Freshman

OC Varsity – Zach Cavanagh
September 29, 2017

MISSION VIEJO – While Mission Viejo honored all branches of the military with veterans in attendance for patriotic displays on its Armed Forces Night, you’d be forgiven if you thought the Diablos’ offense favored the Air Force.

Quarterback Joey Yellen threw for 363 yards and four touchdowns in the first half – 147 yards and three touchdowns to Olaijah Griffin on three receptions – as No. 2 Mission Viejo rolled in its nonleague finale over No. 14 El Toro, 42-17, Friday at Mission Viejo High.

“It’s an absolute honor, there’s no other way to put it,” Yellen said of his team wearing a veteran’s name on the back of their jerseys. “It’s an unbelievable tradition. My veteran was actually a fallen one, unbelievably accomplished. To be able to bring him some honor to his parents and all that, it was a real treat.”

Mission Viejo opens South Coast League play next Friday, Oct. 6, against Tesoro. El Toro starts Sea View League play next Friday,Oct. 6, at Aliso Niguel.

Chris Mitchell carried the ball 12 times for 99 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

Mission Viejo (6-0) stifled El Toro (3-3) early and held the Chargers to 102 yards of offense in the first half with just six rushing yards.

El Toro quarterback Cooper Jones completed six of 26 first-half passes for 96 yards. He finished 14 of 38 for 218 yards and two second-half touchdowns.

The Diablos got right to work as Yellen hit Griffin on a 40-yard TD pass on their first drive.

“We had a good showing, offense and defense,” Yellen said. “Some things really clicked in the pass game. Some things we still have to fix up, but an improvement, for sure.”

Ryan Kennedy pulled in an interception two plays later, and Yellen turned it around on another TD pass to Griffin of 20 yards.

Noah Aguilar pulled in an interception for El Toro, but the Chargers couldn’t mount anything with it.

After a turnover on downs, Mission Viejo put together an 83-yard drive capped on a 19-yard run by Mitchell.

As the first quarter expired, Yellen found Osborne who fought off some tackles en route to a 33-yard touchdown and a four-score lead, 28-0.

“Not going to lie, our first five games we were kind of slow in the passing game,” Osborne said. “We had a good week of practice. We got it rolling.”

El Toro scored on their first two second-half drives with a 26-yard TD pass from Jones to Aquilar and a 22-yard field goal by Matt Freem.

Mission Viejo brought its starters back in and Shaun Javier-Rhodes scored on an 11-yard run.

Jones threw his second TD pass to Sam Whipple for six yards in the fourth quarter.

Game photos from last week’s Varsity game against Saddleback Valley Christian can be found at the below link:

http://imageevent.com/pokemom/football/eltorohighschool/eths2017/092217svchristian

All previous games can be found here:

http://imageevent.com/pokemom/football/eltorohighschool/eths2017

Many thanks to Debbie Braasch for her great work every Friday night at our Chargers games!

Chargers Stadium – Lake Forest, CA
September 22nd, 2017

El Toro did what they intended to Friday night, and beat Saddleback Valley Christian soundly 42-0 at Chargers Stadium. The win gets the Chargers to 3 and 2 on the season.

The ET offense didn’t waste time getting points on the scoreboard as they converted 3 of 4 passes on their opening drive, capped by a Steven Castaneda rushing TD. Matthew Freem drilled the PAT to make it 7-0.

The defense made things difficult on the SVC offense all night. Heavy pressure forced errant passes for much of the game, and the result was a pair of interceptions, one by Jake Landry, and the other by Alex Baha. Recording sacks were Nick Martinez 1 1/2, Sam Whipple 2, Raymond Carpenter, while Charles Poderoso and Whipple accounted for multiple hurried passes as well.

The offense scored 42 points led by a well balanced attack. Rushing the ball in tandem were Steven Castaneda and Julian Bruce who scored a total of 3 times on the ground. Castaneda scored twice and Bruce once as Julian stretched to the front right pylon in the first quarter for the touchdown. Castaneda’s first TD was set up when Shane McLaughlin reeled in a 47 yard reception to move the ball deep into SVC territory. McLaughlin finished with 75 yards receiving. The offensive line opened big holes for the backs and created the space they needed to work led by senior lineman Kyle Whitesides, Dominick Vasquez, and August Clark.

The air attack produced the other 3 TD’s. Cooper Jones connected with Austin Derrico on a 34 yard reception in the first quarter for a score and later hit Derrico again for a 24 yard TD. Noah Aguilar’s 27 yard reception in the 3rd quarter accounted for the third passing touchdown of the game. Cooper Jones finished 14 0f 21 for 247, 3TD’s and 1 INT.

Matthew Freem also made all 6 PAT attempts, and was just wide left on a long field goal attempt in the fourth quarter. Freem also reached the end zone multiple times on kick-offs.

The Chargers will look to recharge, continue to improve, and have a great week of practice before embarking on the road for the next two games.

Game pictures of our Friday victory over Tesoro have posted to the web. Thanks to Debbie Braasch for the outstanding photographs of this exciting game!
You can go to the below link to see them all.

https://imageevent.com/pokemom/football/eltorohighschool/eths2017/tesoro091517

You can also view all of our previous games at the below link:

https://imageevent.com/pokemom/football/eltorohighschool/eths2017

Victory and Go Chargers!

OC Varsity
By ZACH CAVANAGH
September 15, 2017 at 11:32 pm
LAS FLORES – Early in the second quarter, El Toro held a comfortable 28-point lead.

No. 19 El Toro (2-2) was rolling early over No. 15 Tesoro (1-3) with two turnovers forced and scores on its first four drives.

On the game’s opening drive, Julian Bruce exploded from 30 yards out for the opening score.

On Tesoro’s drive, Wes Henderson pulled in an interception to give El Toro the ball at midfield.

Three plays later, Cooper Jones hit Shane McLaughlin up the middle for a 49-yard touchdown pass and a two-score lead.

Henderson came up big again to force a fumble as Tesoro was driving to the endzone that El Toro recovered at its own two-yard line.

The Chargers then drove 98 yards including a 30-yard pass from Jones to Austin Derrico and a 15-yard TD pass to Noah Aguilar for the three-score lead.

Jones threw a third TD pass, a four-yarder to McLaughlin, for the 28-0 lead in the second quarter.

Jones finished 23-of-40 passing for 339 yards.

McLaughlin got six passes for 110 yards.

Zach Wran plunged in from four yards out to get Tesoro on the board before halftime, and Petersen came out firing in the second half.

Tesoro got a field goal, and then Petersen ran in touchdowns of 29, 26 and 36 yards to pull the Titans within two points, 31-29.

Petersen ran the ball 18 times for 188 yards and finished 14-of-31 passing for 195 yards.

El Toro’s offense was ice cold in the second half before it got its second of two second-half field goals for the five-point lead.

The El Toro defense made the plays for it to hold.