PHOTOS: Saddleback rallies from early 13-point deficit to defeat Century 27-13 in opener

Saddleback celebrates a 27-13 victory over Century Thursday night (Photos courtesy Mark Bausman, For OC Sports Zone)

Saddleback High’s football team didn’t need to worry after falling down by 13 points to Century early in the season opener Thursday night for both teams.

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The Roadrunners had junior running back Dominic Madrid on their side.

Madrid scored three touchdowns and rushed for 147 yards on 18 carries to lead the Roadrunners to a 27-13 victory over the Centurions at Segerstrom.

“Whenever you play a city opponent, they’re (the games are) wild,” said Saddleback Coach Nick Diulio. “Unexpected and crazy things happen. I’m very fortuante today that we came out with the win.”

Diulio was expecting a big effort from Madrid.

“Dominic is a great kid and he’s a hard worker,” the coach said. “We called him up halfway through the season as a sophomore. He won the number one job late in the season and this year, we’re expecting big things from him. He had a great performance by his line, they were moving some people around and putting some bodies down.”

Madrid also credited his teammates.

“I think it was all because of our line,” Madrid said. “After the second half, we really pushed through and realy got it. The first half was kind of shaky but we finished out really strong and I’m really proud of my O-Line and especially the defense.”

The victory came in front of a solid turnout of Saddleback fans in a Roadrunner home game against a city rival and spoiled first year Dave Perkins debut at Century.

“It’s really important because it hypes up our team,” Madrid said of the crosstown game. “It gives us motivation to do better. When we first came in here, people were talking down on us, saying we weren’t going to win, but here we are.”

Madrid scored on a 1-yard TD run in the second quarter to cut Century’s lead to 13-6. He also had a 29-yard TD run and a 2-yard TD run in the third quarter to extend Saddleback’s lead to 20-13.

The Roadrunners stretched the lead to 27-13 when Henry Santay recovered a fumble and returned it 15 yards for a score with 4:13 left in the contest.

It was a solid start for Century, which took the early 6-0 lead on a 3-yard TD run by quarterback David Tapia. Then Century sophomore Jose Jaramillo experienced a lineman’s dream when he intercepted a pass and returned it 19 yards for a scored later in the score to put the Centurions up 13-0.

But Saddleback settled down after that, the defense got to work and Century was plagued by numerous penalties.

Saddleback’s Kevin Rosales also had an interception and quarterback Alejandro Soto passed for 55 yards.

Tapia passed for 21 yards and rushed for 66 yards.

“We didn’t finish,” said Perkins, the Century coach. “We were ahead 13-0 and things were going well and then we kind of shot ourselves in the foot on that one drive and where we got so many penalties and they eventually scored.

“If we don’t play like that in the first half, we go in at least (ahead) 13-0 and maybe it’s a different situation, but our kids are learning how to win. Right know, they don’t know how to win and they don’t know how to finish. We’re hoping we’re going to play a lot better Thursday night.”

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