Sports

Football: Trabuco Hills 24, El Toro 21 (OT)

South Coast League: Trabuco Hills spoils the party at El Toro, where the Chargers host their first game in their new stadium.

El Toro High ushered in a new era, playing its first game under the lights of its newly constructed stadium. The Chargers played Trabuco Hills, which happens to be the school where El Toro played its home games previously. Turns out, Trabuco Hills is a party pooper.  Blake Cuzzupoli kicked a 38-yard field goal in overtime to shock the home team. Talk about breaking in the new digs.

Score: Trabuco Hills 24, El Toro 21 (overtime)

Key Stats: Jordan Hettinger rushed for 172 yards for Trabuco Hills.

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Pivotal Moment: Trabuco Hills drove 84 yards and scored the tying touchdown with 29 seconds remaining on Tommy Kelley’s 1-yard run and Cuzzupoli's extra point.

Quotable: “Blake was devastated from missing the extra point” TH coach Scott Orloff told the Orange County Register, referring to a 28-26 loss to Santa Margarita Catholic. “And I said to him, ‘You’re going to win a football game for us this year.’ And so I had full confidence in him.”

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Quotable II: “The thing I’m really proud of is we didn’t fall apart when things fell apart,” Orloff said.

Records: Trabuco Hills (5-3 overall, 1-1 in South Coast League), El Toro (4-5, 1-2)

Notes: Tommy Kelley’s TD pass of 17 yards to Jake Breeland, and Kelley’s 5-yard run with 6:42 left in the third quarter gave Trabuco a 14-7 lead. … It was at that point that things “fell apart” for Trabuco as El Toro answered with two touchdowns and a safety. … Trey Tinsley passed for 227 yards and three TDs. Down 14-7, he tossed a 2-yard score to Brendan Lane late in the third quarter and a 25-yarder to Taylor Dodds early in the fourth. The PAT was blocked after the first score, and the two-point effort failed after the second. … El Toro got the two points back on a safety when a snap went out the back of the end zone with 8:39 remaining to make it 21-14. …  

Tinsley’s other TD was 16 yards to Dominic Collins, who caught nine passes for 190 yards. … Marcus Desantis rushed for a team-high 21 yards for El Toro. … Trabuco’s victory snapped a three-game losing streak, to Santa Margarita, JSerra and Tesoro. … Trabuco Hills plays host to Mission Viejo next week, and El Toro is idle before closing the season at home—in its new stadium—against undefeated Mission Viejo. 


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