HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS : Castle Park Upsets Torrey Pines on TD at 0:30

Castle Park High School saved its best for last and advanced to the second round of the San Diego Section 3-A football playoffs.

Castle Park trailed the entire game but pulled out an improbable 22-21 victory over Torrey Pines on a six-yard touchdown pass to Gene Hamilton from Moses Moreno with 30 seconds left in the game.

Hamilton led the Trojans with 63 yards rushing and 88 yards receiving. He also scored on a 10-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Moreno, a junior quarterback who completed several clutch passes in the closing drive, connected on 16 of 30 passes for 220 yards.

In the game’s first three minutes of play on their its home field, Torrey Pines jumped out to a 14-0 lead and seemed on its way to a romp.

Kevin Dalzell scored on an eight-yard run to cap the game’s opening drive and Josh Stern followed with a 12-yard touchdown run after Torrey Pines intercepted a Moreno pass on the Castle Park 44-yard line.

But three first half fumbles by Torrey Pines, two of which the Trojans turned into scores, kept Castle Park in the game. Junior running back Anthony Davis ran for a 46-yard touchdown with 10:33 left in the second quarter. Chris Arnce followed that with a 36-yard field goal with 4:43 remaining in the second quarter to narrow it to 14-9.

Joel Brown carried Torrey Pines to 21-9 lead as the first half ended. He set up his own 15-yard touchdown run by carrying twice for 49 yards on the drive.

Despite racking up 261 yards rushing, Torrey Pines was held in check by the Castle Park defense on crucial downs to ensure the victory. Castle Park’s final scoring drive ate up nearly eight minutes of the clock.