ORANGE COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL : Laguna Hills Rallies Late and Defeats Orange, 26-21

Orange High School football Coach Mark McMahon knew the key to Saturday’s Pacific Coast League opener was to stop Laguna Hills’ passing game.

But the Panthers could not contain the county’s top-ranked receiver, Brian Fleming, who he caught a 15-yard touchdown pass with 1 minute 16 seconds remaining in the game to give Laguna Hills a 26-21 victory in front of 1,000 in Orange’s Fred Kelly stadium.

“We hoped to put some pressure on Laguna Hills’ passing game, but their offense just exploited our secondary,” McMahon said.

Fleming caught 9 passes for 106 yards and 2 touchdowns as the Hawks (1-4-1 overall, 1-0 in the Pacific Coast League) came back from a 21-13 deficit at the start of the fourth period.

Senior quarterback Chris Leigber led the comeback. He scored on a one-yard run with 5:30 to play, and on the next series threw the game-winning pass to Fleming.

Leigber completed 24 of 40 passes for 276 yards and 2 touchdowns.

“Passing is our strength,” said Laguna Hills Coach Paul Weinberger. “I thought all along that we could come back.”

Orange (2-4, 0-1) marched down the field with just more than a minute to play, but could only reach the six-yard line before the game ended.

Fullback Paul Maund scored two touchdowns for Orange on runs of 1 and 3 yards; the second touchdown gave Orange its 21-13 lead late in the third quarter.

Maund rushed for 183 yards in 26 carries.

Laguna Hills passed most of the second half and twice inside the Orange 20 had passes intercepted by Mark Villa and Eric Lawson.

Fleming also kicked first-half field goals of 29 and 41 yards. The 41-yarder just before the half cut the Orange lead to 14-13.

In the Olympic League:

Valley Christian 14, Orange Lutheran 10: Lance Havel threw a six-yard touchdown pass to Mike Mandeville with 2:12 remaining in the game to give the Crusaders a victory in the league opener in front of 400 at Orange Lutheran High School.

The Lancers (3-3, 0-1) took a 10-7 halftime lead on a 32-yard field goal by Del Montell and a 24-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jason Neben.