Mission Viejo Avoids Upset

When it was over, and nearly every other player was jumping up and down in celebration as fans began streaming onto the field, offensive lineman Kevin Kittle put his hand on the back of Kevin Bemoll’s head and patted it. Quiet and understated, it was a moment unlike any other in Mission Viejo’s 17-14 victory Saturday over Concord De La Salle.

“It’s the roughest team I’ve ever played against,” said Bemoll, an Ohio State-bound offensive lineman, his lips bruised in two places. “Those guys were amazing. It was just an emotional game, I was in tears.”

Tears of joy, tears of relief. Mission Viejo (5-0), ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 2 in the nation, beat the standard-bearer for the last decade of high school football because Robby Bosanko kicked a 27-yard field goal with 17 seconds left.

And because De La Salle’s own kicker, Vincent Colvis, was a few yards wide on a 45-yard attempt as time expired.

“That was about the toughest team we’ve played all year,” said lineman Chase Moline, Mission Viejo’s only two-way starter. “They know all about winning and tradition.”

Touted as the game of the year in the preseason, it lost its luster when De La Salle lost its first two games and tied its third. De La Salle (1-3-1), which had a 151-game winning streak ended in the season opener, was ranked No. 17 in the state, but there are few teams that would have beaten the Spartans Saturday.

It was only the second field goal of the season for Bosanko, who missed a 31-yard attempt on the previous possession.

“There was no overtime, so I knew I had to put it through,” he said. “I’m just glad I got the opportunity to do it.”

De La Salle limited Mission Viejo to two possessions in the first half and six in the game. Although Mission Viejo scored on its first possession, on Chane Moline’s one-yard run, the Spartans answered with a 16-play drive that consumed 9 minutes 51 seconds as Eduardo Lopez scored from one yard. The extra point gave De La Salle a halftime lead.

Mission Viejo scored on its first possession of the second half by driving 80 yards. Chane Moline, who finished with 143 yards in 22 carries, did much of the work along with quarterback Mark Sanchez, but it was Keegan Gogerty who scored from two yards, and the Diablos led, 14-7, when Sanchez hit Brett Alvarez for a two-point conversion.

De La Salle came right back, converting three third-down situations, with a 71-yard drive that Lopez capped with an 18-yard run.

“They came out to play -- we knew they would,” said Sanchez, who completed 15 of 22 passes for 161 yards with one interception. “We knew coming in they’d play us tough, smash-mouth football. We knew this was a game where they could put themselves back on the map. But a team like that never fell off the map.”

After Bosanko’s field goal, Donnie Payne returned the kickoff 47 yards. Kevin Lopina’s 12-yard pass put the Spartans in position to tie.

“We lost, but we played a great game,” said Lopina, who completed 10 of 14 passes for 104 yards. “They were big, we came out as underdogs, and it came down to a field goal.”