ANAHEIM — Western used a go-ahead touchdown pass from Chance Thomas to Maxwell Young with 39 seconds left to beat Villa Park 27-20 on Friday night at Western High.
The first meeting between the programs featured a pair of teams tied for 15th in the Orange County Top 25 and it lived up to its billing by providing exciting plays and a fantastic finish.
“I mean, obviously, Chance Thomas and Bunchie (Young), they’re what makes our engine go, and they have to make plays at the right time.” Western coach Dan Davidson said.
Thomas, a junior QB, was confident in targeting Young on the pivotal play.
“I went to my guy,” he said. “I saw the safety playing low, and I just went to my guy. I knew it was going to be open, coach dialed up the play, we have a great offensive coordinator in Tremaine Brown, and I knew my guy was going to get there.”
The Pioneers (2-0) used opportunistic defense, including three interceptions from Cal commit Ernest Nunley and big plays from Thomas, Skylar Lendsey and Young to give them a 13-0 lead.
Thomas opened the scoring on a 60-yard QB run, then after Nunley’s second pick of the game, Lendsey broke a 61-yard run which helped set up Young’s 40-yard TD reception.
Villa Park coach Dusan Ancich stressed the importance of taking care of the football but also believes the mistakes can be corrected.
“Our biggest opponent right now is Villa Park, and that’s two weeks in a row.” Ancich said. “We have some bad turnovers where the ball ricochets off our guy’s hands, big plays. And then, you know, you got some special team things. We get a big fake punt, and then we spike the ball (resulting in a penalty). So it’s like anytime we get something going, we’re just immature right now. And fortunately, all the things we did wrong are fixable.”
Villa Park (1-1) rallied to take a 20-19 late in the third quarter on a QB run by Vinny La Gatta. Running back Coy Collins was also a force in the backfield as he rushed for a game-high 124 yards.
The Spartans began the second quarter by throwing a red-zone interception but Western was pinned deep at their own 2. Unable to move the ball, the Pioneers were forced to punt but the snap was low and rolled out of the back of the end zone for a Spartans safety.
Villa Park went on to score with 2:52 left in the first half on an 11-yard reception as La Gatta connected with Luvie Clark to make it 13-10 after a 2-point conversion catch by Clark.
Clark also recorded an interception on the Pioneers next drive which led to a 29-yard field goal by Dalton Lang that tied the game for the Spartans.
Young helped Western retake the lead with a 33-yard TD catch early in the third quarter.
“I have all the respect in the world for not only him (Dusan Ancich) but his coaching staff, very good, respectful team and we’re trying to get to teams like this as well, that’s what I want to do with our journey. I’m really proud of the guys for sticking together.” Davidson continued.
Western will play at Huntington Beach next week while Villa Park will travel to Upland for their next game.