PREP FOOTBALL : Capistrano Valley On a High After Defeating El Toro

Making the climb from a pit to a peak in the span of a week can be pretty intoxicating stuff--so much so that it can cause a grown man such as Eric Patton, Capistrano Valley High School’s football coach, to gather his players around and ask them to thank, praise and pray for just about everyone currently living.

Capistrano Valley defeated El Toro, 34-22, Thursday in a South Coast League game at Mission Viejo High. It beat its main nemesis--Capistrano Valley had not beaten El Toro, “not legitimately,” Patton said, in 4 years. (It did beat El Toro, 22-21, last season but eventually had to forfeit because of a cheating scandal that cost Dick Enright his job as coach.)

Enright was at the game Thursday and led the team in a post-game prayer. He also contributed the offense.

There was no Capistrano Valley offense leading into this week. It lost to Dana Hills, 9-7, for the first time in school history last week.

After that game, Capistrano Valley was 1-2 in league, in danger of missing the playoffs and had scored just 13 points against its first 3 league opponents.

“Last week was one of the lowest points I think this program has ever been at,” Patton said. “People at Capistrano Valley expect to win, and they expect to score points.”

Maybe the people at Capistrano Valley expect that, but the coaching staff at El Toro didn’t. Capistrano Valley, using sophomore Tony Solliday at quarterback, had struggled to score all year, averaging just 10 points a game.

“This game really sets us back,” said Bob Johnson, El Toro’s coach. “To have a team like Capistrano Valley, a team that has had trouble scoring all season, get 34 points against you, that’s tough.”

Solliday’s improvement has been dramatic. He started this season tentatively but has developed in confidence and form. He completed 13 of 16 pass attempts Thursday for 190 yards and a touchdown.

Still, Solliday’s performance was overshadowed by another sophomore, running back Chris Adams, who gained 177 yards on 22 carries and scored 3 touchdowns. Adams, the brother of former Capistrano Valley running back Tommy Adams, was getting his first real varsity action. He had returned a couple of kicks last week against Dana Hills.

The majority of his yardage came on a counter play that headed over the right side of the El Toro defense. It worked time and time again.

Patton said El Toro should have recognized the offense.

“Since we were doing so poorly on offense, we decided to scrap the offense and use the one Coach (Dick) Enright used last season,” Patton said. “It’s the same blocking schemes, the same plays, everything.”

Capistrano Valley improved to 5-4, 2-2 in the league. El Toro is also 5-4 and 2-2.