ORANGE COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL : El Toro Upset by El Modena, 10-7 : Top-Ranked Chargers’ 17-Game Winning Streak Ends

Jeremy Deckert, the player who might have cost his team the game, sacked El Toro High School quarterback Jason Vivonia on a game-saving fourth-down play that allowed El Modena to upset the Chargers, 10-7, and snap the Southern Section’s second-longest football winning streak at 17 games Thursday night at Fred Kelly Stadium.

Deckert was slapped with a questionable-but-dooming personal foul, as he had against Pacifica a week ago. Just as the Vanguards seemed on the verge of shutting down El Toro’s final drive, just when his teammates were chanting “de-fense, de-fense” and the yells seemed to be working, Deckert was called for a late hit.

Again.

That penalty, together with a face-mask call, placed the top-ranked team in Orange County 30 yards closer to the goal line, down to the Vanguards’ 14-yard line. And El Toro had four new downs with more than two minutes remaining.

But this was not to be a night of normalcy.

El Modena broke up an El Toro pass and limited two runs to a total of four yards before Deckert’s game-clinching sack of Vivonia.

El Modena, which had been shut out twice by lesser teams, ran up 10 points against one of the county’s better defenses. The Vanguards managed this with Blake Flynn, who replaced Trey Frank, making his first start at quarterback this season.

“You’ve got to overcome adversity. That’s something we talk about all the time,” said Bill Backstrom, El Modena coach. “We’d get a penalty and suddenly just couldn’t overcome it.”

At its start, the game appeared anything but an upset. The Chargers (3-1) were without the services of Bret Johnson, ranked as one of the nation’s five top quarterbacks, and wide receiver Chris McCarthy, because of injuries. Still, they were able to run all over the Vanguards (2-2) in the first half.

The Chargers scored on their first possession after running back David Nemeth rambled for 66 yards and then caught an eight-yard pass out of a fake field goal formation to cap an 84-yard drive. In the first quarter alone, Nemeth had 93 yards. The Chargers were close to scoring again, but Nemeth missed a 21-yard field goal. What’s more, El Toro’s defense was able to shut down the Vanguards in the first quarter. Defensive tackle Cory Wayland sacked Flynn twice in the first half for losses of 10 yards.

El Modena scored late in the half when Tim Hatcher kicked a 38-yard field goal to make the score 7-3.

The Vanguards turned the tables to shut down El Toro’s offense in the second half. Nemeth, who had 97 yards in the first quarter, finished with only 134 for the night.

Meanwhile, the Vanguards’ offense got moving. In the fourth quarter, Flynn completed a 31-yard pass to Nate Bogan, taking the Vanguards to El Toro’s 11. On the next play, Pat Leborio swept the right side for the game-winning touchdown.

“We worked hard on the offense this week,” said Backstrom, refering to the two previous shutouts. “We spent a lot more time on it than the defense.”

Steve McClaskey led the Vanguards with 84 yards in 16 carries. Though quarterback Flynn completed 4 of only 7 passes for 47 yards, he made the big completion that set up the game-winning score.