University Trojans celebrate after an overtime win over Garden Grove Friday night. (Photos courtesy Susan J. Emrich).
University High School’s football team escaped with a non-league victory on homecoming defeating Garden Grove 24-21 Friday night.
Garden Grove (1-4) ran the ball for 280 yards on the night, the bulk of it coming from running back Quentin Pacelli to take a 13-0 halftime lead.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
University (2-2) responded with three second half touchdowns, two coming from running back Damari Carter, who had 149 yards on 28 carries. Dylan Elmer threw a 9-yard pass to Carl Oldham for the other score.
The Trojans were trying to close the game out when Evan Torres picked off a third down pass and returned it to the University 29-yard line with 1:04 to go. Pacelli scored his second touchdown and added a two-point conversion to knot the score 21-21 with 34 seconds left.
University proceeded to move the ball to the Garden Grove 30-yard line with 6 seconds to go. Jake Rabold’s 47-yard field goal was long enough, but was just wide left and the game went to overtime.
Justin Tribble came up big for the Trojans in overtime. The all-purpose athlete picked off a fourth down pass and then from the quarterback position drove University to the Argonauts’ 15-yard line setting up Rabold’s game-winning 31-yard field goal.
Garden Grove has a bye next week while University is on the road to meet Glenn Friday night in its final non-league game.
—Courtesy Daryl Bogard, For OC Sports Zone
More Stories
Full schedule for week seven Orange County high school football Oct. 10-11
PHOTOS: Crean Lutheran captures solid win over Foothill in Epsilon League opener
PHOTOS: Segerstrom opens league play with homecoming win over St. Margaret’s