Santa Ana Valley Intercepts Pass, Ties Villa Park

SANTA ANA — Villa Park saved the worst of its four turnovers for last Thursday and the Spartans had to settle for a 21-21 tie with Santa Ana Valley in Century League game at Santa Ana Stadium.

The Spartans (4-2-1, 1-0-1 in league) had a second and goal on the four with 18 seconds left in the game when defensive back Cesar Correa intercepted quarterback A.J. Strapp’s pass and ran it back to the Falcon 29.

Strapp had run seven yards for a touchdown and Brett Polokoff kicked the extra point to tie the score at 21 with 7 minutes 4 seconds left in the game.

Santa Ana Valley (2-4-1, 0-1-1) opened the game with a 16-play, 80-yard drive to take a 7-0 lead on quarterback Aaron Tuioti’s one-yard run, forcing Villa Park to play catch-up most of the game.

Villa Park came back with a three-play, 65-yard drive with Ryan Tsui scoring on a 20-yard run, but the Falcons stuffed the two-point conversion attempt.

Falcon sophomore running back Dwayne Cherrington, who picked up 158 yards in 24 carries, ran 51 yards to the Spartan three to set up Tuioti’s three-yard touchdown run for a 14-6 first-quarter lead.

Pearsall tied the score at 14 with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Hector Flores and a two-point conversion run. But the Falcons led at halftime, 21-14, when Terry Mayers returned the kickoff 95 yards to the Spartan two. Vaaiti Sio scored from the one with two seconds remaining in the half.