Trabuco Hills Tops Mission Viejo

MISSION VIEJO — Trabuco Hills is back in the Southern Section playoffs.

The three-time section championships played an emotion-packed game Friday to easily defeat Mission Viejo, 24-8, in front of 3,000 at Mission Viejo High.

The Mustangs (6-4, 3-2) rolled to a 17-0 halftime advantage.

They limited the Diablos (4-6, 1-4) to 10 yards through three quarters.

“We’re back where we belong,” Mustang Coach Bill Crow said. “It was nice to get points in the first half--we haven’t many of those recently--and the defense played great. We played inspired. That was something we talked about all week at practice.”

The Mustangs did most of their scoring in the second quarter. Leading 3-0, they drove 86 yards on seven plays, scoring on a nine-yard run by Billy Ortiz.

Key plays on the drive were a 25-yard halfback option pass from Chris Lewis to Billy Benda, and a 33-yard flanker reverse by Scott Arthur.

On their next possession, the Mustangs went 59 yards on six plays, culminating with a 24-yard scoring pass from Tom Lindow to Todd Flournoy with 40 seconds left in the half. Lindow passed for 102 yards.

Trabuco Hills increased its lead to 24-0 early in the third quarter on a Lindow four-yard pass to Benda.

The Diablos ended Trabuco Hills’ shutout bid with 32 seconds left on an 11-yard pass from sophomore Alex Honigford to Brad Fielding.