Titans run down Tartans in Citrus 4 League opener
Colony held a 10-point halftime lead despite a penalty-marred first half.
In the second half, the Titans cleaned up the penalties and leaned heavily on the run game.
Colony rushed for 167 yards in the second half to pull away from Glendora for a 47-18 victory Thursday night.
It was the Citrus 4 League opener for both schools, but the game was significant because Glendora won the league title over Colony last year as a result of a 28-7 victory, although Colony went on to win a CIF Southern Section title.
“Glendora obviously won league last year, so it ran through them,” Colony coach Brian Zavala said. “I tell our guys, ‘It’s a onegame elimination from here on out.’ We can’t look past anybody, we’re not good enough to do that. We had a great bye week of practice”
Anthony Johnson led the Titans’ second half-rushing attack, as he gained 111 of his game-high 131 yards on the ground in the second half.
“He does a great job of spinning, keeping his feet alive,” Zavala said. “He does a great job for us and that’s why we keep him on that side of the ball, because we know he’s a home-run hitter. He gets those tough yards.”
Glendora (2-6) closed a 13-3 halftime deficit to 13-10 by taking the opening drive of the second half. It took only seven plays to drive 56 yards as Zach Ford scored on a 34-yard touchdown.
But from there, the ground game for Colony (6-2) took over. The Titans scored touchdowns on each of their next three possessions.
Deijon Laffitte, Colony’s USC-committed defensive lineman, saw much more time on offense than he did during the nonleague season. He scored the first of those three touchdowns on a 26-yard run, before Johnson scored twice, on run of 2 yards and 1 yard.
The second touchdown was set up by a crazy play in which Laffitte fumbled, the ball popped up in the air and teammate Oscar Morales grabbed it and it ended up being a 22-yard gain to the 5.
‘“Sometimes it doesn’t bounce our way, but tonight it did,” Zavala said. “That tells you when it’s a good night.”
Colony intercepted Glendora quarterback Eric Najarro twice in the second half, the first of which set up the touchdown that made it 34-10 with 8:36 to play. Donovan English scored two touchdowns in the final two minutes of the game, on Payton Clark’s third touchdown pass of the game and an interception return.
“We have to play harder and we have to execute,” Glendora coach Brandon Rohrer said. “We didn’t execute tonight.”
Colony led 13-3 at the half, despite being penalized 11 times for 102 yards. The Titans were flagged just twice in the second half for 20 yards.