Sunny Hills teammate Munzer Muhammed (25) congratulates Vince Silva (22) after Silva’s 89-yard TD run. (Photos courtesy Jim McCormack, For OC Sports Zone)
Ask Vince Silva if his best game ever was a (unofficial) 300-yard rushing night, three touchdowns and an interception Friday night in Sunny Hills’ 31-7 “Battle for the City” victory over crosstown rival Fullerton at Buena Park High and his answer would be a quick “no!”
Nothing will ever top Nov. 30, 2019 on a rainy night in Santa Barbara when the then-junior Silva scored all three of his team’s TDs, including the game-winner on a 58-yard pass reception from Luke Duxbury that gave the Lancers’ a 24-21 win over Santa Barbara and their first CIF title in 20 seasons.
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At that, Friday’s game makes a good case for being No. 2.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a 300-yard rushing game,” Silva said after scoring on runs of 25, 89 and 80 yards. He also had another 60-yard dash where he was hauled down at the Fullerton 11. “I just wanted to keep the clock running,” Silva smiled.
Sunny Hills (5-0) runs a fly wing T offense that is not often seen and Fullerton Coach Richard Salazar had his team practice without a football the past week. “We wanted to prepare for their speed. We concentrated on our reads,” Salazar said.
The tactic worked, to a degree, with the Indians doing a good job of limiting the exploits of the Lancers’ explosive Brandon Roberts and David Harris but that opened things up for Silva.
“The other 10 guys on my team did everything perfectly,” Silva said, “they made the blocks, were always in the right place. If I could break a tackle or two, I could run a long way.”
Defensively, the Lancers were challenged by the big play ability of the Indians’ passing attack directed by senior Dylan Neal.
“We knew they could make big plays, so we just wanted to keep everything in front of us and force them into long drives. They did make some plays, but so did our defense,” said Sunny Hills coach Pete Karavedas.
“We had some opportunities,” Salazar said. “I think we were in the red zone three times, but couldn’t take advantage of it.”
Sunny Hills scored on its second drive of the game, quarterback Max Spero eluding an Indian defender at the line of scrimmage and scoring on a 13-yard bootleg with 3:23 to play in the first quarter.
The Lancers’ increased the advantage to 14 three minutes into the second period where, on first down from their 11, Silva bolted up the middle, slipping a tackle and then winning the race to the end zone 89 yards away.
Fullerton responded with a nice march of its own, driving for its only score of the night on a two-yard run by senior Hudson Chacon three minutes before intermission.
The final three minutes of the half were strange to say the least with each team, on separate occasions drawing 30 yards in penalties on a single play. Fullerton missed on a golden opportunity to score, but Sunny Hills did manage to get a 27-yard field goal from Bryan Paz as time expired for a 17-7 halftime advantage.
Sunny Hills extended its lead to 24-7 in the third quarter on Silva’s 25-yard run but Fullerton remained in striking distance through the first two minutes of the final quarter.
On fourth down inside the 20, the Indians went for a field goal at the 10-minute mark. “I wanted some points” Salazar said, noting that his team needed three scores and a field goal would make it a two-possession game.
Things didn’t work out for the Indians. The field goal attempt failed and on Sunny Hills’ first play, Silva ran 80 yards for the clinching TD.
The Lancers wrap up the spring mini-season (six games) Friday night at perennial Freeway League champion La Habra. In the first game of the season the Indians (3-2) took La Habra to overtime before losing. Do comparing scores mean anything?
“I know some people are going to compare scores,” said Karavedas. “But they don’t matter. What matters is matchup and how each team plays on that given day.”
In statistics released Sunday on Maxpreps.com, Silva carried 17 times for 344 net yards and three touchdowns. In the process Silva, who has committed to Southern Oregon University, had runs of 25 (TD), 67 (non-scoring), 80 (TD) and 89 (TD yards. He also had an interception and a pass deflection on defense.
On defense, the Lancers did a good job of keeping plays in front of them with Fullerton finishing with 203 net yards, 27 of which came on a fourth-down scramble by Neal on the Indians’ lone scoring drive. Sunny Hills was led by linebackers Carson Irons (11 tackles, one sack), Hevin Hu (9 tackles) and Noah Brown (4 tackles).
Fullerton received its typical stellar play from two-way players Chacon and Matthew Galvin. On offense, Hudson carried four times for 14 yards and scored the Indians’ TD on a 2-yard run. On defense he led Fullerton with 11 tackles. Galvin followed with 10 stops.
Offensively, the Indians were slowed by the loss of leading receiver Jake Romero, who suffered an ankle sprain returning the second-half kickoff and saw little action the final 24 minutes. Romero caught two passes for 19 yards in the first half to raise his season total to 22. Neal, who was sacked four times and limited in his scrambling opportunities by the Lancer defense, completed 12 of 30 passes for 118 yards.
—-Story courtesy Jim McCormack, for OC Sports Zone
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