Trabuco Hills Wears Down El Toro

Trabuco Hills wasn’t about to do El Toro two favors in one evening.

The Chargers used the Trabuco Hills stadium as their home field, but the visiting Mustangs didn’t play gracious hosts, running away with a 21-7 nonleague victory.

Using a unique three-quarterback rotation, Coach Jim Barnett’s Trabuco Hills squad wore down the Charger defense early and often in the first half.

“We do some kind of bizarre things,” Barnett said. “I had to try and keep things more simple than usual.”

The Mustangs (1-0), the defending Pacific Coast League co-champions, drove 55 yards on their opening possession to score on a 19-yard pass from junior J.C. Pinstak to tight end Derek Uhl. Uhl finished with 57 yards on four receptions.

After El Toro’s Jason Giuliano returned the ensuing kickoff 40 yards to midfield, safety Jake Anderson intercepted his second pass of the evening against Charger quarterback Bryan Lefevers.

The teams exchanged punts before the Mustangs stretched their lead 14-0 on a 27-yard touchdown pass from Chad Collins to Brad Cervantes. On defense, Cervantes also batted down three Charger passes late in the game, killing three El Toro drives.

Giuliano returned the ensuing kickoff 25 yards to the Charger 35. El Toro found its passing game, which had been a dismal one for five with two interceptions in the first, as Lefevers connected on throws of 28, 15 and 15 yards.

Receiver Brian Wilson slashed to the corner of the end zone and caught an over-the-shoulder, 15-yard touchdown throw to cap the five-play, 65-yard drive and make the score 14-7.

“We were inconsistent throwing the football, which is fairly typical of the first game of the year,” Charger Coach Mike Milner said.

With El Toro getting too close for comfort, the Mustangs drove to the end zone and capped the scoring with 3 minutes 48 seconds left in the first half. Collins, who ended the game seven for 10 for 88 yards, found senior Matt Rechner on an 11-yard scoring play.

Trabuco Hills running back Serge Gudowski led the Mustangs with 85 yards in 14 carries. El Toro’s Travis Harr rushed for a game-high 90 yards in 16 carries.