Top-Ranked Diablos Win on Late Score : Preps: A touchdown with three minutes to play gave Mission Viejo a 6-0 victory over Dana Hills in a battle of South Coast League unbeaten teams.

Lost somewhere between adulation and relief, the members of the Mission Viejo High School football team walked off their home field Thursday, having just beaten--and that’s just beaten--Dana Hills, 6-0, in the South Coast League opener for both teams.

No one was happier or more relieved than a stocky fullback named Ryan Darke, who looked as if the weight of the world--at least the part that encompasses Orange County high school football--had been lifted from his shoulder pads.

Darke had fumbled twice in the second half, once when his team had the ball at the Dana Hills 15. Darke’s mistakes were by no means the only ones for Mission Viejo. The Diablos, who came into the game 5-0 and ranked No. 1 in Orange County, were penalized 13 times for 128 yards, turned the ball over four times and missed three field goals.

But Darke’s mistakes were conspicuous.

“Each time I fumbled it killed a drive we could have easily scored on,” he said. “I was really fighting being down about it mentally.”

Eventually, Darke vindicated himself when he went downfield and ran under a pass from quarterback Tom Snowden with little more than three minutes left in the game. Catching the ball at the 15, Darke sprinted into the end zone, finishing a 48-yard play and scoring the game’s only touchdown. The extra point was blocked.

“That wasn’t planned,” Darke said. “The defense was playing me ‘man’ so I just turned it up and Tom read it perfectly.”

Snowden’s read was all the more impressive since he did it as four Dana Hills defenders were closing in on him. Dana Hills (5-1), a team that had allowed just 23 points coming into Thursday’s game, had hit Snowden hard all game, sacking him twice and intercepting him twice. Still, the junior quarterback completed 15 of 29 passes for 249 yards.

Darke was also Mission Viejo’s leading rusher on the night, gaining 62 yards on 13 carries. He gained 40 yards of that in the second half when he filled in at tailback for Mark Gaw, who missed the second half with a hip bruise. Gaw gained 39 yards on seven carries in the first half.

Mission Viejo wasn’t the only team making mistakes. Dana Hills quarterback Grant Taylor was intercepted three times and sacked five times for losses totaling 41 yards. And Dana Hills missed a field goal of its own.

“I like to think the turnovers came about because it was a hard hitting ball game,” said Don Douglass, Dana Hills coach.

Whether or not that was true, Douglass’ team was in the game right until Taylor’s pass to running back Scott Pearlman lost 10 yards on fourth down at the Mission Viejo 38 with less than a minute remaining.

“I’m kind of happy this kind of game happened to our kids,” said Mike Rush, Mission Viejo coach. “They have to learn they can’t assume anything.”

Though both teams came into the game at 5-0, Mission Viejo was considered a heavy favorite, having won the past two South Coast League championships and outscored five previous opponents, 186-25.

“This was a great football game,” Douglass said. “My kids play hard every game and that makes it an awful lot of fun for me.”

Still, no one was having as much fun after it was over as Darke who buried his head in his hands immediately after the game had ended then gave out a scream.

“It was very nice the way things worked,” he said.

Nice and close.