LA HABRA – The Sonora football team collected six Troy turnovers and needed every one of them to pull away with a 34-14 victory Friday that moved the Raiders one step closer to winning the Freeway League championship outright.
The Raiders intercepted four passes, with Renner Williard and Alexsay Nazaroff each returning a pick for a touchdown, and recovered two of Troy’s four fumbles.
Sonora’s Luke Crowder, right, intercepts a pass in the first half in the game between Sonora vs. Troy in a Freeway League football game at La Habra High on Friday, October 20, 2023. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sonora’s Steve Peru, right, breaks up a pass intended for Sonora’s Derek Rubalcava, left, during the first half of their game between Sonora vs. Troy in a Freeway League football game at La Habra High on Friday, October 20, 2023. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Renner Willard celebrates his interception and touchdown in the game between Sonora vs. Troy in a Freeway League football game at La Habra High on Friday, October 20, 2023. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sonora’s QB Landon Martin, right, is brought down by Troy’s Trent Palmer, left, during the game between Sonora vs. Troy in a Freeway League football game at La Habra High on Friday, October 20, 2023. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sonora’s Anthony Abad heads towards the end zone in the game between Sonora vs. Troy in a Freeway League football game at La Habra High on Friday, October 20, 2023. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Troy’s Rudy Alcala drops back for a pass in the game between Sonora vs. Troy in a Freeway League football game at La Habra High on Friday, October 20, 2023. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sonora’s Renner Willard scoops up an interception which he returned for a touchdown in the game between Sonora vs. Troy in a Freeway League football game at La Habra High on Friday, October 20, 2023. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Troy’s Vander Ploog is brought down after a completion during the game between Sonora vs. Troy in a Freeway League football game at La Habra High on Friday, October 20, 2023. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sonora’s Tyler Robertson heads for the end zone in the game between Sonora vs. Troy in a Freeway League football game at La Habra High on Friday, October 20, 2023. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sonora running back Anthony Abad hits a hole for positive yards in the game between Sonora vs. Troy in a Freeway League football game at La Habra High on Friday, October 20, 2023. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sonora running back Anthony Abad turns the corner hand heads upfield during the game between Sonora vs. Troy in a Freeway League football game at La Habra High on Friday, October 20, 2023. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Songleader, Jocelyn Agredano, a junior at Sonora helps to make an arch prior to the game between Sonora vs. Troy in a Freeway League football game at La Habra High on Friday, October 20, 2023. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Troy’s Vander Ploog, hauls in a pass during the game between Sonora vs. Troy in a Freeway League football game at La Habra High on Friday, October 20, 2023. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sonora football players run onto the field prior to the game between Sonora vs. Troy in a Freeway League football game at La Habra High on Friday, October 20, 2023. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Maya Chavrin, a junior at Sonora High and member of the ASB, blows up pink balloons prior to the game between Sonora vs. Troy in a Freeway League football game at La Habra High on Friday, October 20, 2023. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sonora’s Nicholas Fernandez is lifted in the air to celebrate his touchdown during the second half of the game between Sonora vs. Troy in a Freeway League football game at La Habra High on Friday, October 20, 2023. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Troy’s Declan Kai Healy fights for yardage during the game between Sonora vs. Troy in a Freeway League football game at La Habra High on Friday, October 20, 2023. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
“That’s the game right there,” Sonora coach Kevin Oberlander said. “On the other end, you can’t win a game making that many turnovers.”
The Raiders (8-1, 4-0) clinched a share of the league title with the victory and seized sole possession of first place with one week left in the regular season. Troy (5-4, 3-1) and La Habra (5-4, 3-1) are tied for second.
Sonora will play La Habra on Friday, Oct. 27, with a chance to win the title outright. Troy will play its league finale against Sunny Hills.
Sonora broke a 7-7 tie on Anthony Abed’s 5-yard touchdown with 5:09 left in the first half. Two minutes later, a Rudy Alcala pass was tipped at the line by Brady Ackerman and was snatched out of the air by Willard, who went 43 yards for the TD and a 20-7 lead.
“I’ve never been part of a game like that,” Willard said. “This game, we’ve worked so hard for this, and we did our jobs The ball got tipped at the line by Brady Ackerman, I got it, and I saw my opportunity and took it to the house.”
Oberlander said he considered Nazaroff’s pick-six a dagger shot.
The Warriors ( 5-4, 3-1) opened the second half by driving from their 32 to the Sonora 22, when Nazaroff stepped in front of an Alcala pass and went 89 yards for the score.
“I dropped back, I saw the ball, I got it and I just ran for it,” Nazaroff said.
It was the first interception for the sophomore, and he made it memorable.
Sonora’s Renner Willard, left, and Alexsay Nazaroff each returned an interception for a touchdowon in a victory over Troy on Friday, Oct. 20. (Photo by Steve Dulas)
Sonora nearly had a third TD on a spectacular interception at the goal line. Alcala was looking for Vander Ploog, the 6-foot-5 junior who caught 13 passes for 122 yards. But Steve Peru of the Raiders got in front of Ploog and tipped the underthrown pass.
Robert Hernandez of the Raiders grabbed the deflection and was off to the races, going 92 yards before being knocked out of bounds at the Troy 8.
Troy’s defense salvaged the moment when Jacob Guahgorena blocked Landon Martin’s 24-yard field goal attempt.
Alcala threw for 226 yards, and only two of his 26 passes hit the ground. Oberlander called him an efficient quarterback, but the defensive scheme was to make Alcala carry the day.
“Our plan was to stop the run,” Oberlander said. “We wanted them to go to the pass, and that’s what they did. But if you can contain the run, we feel like we had pretty good control of the game.”
Troy, meanwhile, could not stop Sonora’s run game. Abad led both teams with 177 yards on 22 carries. Martin needed to attempt just two passes, with the second a perfectly thrown deep ball to Tyler Robertson, who got behind Troy’s double coverage and pulled in Martin’s pass in stride for a 49-yard touchdown.
