Century League : Football Season May Be Over, but El Modena and Foothill Play It Tight

Foothill and El Modena high schools have built a competitive rivalry on the football field in the past decade. And now they’re continuing the intensity on the court in Century League basketball.

Friday night at El Modena, the teams played the kind of close, well-fought game football fans have come to expect from these schools. Foothill (3-0) edged El Modena (2-1) in overtime, 58-54.

“This is a great win for us,” said Jim Reames, Foothill coach. “This is a big rivalry, basically because of our football teams, but they (the fans) really had something to shout about tonight. It got so loud that my own team couldn’t hear me during timeouts.”

“We really should have put the game away earlier if we had made some of our free throws.”

The teams were tied, 52--52, at the end of regulation after El Modena’s Daren De Feo hit a jump shot from the corner of the key with two seconds left.

“We had him double-teammed and everything, but he threw it up and made the shot,” Reames said.

In overtime, the Kinghts got the jump, and went into a four-corner offense, which resulted in four points by 6-4 Alan Schlines, and a 56-52 lead.

El Modena closed to 56-54 on a De Feos shot, and the Vanguards had a chance to tie it with 31 seconds left after Foothill’s Doug Kopcha missed two free throws. De Feo, however, missed two shots from inside the key in the last 10 seconds.

Mike Grahovac, who was fouled with six seconds left, added two free throws for the Knights.

EL MODENA (54)--Ervin 8, Hamlin 9, Ahart 8, Rycraw 13, De Gree 4, Defeo 11, Steingraber 1

FOOTHILL (58)--Kopcha 10, Rassmussen 4, Jordan 2, Grahovac 15, Schlines 13, Johnson 14. 18.

Orange 45, Villa Park 40--Dave Roth and Mark Holman each made two free throws in the final minute to lead the Panthers. Orange (1-2) fell behind, 12-6, after one quarter, but Holman sparked a second quarter comeback with five points.

Villa Park (0-3) regained the lead in the third quarter and also took a lead in the final period before the Panthers made six clutch free throws down the stretch. Roth paced the Panthers with 15 points.

VILLA PARK (40)--Bray 7, Barnett 9, Burton 15, Stock 1, Creagon 8.

ORANGE (45)--Roth 15, Peterson 3, Dowell 7, Holman 11, Smith 9.

Santa Ana 57, Tustin 55--The Saints (3-0, 10-4) led for most of the game, but the Tillers (2-1, 8-5) edged back and took a two-point lead early in the fourth quarter on a basket by Leo Parker. Santa Ana finally put the game away with six unanswered points.

Santa Ana’s Bobby Joyce had 20 points and 12 rebounds, Eric Turner 10 had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and guard Scooti Lynwood had 10 assists. The Tillers’ Roger Middleton led all scorers with 29 points.

TUSTIN (55)--Anderson 8, Urschel 4, Parker 10, Middleton 29, Parks 2, Patstone 2.

SANTA ANA (57)--Lynwood 6, Stewart 5, Leon 6, Bailey 2, Lane 6, Joyce 20, Turner 12.

Santa Ana Valley 60, Canyon 58--Alonzo Jamison made two free throws with 27 seconds remaining to break a tie to give the Falcons the win. Jamison had 24 points, 17 rebounds and 9 assists to lead Santa Ana Valley (1-2, 7-6 overall). Michael Whitlock added 10 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists for the Falcons. Jim Pavlish led Canyon (0-3, 4-9) with 16 points.

CANYON (58)--Garcia 13, Simpson 5, Pavlish 16, Frye 4, Ream 5, Williams 6, Mury 7, Cantu 2.

SANTA ANA VALLEY (60)--Jamison 24, Johnson 2, Whitlock 10, Alvarez 6, Nguyen 4, Quinn 10, Ross 4.