After heading into halftime trailing by four, the Orosi Cardinals outscored the Matilda Torres Toros 28-19 the rest of the way for a 46-33 victory in the first round of the Central Section Div. V playoffs.
The 14th-seeded Toros were outscored by the third-seeded Cardinals 38-13 in the second and third quarters, and the Toros couldn’t respond.
The Toros out gained the Cardinals, 438-372, but the Toros couldn’t overcome three turnovers. One was returned for a touchdown, and another led to a Cardinals’ touchdown.
Caden Warden led the Toros with 112 yards on 10 carries. Eleazar Camargo carried eight times for 53 yards, and scored three of Torres’ five touchdowns.
Joseph Pasillas caught four passes for 122 yards, and a touchdown.
The Cardinals’ ground attack averaged 5.4 yards a carry. Their leading back carried 25 times for 175 yards with four of his team’s six touchdowns.
The Toros opened the game with an 80-yard touchdown drive. Nathaniel Pichardo completed a 14-yard pass to Pasillas. On third-and-four, Pasillas caught a 28-yard pass to the Orosi 25.
Angel De La Sancha carried for 16 yards to the two-yard line. De La Sancha scored two plays later for a 7-0 lead.
The Toros popped up the ensuing kick, and Keondre Shepherd came up with the Torres recovery. However, the Toros turned the ball over on downs at the Orosi 47.
The Cardinals drove down the field with six run plays, the final coming from two yards out. The point after was missed, and Torres led, 7-6.
The Toros started another drive into Orosi territory, highlighted go a 19-yard pass from Pichardo to Darryn Garcia.
However, on fourth-and-four, Torres mishandled the snap, and Orosi recovered.
The Cardinals scored five plays later when an out-and-up led to a wide-open 37-yard touchdown pass for a 12-7 lead.
The Toros came right back two plays later. Pichardo scrambled to his right. Pasillas saw his quarterback scrambling, and released up the field. Pichardo hit Pasillas at the Torres 45, and Pasillas did the rest for a 72-yard touchdown. Eduardo Jimenez Magdaleno hit the extra point for a 14-12 lead.
Orosi went on a nine-play, 74-yard drive that was culminated with a48-yard touchdown pass to take an 18-14 lead into the half.
Orosi opened the second half with a 54-yard kick-off return, and scored four plays later from five yards out for a 24-14 lead.
Three Warden runs gained 26 yards into Orosi territory. De La Sancha got the next carry, and ran into a wall. He was getting pushed back by the Orosi defense, and then was stripped of the ball after his forward progress was stopped. Orosi recovered the fumble, and returned it 60 yards the other way for a touchdown after both teams stopped for a second before realizing the ball was still in play.
The point after failed, but Orosi led 30-14.
The Toros came back with six straight runs. Warden opened the drive with a 45-yard run to the Orosi 42. Camargo gained 13 and Warden gained 16 yards on three carries to the 13.
Camargo got the carry up the middle, broke four tackles, and spun out of another at the five for the touchdown to cut the lead to 10.
Orosi went on a 12-play, 61-yard drive to add to its lead with a two-yard touchdown run.
Pichardo opened the next Torres drive with a 31-yard pass to Jordan Garcia to get into Orosi territory. Two Warden runs gained 18 to the six. Camargo got the carry up the middle for the touchdown to cut the lead to 11.
Orosi, again, answered back with an 11-play, 61-yard drive that ended with a five-yard touchdown run to open a 44-27 lead.
The Toros went four-and-out on their next drive, but the Toros forced Orosi to go four-and-out.
The Toros scored on the next play when Pichardo hit a wide open Camargo out of the backfield on the left. He didn’t hit a defender for about 30 yards when he broke through two defenders at the Orosi 28 en route to a 70-yard touchdown. The pass failed, and Torres trailed 44-33.
Orosi recovered the ensuing onside kick, and ran out the clock for the win.