Troy Makes Quick Work of Santa Ana

Scoring four times on drives of less than a minute in the first half, Troy jumped to a 16-point halftime lead on the way to a 49-14 victory over Santa Ana in a nonleague football game Friday night at Fullerton High.

Paul Evenson broke a 76-yard run on the first play of the game; Jose Gonzalez pulled him down at the four-yard line to prevent the touchdown. Two plays later, Evenson scored on a three-yard run 57 seconds into the game.

Santa Ana (0-5) came right back with seven running plays, all by Nathan Cumpian, to take the lead, 7-6. Cumpian scored from the five on a fourth-down play and Danny Morales made the point-after kick.

Fifty seconds later Troy (4-1) regained the lead on a 71-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Oliver to Ryan Welch.

Oliver and Welch connected for a five-yard touchdown pass to increase the Warrior lead to 21-7 with 1:39 left in the first quarter.

Quarterback Gildardo Sanchez finished a 13-play drive by scoring from the one for Santa Ana to reduce the lead to 21-14, but the Saints didn’t score again.

Two plays later Troy scored. Jordan McCarthy’s 23-yard touchdown run followed a 38-yard run by Evenson.

Oliver made a 37-yard field goal on the final play of the first half to make it 30-14.

Welch scored his third touchdown on a five-yard pass from Oliver with 9:02 left in the third quarter. Troy scored two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Evenson and Dan Gaines each scored on five-yard runs.

Evenson finished with 198 yards and two touchdowns in 13 carries and McCarthy gained 111 yards in nine carries.

Cumpian gained 124 yards in 19 carries for Santa Ana.

Welch caught five passes for 91 yards for Troy.