By james art Troy’s 32 seniors celebrate with coaches during Thursday’s senior night. (PHOTOS: Tom Connelly, for OC Sports Zone).
With the Troy and Irvine football teams both undefeated in Iota League play, Thursday night’s matchup between the Warriors and Vaqueros took on vital importance, with the winner taking a step closer to the championship.
It turned out to be Troy’s night as the Warriors clinched a share of the league title with a week left in the regular season.
Troy senior quarterback Rudy Alcala directed a near-perfect offensive attack, throwing four touchdown passes and Ethan Mundt rushing for 191 yards and a TD to lead the Warriors to a 49-13 victory at Fullerton.
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Troy was led by (from left) Kellen Watts, Vander Plueg and Rudy Alcala in the win over Irvine.
Players, coaches, cheerleaders and Troy supporters gather for a team photo after the game.
Troy’s senior cheerleaders were honored Thursday night.
The Warriors (8-1 and 4-0) have won five straight and avenged a one-point loss at Irvine last season. The Vaqueros (6-3 and 3-1) lost for the first time in five games.
Troy’s offense set the tone, dominating the trenches as the Warriors rushed for 318 yards and scored on all seven of their possessions in the game.
“It’s been an eight-year plan,” Troy coach Michael Echavez said. “We’re playing really good football and these guys played well collectively and we’re hitting our stride at the right time.”
Alcala threw TD passes of 6, 10, 20 and 39 yards, setting Troy’s single-season touchdown passing record with 28 TD passes.
“The record feels great; and I feel like my hard work has paid off,” Alcala said. “The key to our success is that our team is not selfish. We play as one.”
The Warriors went up 14-0 in the first quarter behind Kellen Watts’ 12-yard TD run and Alcala’s 6-yard touchdown pass to Vander Plueg. Ploog, a 6-6 wide receiver committed to the University of Washington, caught six passes for 57 yards and two touchdowns. Plough also set Troy’s single-season receiving touchdown record with 16th touchdown catch.
“Our offensive production is a testament to our hard work,” Ploog said. “It all starts with how hard we train every day.”
Watts also had a 29-yard TD run late in the second quarter that gave the Warriors a 28-6 halftime lead. Watts, an outside linebacker, and linebacker Trent Palmer also had standout games on defense. Watts added that “we’re not predictable and we’re a well-balanced team.”
Irvine managed a touchdown in the first quarter on an 8-yard TD pass from Khoa Bui to Deacon Moss, but the Vaqueros offense struggled the rest of the way.
Bui went down with a knee injury in the second quarter and did not return. Vaqueros leading rusher Brandon Figueroa, nursing a sprained ankle, was limited to three carries for 43 yards. In addition, starting center Ethan Nicely recently broke his fibula and is out for the season.
“We are broken; it’s going to hurt for the weekend, but we have to lick our wounds and get ready for Sonora next week,” Irvine coach Tom Ritchie said. “Troy is a big physical team and you need your starters to carry them and we didn’t have that tonight.”
Troy sealed the victory in the third quarter, scoring three touchdowns. Alcala threw touchdown passes of 20 and 39 yards to Caleb Huss and Charles Rippon. Mundt also added a 1-yard TD run. Huss, returning from an ankle injury, rushed for 66 yards on 10 carries.
“Our O-line and defensive line dominated and opened huge holes,” said Mundt, a junior who had six runs of 10 yards or more in the game. Mundt showed slick cutback skills and ran effectively and was nearly unstoppable, both inside and outside during the game. He has rushed for 1,273 yards this season.
Backup quarterback Sina Saferzadeh added a short touchdown in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring for the Vaqueros. Seamus Hoffman led Irvine with 72 yards rushing on 11 carries.
Troy wraps up league play next week at El Toro while Irvine plays at Sonora.
Note:
—- Troy senior center Stephen Logwood sang a dynamic rendition of the national anthem before the game.