddleback finishes league play next Friday hosting Magnolia (1-8, 1-2). Century plays second place Godinez Friday night at Santa Ana Valley in a battle for second place. Saddleback defeated Godinez (2-1) earlier in the season 25-19.

Two teams from the league advance to the CIF playoffs. But teams can petition for at-large berths with .500 overall records.

Notes:

—All 16 Century senior players served as honorary captains for Friday’s game and were at midfield for the coin toss.  

—Starting Century tight end Julien Servin didn’t play Friday night because he had his wisdom teeth removed on Friday.  

—“It’s been a long time since Century has been winning; it may be over 20 years since they’ve been in the playoffs,” said Neal.  “These kids aren’t used to winning and it’s a bit of a shock to them, but I couldn’t be prouder of them. They’ve worked hard since day one.”

—Saddleback was without junior wide receiver Robert Alcaras and starting senior tight end Bryan Negrette due to injuries.