Trabuco Hills Takes to Air to Win, 17-0

Trabuco Hills High School went back to basics in the second half to earn a 17-0 victory over Long Beach Wilson on Saturday in nonleague game at Mission Viejo High.

The victory was Trabuco Hills’ first over a Division I opponent in the school’s five-year history, and was a significant turnaround from last week’s loss to underdog Dana Hills.

Trabuco Hills’ 14-7 loss to Dana Hills was only the third in two seasons for the defending Division VIII champion, and it also was costly. The Mustangs lost their best running back, Ben Rooker, to a knee injury that required arthroscopic surgery last week. Rooker will be out at least three weeks.

Jim Barnett, Trabuco Hills coach, elected to try a grind-it-out, ball-control offense in the first half, but scrapped the plan when the Mustangs gained only 32 yards and failed to score.

Quarterback Tim Manning, who was sporadic throughout the first half, passed for 128 yards and a touchdown in the second half to spark the comeback. He completed 14 of 28 passes for 161 yards and one interception.

“We tried the new offense in the first half and couldn’t get anything going,” Manning said. “With Rooker going down, we were missing a big weapon, so we decided to go back to our basic passing offense. I felt a lot more comfortable the second half.”

Trabuco Hills (2-1) opened a 3-0 lead when Brent Roper kicked a 21-yard field goal in the third quarter, then clinched the victory by scoring twice in the fourth quarter.

Manning connected with wide receiver Greg Hughes on a 10-yard touchdown pass about a minute into the fourth quarter, but Hughes paid the price for the score, suffering a separated shoulder when making the catch.

Tight end Julian Ford, filling in for Rooker, scored Trabuco Hills’ second touchdown on a 17-yard run with 6:32 remaining. Trabuco Hills had 109 yards rushing, with tailback Peter Burke gaining 83 yards in 19 carries.

Long Beach Wilson (1-2) managed only 70 yards rushing and completed only two passes against a strong Trabuco Hills defense that had Barnett smiling afterward.

“The defense did a great job today shutting out a Division I team,” Barnett said. “Our offense struggled, but they confused us with a lot of different formations, so we decided to go back to the basic stuff. Ball control isn’t my style, anyway.”