Mission Viejo Defense Takes Command : Football: Mission Viejo a victory away from outright league title after stuffing El Toro’s running attack to win, 21-9.

Mission Viejo High School’s defense beat El Toro, 21-9, before an overflow crowd of 8,000 at Mission Viejo Friday with the South Coast League title on the line.

The operative word here is beat.

“This win will go down in Diablo lore,” said Mike Rush, Mission Viejo coach.

Mission Viejo stuffed El Toro’s running game and even managed to slow its passing attack. Except for a touchdown on its first series, El Toro managed only a safety.

The victory puts Mission Viejo (8-1, 4-0 in league play) a victory away from the outright league championship and means the Diablos will be the top-seeded team from the South Coast League.

Mission Viejo also could take over the county’s No. 1 ranking next week. El Toro (8-1, 3-1) had been top-ranked since the season started.

If you throw out that first drive, El Toro seemed like a discouraged team for most of the showdown.

Mission Viejo could thank Bill Denny, a strong safety who plays more like a linebacker, and Beau LeBreton, a defensive end, for that.

The two seemed to be in El Toro’s backfield constantly, either slamming a running back to the turf or pressuring quarterback Rob Johnson.

LeBreton had three sacks and swatted away a key third-down pass on the Mission Viejo 17-yard line late in the game. It was one of many times El Toro drove deep into Mission Viejo territory but came away without scoring.

“We knew what we had to do . . . shut down Rob, shut down (running back Bret) Sanders, make the big plays and execute,” LeBreton said.

It all worked flawlessly.

In the second half, Mission Viejo:

--Held El Toro on downs at the Mission Viejo five.

--Intercepted a Johnson pass at its own 36.

--Stopped El Toro twice more on downs before game’s end.

“I think I’d have to credit their defense,” said Bob Johnson, El Toro coach. “They stopped us when they had to. This is a tough loss for us. Real tough.”

Tim Snowden, Mission Viejo quarterback, threw touchdown passes to three different receivers as the Diablos led, 21-7, at halftime.

After Johnson hit Darren Doalson with a simple screen pass that turned into a 19-yard touchdown play, Snowden got hot.

He completed a four-yard lob to Doug Roberson with 3:41 left in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, he completed touchdown passes of 24 yards to Denny and 14 yards to Anthony Ramirez.

After halftime, Mission Viejo turned the game over to its defense. The Diablos didn’t plan it that way; it just happened.

Snowden completed 11 of 20 passes for 133 yards to Johnson’s 16 for 31 for 215 yards and one interception. Snowden came into the game completing 68.4% of his passes; Johnson 71.4%.

“I told the kids last week that they were special,” Rush said. “We’ve dwelled on that. Nobody thought much of us at the beginning of the year.”