Recap
Seniors and team put up valiant effort, but falls short against rival Warriors
Woodbridge 19, University 14
Irvine, CA — Visiting Woodbridge (3-6, 2-2) scored three touchdowns over the course of an eight-and-a-half minute period in the second half to upend University (3-6, 0-4), 19-14. The Trojans came out strong running the ball on Senior Night. Big runs by Seniors Damari Carter and Justin Tribble set up a five yard touchdown run by Diego Sosa to give the Trojans a 7-0 lead just over two minutes into the game. University couldn’t capitalize on three first half Woodbridge turnovers (two fumble recoveries by Senior Carl Oldham and an interception by Carter) and two trips to the red zone. After the second fumble, Uni was first and 10 at the Woodbridge 20-yard line. Carter took the ball around left end to the house and an apparent two touchdown lead, but a holding call reversed the score. Uni held a 7-0 lead at the half, but most felt the margin should have been bigger. As the MaxPreps AI algorithm might say, “don’t blame Oldham or Carter”.
Woodbridge took the second half kickoff and went on an 11-play, 60-yard drive culminating in a beautiful 16-yard scoring pass from Caden Jones to Erik Vining knotting the score at 7-7. On the second play of the fourth quarter, Jeremy Harris ran the ball in from five yards. Harris carried the ball 16 times for 102 yards on the night and recovered a key fumble. Two minutes later and one play after a Trojan fumble, Jones found Aydrien Garnica in the end zone on a 34-yard pass for a 19-7 lead.
University was not done. Tribble connected with Carter on a 10-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 19-14, but Woodbridge was able to pickup two first downs and finish the game.
Carter had 21 carries for 55 yards and 4 receptions for 40 yards. Tribble had 17 yards on the ground on three carries while completing 4 of 7 passes for 41 yards. Dylan Elmer connected on 4 of 8 passes for 33 yards. Lucca Clouthier caught three passes for 22 yards. Oldham hauled in a pair for 12 yards and had 88 all-purpose yards including 60 on kickoff returns, 2 on punt returns and 14 on fumble returns.
For Woodbridge, Jones was 13 for 22 for 122 yards with Garnica hauling in 5 of them for 72 yards.
On defense Oldham, Cruz McMullens and Maxson Encheff each had five tackles. Oldham also defended two passes. Senior Michael Gasper had four tackles before leaving the game with an injury. Adham Osman also had four tackles.
Seven players also had three tackles including three seniors: Tribble, Carter and Senior Borna Sharafkhanian. Carter forced a fumble while Sharafkhanian forced a fumble and had a tackle for loss. Clouthier, Pierce Fournier, Lucas Thune and Luke Emrich also had three tackles. Clouthier swatted a pass and had a tackle for loss. Senior Geoff Soriano also had a pair of tackles.
Despite missing a pair of field goals, Jake Rabold hit a pair of extra points and is perfect on the year in that category. He also averaged 56 yards on three kickoffs and averaged 38 yards on five punts putting two inside the 20-yard line.
Woodbridge ended up with 12 first downs of which 9 were rushing. Uni had 9 (5 rushing and 4 passing).
Each team was 3-10 on third down. The Warriors were 1-2 on fourth down.
Uni was 2-4 in the Red Zone and Woodbridge was a perfect 2-2.
This was the second game in a row that Uni won the turnover battle. This time it was 3-2. Uni lost fumbles twice, but collected 2 fumbles and had the one interception.
Before the game the dozen seniors were honored. In addition to the above mentioned players, the following players were honored: Jack Jordan, Pierre Vong, Kevin Jin, Alex Pai, Giovanni Vazquez and Julian Centeno.
Uni has a road game left vs. Omicron league opponent Katella on Friday, Nov 1.
Article courtesy of Daryl Bogard