Woodbridge Serves Notice by Beating Trabuco Hills

Woodbridge sent out another message Thursday night, defeating Trabuco Hills, 37-27, at Irvine High. It appears it’s going to take something special to knock off the Warriors, who won their third consecutive game.

If Thursday’s victory was any indication, Woodbridge is a cinch to post its first winning season since 1988. Woodbridge produced 287 yards of offense and was stopped only when it made a mistake, which wasn’t often.

The Warriors (3-0) scored on six of 10 possessions--two drives ended in punts, one was halted by halftime and the other by the end of the game.

As it turned out, Woodbridge needed every last yard and point to defeat Trabuco Hills.

Trabuco Hills remained winless, but not because the Mustangs (0-2-1) aren’t a good football team. The Mustangs’ schedule has been brutal so far. They lost to El Toro, 22-3, in the season-opener, then tied Dana Hills, 10-10, last week. And they ran up against an overwhelming Woodbridge offense Thursday.

The defenses took the first half off, as Trabuco Hills led, 21-20.

It took two plays for Woodbridge to take the lead for good in the second half, though. After a short punt, Woodbridge running back Glen Edwards rushed once for 11 yards, then caught a 17-yard pass from quarterback James Wyatt for a touchdown. Wyatt’s two-point conversion run gave Woodbridge a 28-21 lead.

The Warriors’ next possession resulted in a 32-yard field goal by Gable Gifford for a 31-21 lead.

Then came the game’s turning point. Trabuco Hills quarterback Pat Barnes fumbled at the Woodbridge seven, Warrior Gabriel Tennet scooped up the ball and raced to the Warrior five before he was tackled.

Nine plays later, Tennet scored from a yard away to put Woodbridge up, 37-21 with 10:54 left. A pass interference penalty on Trabuco Hills gave Woodbridge a first-and-10 at the 14, bailing out the Warriors after they were mired in a fourth-and-goal situation at the 28.

Barnes came back with a 47-yard touchdown pass play to Chad Early, to cut the lead to 37-27, but that was as close as Trabuco Hills could get.