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ORANGE — Aliso Niguel is one of the few teams that can still be successful with players from the neighborhood. Even their head coach, Michael Calahan, graduated from the school. So when faced with a tough matchup this week against Orange, the Wolverines relied on their camaraderie in preparation for the Foxtrot League game. That seemed to pay off in a hard-fought 17-10 victory against the Panthers on Friday night at El Modena High. “We preached all week that we are family,” Calahan said. “Every one of these kids have played with each other since kindergarten and I told them at the start of the week, we’re going to play this game as a family and, no matter what happens, you ride and go with your family and that’s what we did.” Aliso Niguel (6-3, 2-2) took a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter and never gave it up against Orange (5-4, 2-2). The final possession for Orange ended with sophomore quarterback Star Thomas throwing incomplete on fourth down as he was getting dragged down just outside the red zone with 1:59 left. Orange had all its timeouts remaining, but the Wolverines were able to run out the clock behind senior running back Brady Defrain, who finished with 118 rushing yards on 22 carries and scored both touchdowns. “Our defense really put our offense in a position to score, so that helped us out a lot,” Defrain said. “Key stops, just making it easy for us.” Aliso Niguel’s opening drive of the game ended abruptly with an interception by Kingston Hunter. Orange then marched down the field and had first-and-goal from the 8-yard line, but the Panthers had to settle for a 24-yard field goal, which was no good, ending the 15-play drive without any points. The Wolverines followed with a scoring drive that was aided by a 26-yard gain by Dane Malloy on a shovel pass. A 10-yard run by Malloy off a reverse gave Aliso Niguel first-and-goal from the 9 and Defrain ran the ball into the end zone on the next play out of the Wildcat formation, giving the Wolverines a 7-0 lead with 11:01 left in the first half. “It was working for us,” Defrain said of the Wildcat. Both teams traded interceptions later in the half, the second by Orange safety Tyler Padovano leading to a 27-yard field goal by Christopher Cervantes as the first half expired, cutting the lead to 7-3. An interception by Jake Hardy at midfield as Thomas was getting hit was returned to the Orange 5-yard line and Defrain ran into the end zone on the next play to extend the lead to 14-3 with 4:08 left in the third quarter. Defrain had missed the previous two games with a shoulder injury. “The kid is a captain, he’s a four-year player for us, three-year varsity guy.” Calahan said. “He’s a stud. He’s an absolute stud.” The Panthers reached the end zone for the only time in the game on their next drive, getting a 37-yard reception by Adam Maldonado that set up a 9-yard touchdown catch by Malahki Allen that cut the lead to 14-10 with 14 seconds left in the third. “We made too many mistakes to beat a good football team,” Orange coach Robert Pedroza said. “Had some costly interceptions and some penalties, so we had our chances and we didn’t take advantage of them. We got in the red zone twice and had to settle for two field-goal attempts.”
