Mission Is Winner of the Rematch : Murphy Leads Diablos Past El Toro, 24-7

It is common in football for a quarterback to call an audible when he wants to change a play at the line of scrimmage, but Mission Viejo High School’s Brendan Murphy took the term a step further in the Diablos’ Southern Conference semifinal game against El Toro.

The call is usually reserved for the receivers, to change from a run play to a pass or to change a pass route, but Murphy got his center, Rick Costello, in on the audible action Saturday night.

Taking advantage of El Toro’s spread defensive set, Murphy called several audibles for quarterback sneaks and rushed for 129 yards and a touchdown to lead Mission Viejo to a 24-7 victory in front of 7,300 fans in Costa Mesa’s LeBard Stadium.

Ten of Murphy’s 17 carries went right up the middle. His longest sneaks went for 19 and 13 yards. He also had roll-out runs of 20, 18 and 13 yards and scored on a 1-yard run in the second period.

“Every time my center (Costello) would see them spread out, he’d call my name, ‘Murph! Murph!’ and I’d run the sneak,” Murphy said. “I was really surprised. I thought they’d catch on to the sneaks, but they kept spreading their line out and I kept running.”

As if his rushing wasn’t enough, Murphy also completed 7 of 11 passes for 82 yards and a touchdown in an all-around performance that helped the Diablos advance to next Saturday night’s Southern Conference championship game against Santa Ana. The site for the game will probably be determined Monday.

Mission Viejo also received solid rushing efforts from Todd Yert, who carried 15 times for 62 yards and a touchdown, and Darrin Sweazy, who carried 10 times for 48 yards.

Murphy’s counterpart, El Toro quarterback Bret Johnson, would have been better off calling audibles to change from the pass to the run Saturday night.

Of his 21 passes, only 3 fell incomplete, but only 13 of those attempts landed in the arms of El Toro players. The other five were intercepted, including two each by Mission Viejo’s Dennis Erk and Bob Doran. The Diablos used three of those interceptions to begin scoring drives.

Johnson, the sophomore son of El Toro Coach Bob Johnson, looked extremely sharp on the Chargers’ first possession, when he drove the team 64 yards for a touchdown in just 2 1/2 minutes. He hit Chris Bailey with a 19-yard pass and then rolled right and teamed with Scott Miller on a 34-yard pass play that moved the ball to the Diablo 14-yard line.

Eric Brass needed two plays to cover 14 yards, the final 9 accounting for the touchdown, and Shane Brisbin added the extra point for a 7-0 lead with 8:10 left in the first period.

But then, Mission Viejo’s ball-control offense took over, and the Diablos’ defensive secondary tightened its coverage, turning what appeared to be a promising night for the Johnson family into a rather forgettable evening.

The Diablos recovered from the early deficit to take a 14-7 halftime lead on the strength of two long and impressive scoring drives, the first covering 90 yards in 6 minutes and the second covering 89 yards in 8 1/2 minutes.

The first drive, which took 12 plays, was highlighted by Murphy’s 18-yard keeper and capped by Yert’s 1-yard run, on which he went over the top of a pile at the goal line. Don Roberson kicked the extra point to tie it, 7-7, with 1:59 to go in the first period.

On El Toro’s next possession, Johnson appeared to lose the grip on a bomb intended for Miller and Doran intercepted the wobbly, underthrown pass at the Mission Viejo 11, seconds before the end of the first quarter.

The Diablos then used 14 plays to cover the 89 yards, Murphy sneaking in from the 1 with 3:37 left in the first half and Roberson adding his second PAT for a 14-7 lead.

Mission Viejo (11-1-1) didn’t have one third-down play on the drive, and only two plays--Murphy’s 19-yard sneak and a 15-yard screen pass to Yert--went for more than 10 yards. The Diablos also were penalized twice on the drive for five-yard illegal procedure calls.

In the third quarter, Erk stepped in front of Bailey to intercept Johnson’s pass and return it 30 yards for an apparent touchdown, but the score was called back because of an illegal block on the return. Five plays later, Roberson kicked a 31-yard field goal to give Mission Viejo a 17-7 lead.

Rick Angle intercepted Johnson on El Toro’s next possession to give the Diablos the ball on the Charger 39-yard line. Murphy passed 23 yards to Doran, ran around the left side for 20 yards on a keeper and, three plays later, rolled to his left, stepped up and drilled a 9-yard touchdown pass to Erk, who was wide open in the back of the end zone.

El Toro (9-4) had the ball twice in the fourth quarter, but Erk and Doran each ended drives with interceptions.

The win avenged Mission Viejo’s only loss of the season, which came when the Chargers defeated El Toro, 24-17, in South Coast League play. The Chargers went on to win the league title, but the Diablos will be playing for the Southern Conference championship.