With a Little Help, Trabuco Hills Clinches Top Spot

Try as it might, Costa Mesa could not stop Trabuco Hills from clinching the top spot in the Pacific Coast League Friday night.

Trabuco Hills’ 39-6 victory at Orange Coast College, coupled with Estancia’s 16-0 loss to Laguna Hills, gave the Hawks (5-4-1, 4-1) the top league seeding for the playoffs. Laguna Hills finished with the same league record but was second because of a head-to-head loss to Trabuco Hills.

Estancia would have finished No. 1 by winning Friday.

Costa Mesa went for broke Friday, employing unusual defenses and using several reverse plays on offense, but it was never close.

Trabuco Hills Coach Jim Barnett--while being given the obligatory post-game drenching by his players--said he expected some unusual plays.

“They play a gambling defense,” he said. “They had nothing to lose, and they were in it for a while. Then Jeff Clayton got a run, and then he got another.”

Trabuco Hills scored the first of its six touchdowns on Dave Corrao’s 73-yard fumble return. But Clayton took over from there, rushing for 142 yards in eight carries and scoring on runs of 65, 22, and 55 yards.

Costa Mesa’s only score came on a two-yard run by Mike Pawinski with 2:09 left.

“It’s good for us going into the playoffs,” Barnett said. “That gives us something, and so we just go from there.”