Villa Park senior running back Zaiden Kinney goes on a foot chase for a touchdown during the first quarter of Friday night’s game against Orange in Fred Kelly Stadium. (Photos: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone.)
Before Friday’s non-league football game against Orange, Villa Park coach Dusan Ancich said his team failed to execute in key situations during last week’s loss to Inglewood.
On Friday at Fred Kelly Stadium, the Spartans corrected that problem.
Villa Park’s quarterback Nate Lewis tossed five touchdowns (it was not a career-high; he threw six TDs in a game last season) as the Spartans cruised to a 51-14 victory over the Panthers. Lewis completed 10 passes for 253 yards and had an outstanding game on defense as well for Villa Park (1-1).
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“We changed our offensive approach this week and decided to throw the ball more,” said Lewis. “The offensive line did a great job and our receivers created separation and we just had a different mentality on the field tonight.”
Ancich said Lewis is a special player.
“Nate (Lewis) is the face of our program and he’s a special player,” said Ancich, who is in his 16th season as head coach of the Spartans. “Last week, we played well but we didn’t execute big plays when we needed them. Tonight, we executed a lot better and didn’t drop the ball. Winning changes a lot of things. We got excellent play from our defensive linemen, and we got everybody into the game.”
After a tight first quarter, the Spartans scored on each of their four second quarter possessions to break the game wide open. Lewis started off the quarter with a field goal to give Villa Park a 18-7 lead.
Following an Orange three-and-out, Lewis tossed a 37-yard TD pass to Luvie Clark as the Spartans upped its lead to 25-7 with 6:52 to play in the half. Several Panthers penalties foiled Orange’s next drive and Villa Park was quickly back on the attack. Lewis capped the seven-play 81-yard drive with a 24-yard touchdown to Clark as the Spartans extended its lead to 32-7.
With 20 seconds to go in the half, the Spartans got one more possession and made the most of it, as Lewis threw his fourth TD of the game, this one an 81-yard pass-play to Brody Armenta. Armenta set up Villa Park’s second TD of the game when he returned a punt 79 yards deep into Panthers’ territory. Villa Park roared into the half with a 38-7 advantage.
Lewis added a fifth TD pass to Jacob Poff in the third quarter and Gunnar Dahl returned an interception 44 yards for a Spartans touchdown.
The Panthers (0-2) got on the board in the first quarter on a 64-yard TD pass from freshman quarterback Star Thomas to Gianni Porfilio. Thomas added a second half TD pass to Porfilio, but the Orange offense struggled to get on track.
The Spartans compiled 367 yards of offense in the first half while the Villa Park defense, led by Dominic Ancich, Maverick De Clark, Owen Aguilar and Memphis Peoples, shut down the Orange offense in the second quarter to change the tide of the game. The Spartans offense has recorded over 450 yards in both of their games this season.
Ancich, Lewis, and Zaiden Kinney combined to rush for 171 yards and a TD. Kinney scored the Spartans first touchdown on a 43-yard run.
“We had a different mindset tonight, played hard and executed; that was the difference,” said Dominic Ancich, the grandson of legendary Orange and Los Angeles County high school football coach Marion Ancich and Dusan Ancich’s nephew. “After last week’s loss, we practiced working hard all week on execution.”
After establishing a California record for passing yards (476 yards and 42 completions) in a single game by a freshman, Thomas completed 23 passes for 274 yards and two TDs on Friday. The freshman has passed for 750 yards and 4 TDs in his first two varsity games. Porfilio and Parker Brown combined to catch 16 passes for 187 yards and 2 TDs, however the Panthers fell to 0-2.
“You work hard and it’s tough to be on the side of a game like this,” said Orange Coach Robert Pedroza. “I thought we played good against the run, but we gave up way too many third and long plays. We’ll rebound from this game and come back stronger.”
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