Villa Park football trounces Orange with strong all-around effort – Orange County Register

ORANGE – A combination of efficiency and explosiveness makes for a good offense.

Villa Park’s football team used that combination and its solid defense to beat Orange 42-8 on Thursday in a nonleague game at El Modena High.

The Spartans scored touchdowns on all four of their first-half possessions and on two of their three second-half possessions. Villa Park did not punt; the one non-scoring possession was a missed 38-yard field goal attempt.

Villa Park senior running back Carter Christie rushed for 147 yards and three touchdowns on eight carries, all in the first half. Seniors Lucas Simone at linebacker and linemen Aaron Burris and Mason Hermann were among the defensive leaders. Hermann had two sacks.

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The Spartans improved to 2-0. Their other win was two weeks ago, a win over Damien in Honolulu.

Villa Park, No. 14 in the Orange County Top 25, plays at Upland next week. Upland, a CIF Southern Section finalist last season, beat La Habra last week 33-0.

Unranked Orange is 1-1. The Panthers, who beat Pacifica 45-15 last week, play No. 17 Foothill next week at Tustin High.

The Spartans quickly maneuvered downfield for a touchdown on the Spartans’ first possession, covering 68 yards on six plays including Christie’s 17-yard scoring run.

Villa Park scored on their second possession on another 17-yard touchdown run by Christie around right end including a jolt of a stiff arm to keep Christie on his feet.

A 19-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Nate Lewis to Jeremiah Leftwich three minutes into the second quarter made it 21-0.

Christie scored his third touchdown on a speedy 70-yard run, finishing it by stepping out of an ankle-tackle attempt at the Orange 10-yard line, for a 28-0 halftime lead.

Carter, who also played linebacker, said the Spartans were well-prepared for the Panthers and their top two offensive threats, quarterback Hype Grand and running back Ardwon Morris. Grand rushed for 127 yards on 20 carries and Morris finished with 114 rushing yards on 21 carries. Most of those yards came in the second half; Morris had 47 yards on 11 first-half carries and Grand had 26 rushing yards on nine first-half carries.

“We knew their scheme so well,” he said. “We out there and knew exactly what they were going to do and that allowed us to play without thinking.”

Coach Dusan Ancich was equally pleased.

“I’m very proud of our defense,” Ancich said. “Limiting No. 1 (Grand) and No. 5 (Morris) is hard to do. Even with our missed tackles we did a good job stopping two very good players.”

Villa Park scored on its second half-opening possession on an 11-yard run by Dominic Ancich, son of Spartans assistant coach Visko Ancich and nephew of head coach Ancich, and grandson of CIF Hall of Fame coach Marijon Ancich of St. Paul and Tustin fame. That pushed the lead to 35-0.

Orange scored its touchdown in the third quarter on a 6-yard run around the left side by Grand. Morris added two points on his run to make it 35-0.

Villa Park concluded the scoring on a 1-yard touchdown dive by running back Ethan Fraser for the final 42-8 tally.

Simone said the Spartans need to improve on “the little things.”

“We preach it in practice every single day,” Simone said. “Get better every day. Don’t take anything for granted.”