Rechner’s Catches Pace Trabuco Hills : Nonleague: Mustang grabs three touchdown passes, two interceptions as Villa Park falls, 28-21.

The Mustangs’ Matt Rechner wreaked havoc on Villa Park, scoring three touchdowns and intercepting two passes to lead Trabuco Hills to a 28-21 nonleague victory Friday night at Trabuco Hills High.

Rechner finished with seven catches for 164 yards, and it didn’t seem to matter who was throwing the ball. Rechner caught passes from two Trabuco Hills quarterbacks and intercepted Villa Park quarterback Sean McMahon twice.

Rechner’s performance offset a good game from Villa Park running back Grant Pearsall, who rushed for 160 yards and three touchdowns in 23 carries.

On defense, Rechner stopped two drives, one when he intercepted a pass in the end zone on Villa Park’s second possession.

After Villa Park drove 66 yards in 11 plays on its first possession of the second half, Rechner intercepted a McMahon pass at the Trabuco Hills 10 to preserve a 21-7 lead.

“I’ve never had a game like this before,” Rechner said. “A lot of things were open for us tonight.”

Although former Trabuco Hills quarterback Pat Barnes, Orange County’s fourth all-time leader in passing yardage, graduated in June, three Trabuco Hills quarterbacks picked up where Barnes, who now plays for Cal, left off.

Chad Collins, Jake Galasso, and J.C. Pintsak combined to complete 15 of 21 passes for 267 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions. Collins completed 10 of 12 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown.

“We’ve been rotating them all season,” Trabuco Hills Coach Jim Barnett said.

The rotation worked, with the Mustangs scoring on their first three possessions.

Trabuco Hills took its first possession and drove 78 yards in 10 plays capped by a 15-yard touchdown pass from Collins to Rechner.

On its next possession, Rechner caught a 40-yard touchdown pass from Galasso, then Galasso passed 10 yards to Derrek Uhl for a touchdown for a 21-0 lead with 5 minutes 16 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

“I don’t know if we were confused, but we were always a step slow to the ball in the secondary tonight,” Villa Park Coach Pat Mahoney said.

Trabuco Hills appeared to put the game out of reach with 8:39 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Galasso lined up at running back, took a pitch from Collins, and found a wide-open Rechner for a 38-yard touchdown pass to give the Mustangs a 28-7 lead.

But Pearsall scored on a four-yard run with 4:20 remaining, and after Galasso fumbled a snap on Trabuco Hills next possession, Villa Park recovered and Pearsall capped a four-play 34-yard drive with a six-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to seven points with 1:22 remaining.

But Trabuco Hills recovered the ensuing onside kick, and ran out the clock.