Mustangs Shut Out by Artists : Laguna Beach Stops Trabuco Hills’ Vaunted Passing Attack, 19-0

Laguna Beach High School pinned Trabuco Hills in the mud Friday night, stopping the Mustangs at every turn and winning, 19-0, in a Pacific Coast League game in front of 2,500 fans at Laguna Beach.

The Artists held the Mustangs’ vaunted passing offense to 33 yards. Quarterback John Barnes completed 4 of 14 passes, his lowest output of the season. The ground game wasn’t much better. The Artists held the Mustangs to 35 yards rushing.

“This is our first shutout,” said Lyman Olney, Laguna Beach coach. “We played pretty good defense. We really rose to the challenge.”

Laguna Beach (8-1, 4-0) plays Woodbridge (9-0, 4-0) next week for the league championship.

“It just gets a little more intense for us next week,” Olney said.

A victory for Trabuco Hills (7-2, 2-2) next week over Laguna Hills (1-6-1, 1-3) will give the Mustangs their first playoff berth.

Trabuco Hills didn’t help its chances much Friday night. The Mustangs fumbled 7 times, losing 4 and were penalized 9 times for 85 yards.

Laguna Beach was hardly a model of consistency, getting 11 penalties for 130 yards. The Artists even had two 15-yard penalties on one play.

On a fourth down late in half, the Artists’ Mike Davis ran into Mustang punter Tim Mellado and got a roughing penalty. The Artists compounded one mistake by complaining to the official and were assesed 15 more yards for unsportsmanlike conduct.

But like so many chances for the Mustangs this opportunity went awry. Barnes fumbled while scrambling, killing the drive at the Artists’ 24.

Laguna Beach managed to overcome the sloppy field conditions and were able to pass effectively at times. Quarterback Danny Lane completed 7 of 16 passes for 105 yards and a touchdown, a six-yard pass to tight end Pete Schmitt that gave the Artists a 10-0 lead with 6:07 left in the third quarter.

Less than three minutes later, the Artists turned a fumble by running back Todd Marsh into an 18-yard touchdown to take a 16-0 lead. The ball squirted out of Marsh’s hands, took one bounce and linebacker Chris Parlove scooped it up and ran into the end zone.

Trabuco Hills, taking advantage of a fumble on a punt return at the Laguna Beach 29-yard line, drove to the four and appeared to start a rally.

But on fourth and goal, Barnes’ pass was knocked down and the Artists’ took over on downs. Trabuco Hills never got another chance to score thereafter.