Villa Park Goes Long in Victory

Villa Park won’t be short on film highlights at its postseason banquet, not after playing Orange Friday night.

The Spartans dismantled the Panthers, 57-14, in a Century League game at El Modena, using several big touchdown plays.

The longest was Dache Dameron’s 96-yard run, the sneakiest was Spencer Grace’s 57-yard pass to quarterback Bryan Arguello, and the prettiest was Dallas Dapper’s 67-yard punt return.

Villa Park (3-5-1, 3-0-1) had four other plays of 35 yards or more and also scored on a 21-yard interception return by Nick Busciglio.

Orange (0-9, 0-4), which has been outscored by an average of 31 points this season, was able to move the ball against first-place Villa Park, but turnovers and penalties halted most of its drives.

Trailing, 14-0, early in the second quarter, Orange moved the ball deep into Villa Park territory, but Brad Groom fumbled at the end of a 14-yard run and Villa Park took over inside their five.

On the next play, Dameron broke into the Panthers’ secondary for a school-record 96-yard touchdown run.

On the Panthers’ next possession, Busciglio intercepted a pass by Ryan Johnson and returned it 21 yards for a 28-0 lead. Busciglio also scored on a 38-yard touchdown run in the opening quarter.

After Johnson scored on a four-yard run with 33 seconds left in the second quarter, it appeared the Panthers would go into halftime trailing by four touchdowns. But Villa Park fooled Orange with Grace’s throwback pass to Arguello, who scored with 10 seconds left in the half to give Villa Park a 41-7 lead.