Irvine, CA — By Daryl Bogard Uni fell on the road to two-time CIF-SS champion Northwood Friday night at Irvine HS, 30-7. The Trojans put themselves in tough situations in the first quarter losing the ball twice on interceptions and once on a failed fourth and one opportunity. Northwood capitalized with two touchdowns and a 35-yard field goal to go ahead 16-0 after one quarter. Northwood scored again on the third play of the second quarter. Uni fought back with just under two minutes to go in the half. On third and seven, Koa Saito hit Brooks Beckmann with a 72-yard touchdown pass. It was Saito’s 35th career touchdown pass. Skye Murphy connected on the PAT to narrow the deficit to 23-7. Uni was able to muster 180 yards of total offense, 102 passing and 78 on the ground. Saito passed for 102 yards. Blaine Anderson caught three passes for 31 yards. Returning from injury, Jai Williams had 8 carries for 24 yards. Asger Ross ran four times for 21 yards in the fourth quarter. Saito netted 17 yards on 6 carries. Richard Bines opened the game with 3 rushes for 10 yards. Damari Carter ran the ball once for six yards. Northwood had 222 yards of offense: 143 running and 79 passing. Each team had 64 yards in penalties, but the ones against Uni were more impactful. Jake Rabold had five punts for 155 yards. Murphy had a 59-yard kick that pinned Northwood on its own 2-yard line. Uni converted just 2 of 10 third down chances while the Uni defense allowed the Timberwolves to convert just 4 of 13 third down opportunities. Preliminary analysis had Williams as Uni’s leading tackler with nine. Owen Chiou had 5 with a tackle for loss. Eithar Takesh had 4 with a TFL. Bines, Zephyr Reynolds and Ryan Shabbak each had three tackles and a TFL. Jonathan Soto had three tackles and a pass breakup. Luke Edwards had a pair of tackles and two pass breakups. Michael Gasper also had two tackles. Anderson, Beckmann and Mohammed Oonwala each had a pass break up. 3-4 Uni faces Beckmann at Tustin HS on Fri, Oct 13.