Football: El Toro QB Sets Section Records in Win

By Martin Henderson

Trey Tinsley isn’t in Conner Manning’s class yet, but Friday night the junior did something even the great El Toro quarterback didn’t do. Unofficially, Tinsley completed 49 of 70 passes—both school records—in a 42-35 nonleague victory over Villa Park. 

If those figures hold up to the scrutiny of video, both would be Southern Section records as well. John Uribe completed 47 of 68 passes for Santa Barbara in its 49-28 loss to Thousand Oaks in a 2008 playoff game.

For the record, Manning was 46 of 68 a year ago in a 47-24 victory over Huntington Beach.

A week ago, Tinsley completed 39 of 56 passes in a loss to Palos Verdes, and that seemed like a lot. But it paled to Tinsley's effort at Trabuco Hills High against the visiting Spartans.

• See the Orange County Top 10 and Patch's vote
• Read about El Toro's loss to Palos Verdes
• Read about El Toro's narrow loss to Corona del Mar

Tinsley’s big night—which included 501 yards, two interceptions and six touchdowns—may have been a big one personally, but the performance was even bigger for the Chargers.

Having suffered through the growing pains of a young team, the Chargers finally got the quality victory they needed before going into South Coast League play. Their only previous victory was over Capistrano Valley, but in defeating previously unbeaten Villa Park, they beat a program that reached the Southwest Division VI final last year, is ranked No. 3 in the division this year and was in the Orange County Top 10 before JSerra blew out Huntington Beach.

It was, for quarterback and team, a big step forward.

Score: El Toro 42, Villa Park 35

Key Stats: Trey Tinsley completed 49 of 70 passes—that’s not a misprint, pending official verification—for 501 yards and six touchdowns. Dominic Collins caught 16 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns.

Pivotal Moment: Villa Park took a 21-14 lead late in the first half, then got the ball to open the second. With defensive stops at a premium, Lance Vecchio’s 24-yard interception return to the El Toro 14 gave Villa Park a great opportunity to pull even. On second-and-3 at the 7-yard line, El Toro’s Sam Travis forced a fumble and Andrew Clements recovered at the 15. Twelve plays later, Tinsely hit Taylor Dodds for 16 yards and a 28-14 lead. The Villa Park turnover was huge.

Records: El Toro (2-3), Villa Park (3-1)

Notes: Collins caught scoring passes of 5, 6 and 7 yards, but he had receptions of 31, 44 and 23 yards. … The first TD capped a 95-yard drive on the Chargers’ first possession. … Taylor Dodds caught 12 passes for 132 yards and a touchdown of 16 yards. … Other scoring strikes went to Collin Kentros for 28 yards, and Brendan Lane for 18. … Although the Villa Park fumble was huge, and there was enough scoring to get lost in the shuffle, perhaps the most impressive—and important—scoring drive came in the second quarter. Villa Park had just tied the score at 14-14 with 3:24 left in the half, but El Toro drove 80 yards in 83 seconds as Tinsley hit Collins inside the front left pylon on a 6-yard pass. It answered the Spartans’ score, it gave the Chargers the lead knowing they would receive the second-half kickoff, and with three touchdowns in four drives, it proved conclusively to the Chargers their passing game could hardly be stopped. … Villa Park suffered a loss when running back Michael Vega was injured in the opening minute of the second quarter. In 13 minutes, he carried eight times for 40 yards and caught three passes for 26 yards. … Dylan Osborne threw three touchdown passes, of 10, 45 and 6 yards, and ran 1 yard for another in a losing effort. … The other Villa Park score came on Ramon Chavez’s 14-yard score in the first quarter on fourth-and-1. … Before playing undefeated Villa Park, the combined record of El Toro’s opponents heading into the weekend was 12-4. … El Toro plays its next three games on the road, beginning next week with Claremont in the final nonleague game. Then it’s San Clemente and Tesoro. … Villa Park, defending Century League champ, begins league play next week against Foothill.