Irvine, CA — University lost to Portola Friday night, 31-6. It was a one score game until late in the third quarter on homecoming night for the Bulldogs. Portola remained undefeated in the Omicron League at 3-0, tied for first with Pacifica. Portola and Uni are both 3-5 overall. Uni is still looking for their first league victory after facing teams that are 8-1 aggregate in league play. Uni opened the game with the ball and was forced to punt. The Bulldogs went on a 70-yard drive for a score set up by a 42-yard pass play to the Uni one-yard line, their only pass completion of the game. Uni followed with an eight play drive ending with a Jake Rabold 44-yard field goal attempt that was judged to be no good by the officials. At least three folks in the press box thought the kick was good despite the suboptimal viewing angle. The game video should provide further insight. On the ensuing possession, Portola drove to the University 15-yard line. Carl Oldham picked off the Portola pass and scampered 85 yards to the Portola 10-yard line. His midfield cutback was aided by a Uni penalty. Thus the senior defensive back was only credited with a 45-yard interception return. Uni went on an 11-play drive culminating in a 31-yard field goal by Rabold. Portola responded with another score to go up 14-3. Starting at the Trojan 30-yard line with 53 seconds left in the half, Uni was not done. A dazzle dazzle back pass from Justin Tribble to Dylan Elmer resulted in a 42-yard pass to Oldham. A 12-yard pass interference penalty and an 8-yard Elmer to Oldham pass set up a 22-yard Rabold field goal to cut the lead to 14-6 at halftime. Portola didn’t bother to pass in the second half. The Bulldogs ran for 376 yards, 220 from 220-pound Junior running back Timothy Grettenberg, who scored all four of the Portola touchdowns. Senior running back Damari Carter worked hard to collect 87 yards on the ground on 16 carries for the Trojans. Carter has surpassed 500 rushing yards this season despite missing a game. Senior Borna Sharafkhanian added a dozen yards on five runs. The Trojans had 93 yards passing. From the pivot, Elmer was 4 for 15 for 63 yards while Justin Tribble was 2 for 3 for 30 yards. Elmer has thrown for over 700 yards this year while Tribble has surpassed 400. Oldham had 3 catches for 59 yards, putting him with over 650 receiving yards on the season. Lucca Clouthier and Rabold each had a catch for 15 yards while Junior Jakhi Tribble had one reception in traffic for four yards. Oldham had 61 yards on 4 kickoff returns. Adding in the receiving and interception return yards, he had 165 all-purpose yards giving him over 1,150 on the season. Uni was busy on defense. Junior defensive back Cruz McMullens had 11 tackles while Justin Tribble and Lucas Thune each had seven. Marco Pablo Tirado added half a dozen tackles to match his uniform number, Michael Gasper had five and Maxson Encheff had four. Pierce Fournier, Adham Osman, Geoff Soriano and Carter each had three tackles. Clouthier had a pair of tackles and a demonstrative pass breakup. Luke Emrich also had two tackles. Uni won the turnover margin forcing two vs. not turning the ball over. Fournier forced a fumble that Thune recovered. Carter also recovered an offensive fumble. Portola was guilty of 10 penalties for 97 yards while Uni had 3 for 30 yards. Portola had 23 first downs, 21 on the ground. Uni had 12 first downs (7 running, 2 passing and 3 via penalty). Uni was just 1-9 on 3rd down conversions (vs 4-7 for Portola). On 4th down Uni was 1-2 and the Bulldogs 2-2. Uni was 2-2 in the red zone, both field goals while Portola was 3-4. Portola had the ball for about 27 minutes vs. 21 for Uni. Uni (3-5, 0-3) faces their rival Woodbridge (2-6, 1-2) on senior night Friday, October 25. Uni will be honoring a dozen seniors so and looking for a packed house to support these fine young student athletes. Article courtesy of Daryl Bogard