El Toro's Defense Dominates Dana Hills, 14-0

The El Toro football team has racked up 204 straight minutes without allowing a touchdown.

Seventeen quarters ... and counting.

Since falling to Huntington Beach, 23-21, in Week 1, the Chargers have allowed only three points in four consecutive victories, the latest coming Friday night at Dana Hills High, 14-0.

Senior middle linebacker Brian Moreen led a relentless pursuit to the football for the visitors, claiming four tackles-for-loss and a sack, and headlining an outstanding team-wide defensive effort that held the host Dolphins to 55 yards rushing and forced three turnovers, including two fourth-quarter interceptions by Landon West and Andrew Wilson.

"We're just doing what we do," Moreen said. "We came to play. We knew what they were going to throw at us, we just came to hit them."

Dana Hills threatened to break El Toro's streak down 7-0 with five minutes left in the game.

After winning a half-long battle for field possession, the Dolphins started the drive on their own 49 before Shane Scambray hooked up with Hunter Briggs on three straight receptions of eight, five and 33, leaving Dana Hills on the doorstep at the three.

But a pair of false starts on first and second down pushed the Dolphins back to the 14, and after an incompletion to Briggs on third down, Scrambray hit Logan Warren at the goal line before West was able to jar the ball loose with a hard hit in tight coverage to end the scoring threat with 5:13 left to play.

"It wasn't pretty at times, but it's a win, and this is a good Dana Hills club," El Toro coach Rob Frith said. "We knew coming in that we would be in for a fight all night. My hat's off to their coaches, first and foremost. Rob Rusinkovich has done a great job with Dana Hills. He's got the right attitude and his kids are playing."

While the Dolphins showed well on defense and earned their opportunities on offense, a flurry of mental mistakes resulting in too many penalties at inopportune moments took their toll.

All told, Dana Hills (2-3) accrued 130 penalty yards on 13 flags, including back-to-back personal fouls to start El Toro's drive following the fourth-down stop, which flipped the field in the Chargers' favor.

After West's pick at midfield on Dana Hills' ensuing drive, Jacob Furnari turned the lights out with 1:32 remaining when he broke free around the left side and bowled over a pair of tacklers at the goal line for a 23-yard touchdown and a 13-0 advantage.

"El Toro is a very well-coached team," Rusinkovich said. "The penalties hurt us, definitely, but we fought hard. Coach Frith had them prepared. They're a great football team, and they're going to do very well. Our kids put in a great effort, now we're just going to have to regroup and get after Capo Valley next week."

Scrambray threw his 49th and final pass of the evening on Dana Hills' final drive, an ill-fated square-out that Wilson stepped in front of to put the proverbial cherry on top of El Toro's shutout.

Spreading the ball around to 10 different receivers, Scrambray finished the night with 234 yards through the air on 26-of-49 passing, including 14 completions to Briggs (126 yards). But Dana Hills punted seven times, turned the ball over on downs twice, missed on a 40-yard field goal attempt, and fumbled the ball away after driving to the Chargers' 19 midway through the first quarter.

"Our defense has been phenominal the last few weeks," Frith said. "My hat's off to Mike Mayoral, our defensive coordinator, for the game plan he put together. Brian Moreen is as good a middle linebacker as I've seen in a long time. He doesn't always get a lot of the hype, but he's a hell of a player."

Furnari finished with 82 yards in 17 carries for the Chargers, who ran 68 plays all told, 44 of which were Conner Manning passes.

Manning completed 24 for 223 yards, including a 21-yard scoring strike to Dominic Collins on a fade up the left sideline with 8.7 seconds left in the second quarter, giving the Chargers a touchdown lead at the break. 

El Toro racked up 19 first downs, 14 in the first half, but had a 26-yard field goal blocked, and spent most of the evening punting as Dana Hills' defense collected three sacks -- two from senior captain Matt Romano -- and six tackles-for-loss, including a pair from Will McKinley.

Blake Murphy led El Toro's deep receiving corps with seven catches for 72 yards, while Collins, Furnari and Cody White had five catches apiece.

Up next for the Dolphins is a nonleague contest at Capistrano Valley on Thursday, while the Chargers (4-1) will gear up for big-time nonleague matchup at defending Southern Division champion Garden Grove on Friday.

"We just gotta keep playing hard, and keep practicing hard," Moreen said. "Just go 100 percent, 100 percent of the time."

GAME STATISTICS

                                1     2     3     4    --    T

El Toro (4-1)           0     7     0     7    --   14

Dana Hills (2-3)      0     0     0     0    --    0


                                    ET                 DH

First Downs                19                  17
Rushing Yards            78                  55
Passing Yards            223                234
Total Net Yards          301                289
Turnovers                    0                    3
Penalties-Yards         6-65             13-130


SCORING

2nd Quarter

ET -- Dominic Collins 21 pass from Conner Manning; Roger Howard kick, 0:08.7

4th Quarter

ET -- Jacob Furnari 23 run; Howard kick, 1:32