Brethren Does It With Defense to Down Orange Lutheran

LONG BEACH —  Brethren High School, home of the football team that keeps scoreboards spinning like slot machines, usually doesn’t get much credit for its defense.

It did Friday night.

The Warriors, averaging 25 points a game with a roster of only 17 players, had two interceptions and two fourth-down pass deflections in the final 12 minutes 14 seconds to hold off Orange Lutheran, 17-14, in an Olympic League game at Long Beach Millikan.

Brethren, 3-7 last season, improved to 7-0 and 2-0 in league play; Orange Lutheran dropped to 6-1, 1-1.

Brandon Stott kicked a 25-yard field goal with 5:17 left in the third quarter for the winning points.

Stott, who also plays quarterback and defensive back, passed for 140 yards and a touchdown.

But his biggest play came on defense. He intercepted a pass by Orange Lutheran’s Len Gavin at the Lancers’ 48-yard line with 2:42 left in the game.

“Our defense had given up only 23 points before this game,” Brethren Christian Coach Mike Roark said. “It was pretty quiet because of our offense.”

The Warriors’ Scott Thomas intercepted a halfback pass by Phil Matheson with 14 seconds left in the third quarter. Thomas and Chris Malone also deflected Gavin passes on fourth-down attempts in the fourth quarter.

“Thomas intercepted two passes for us against Ontario Christian last week,” Roark said. “He always seems to wake up in the second half.”

Perhaps that was why Brethren fell behind early.

Orange Lutheran grabbed a 6-0 lead with 7:38 left in the first quarter when Lee Back’s 43-yard run set up a one-yard touchdown plunge by Gavin.

Brethren Christian pulled ahead, 7-6, when running back Frank Brady scored on a 14-yard run with 7:50 left in the second quarter. Stott’s 45-yard pass to Matt Marksbury set up the run by Brady, who had 102 yards in 16 carries.

But the Lancers came back to tie, 14-14, with a 71-yard drive capped by a four-yard touchdown pass from Gavin to Rick Krumes with 16 seconds left in the second quarter. Gavin threw a conversion pass to Matheson to tie the score.

After Brethren’s fourth-quarter heroics on defense, the Warriors celebrated by dumping a cooler of ice water on Roark.

“That win was sweet,” Roark said. “It pretty much put us in the playoffs. If someone would have come up to me at the start of the season and told me we would be 7-0 right now, I would have looked at him like he was crazy.”