University quarterback Ziyad Merchant breaks loose for a 65-yard TD run Friday night. (Photo: Fernando M. Donado/For OC Sports Zone)
University football players got a taste of winning last Friday night and enjoyed the experience.
Friday night, the Trojans experienced that winning feeling again. University put together their best effort of the season defeating Century 35-0 in a non-league game at University. University is 2-1 while Century fell to 0-3.
University snapped the program’s 12-game losing streak dating back to 2018 in a 13-12 win vs. Ocean View last week at home.
Friday night, the Trojans were dominant, led by quarterback Ziyad Merchant who threw two touchdown passes and scampered for a 65-yard touchdown run in the second quarter that put the Trojans ahead 21-0. Junior running back Pax Lange was also solid with 111 yards rushing on 16 carries and one TD.
“I think we finally put it together,” said Uni’s first year coach Vince Mesa. “We’re starting to get guys understand the schemes. First couple of weeks, we were all figuring each other out, everybody’s first time together. Now, we’re starting to put it together. The defense played well. They came out with something we hadn’t seen before so we had to adjust but once we adjusted I felt we did OK after that.
Merchant connected with Jonathan Soto on a 28-yard TD pass to put the Trojans ahead 7-0. Then Pax Lange scored from 33 yards out in the second quarter to give University a 14-0 lead.
University broke the game open on Merchant’s big TD run.
“It was a great call, he saw the lane and he took it,” Mesa said.
Merchant was pleased with the end result.
“This week of practice is not where we wanted to be,” Merchant said. “I thInk we were just unfocused. We got a little cocky from the win last week. But today was just all the game plan. We knew what they were bringing. We knew their options and we just came out here and we saw the future. We could tell what they were going to do before they did it and we just executed. It all worked out in the end. The defense balled out once again shutting them out and offense kept the momentum, so it was an awesome.”
University added two more touchdowns in the third quarter. Merchant connected with Blaine Anderson on a 12-yard touchdown pass. Later in the quarter Koa Saito, who came on for Merchant, hit Soto on a 28-yard TD pass. Saito, who started last week’s game before being injured, threw for 79 yards.
Century struggled to move the ball all night. Two Centurions quarterbacks were unable to complete a pass in nine attempts.
Century’s leading rusher was Jose Jaramillo who had 81 yards on 10 carries. Marcos Sanchez rushed for 41 yards on five carries.
Noah Scherson hauled in four catches for 51 yards, Soto had three catches for 50 yards and Chris Conner hauled in catches of 16 and 30 yards in the second half.
For more photos, please go to the OC Sports Zone Instagram page.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CTq8oWDrnr5/?utm_medium=copy_link
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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