DIVISION VIII : Laguna Hills No Match for Trabuco Hills

Matt Rechner waited there, both knees on the ground, seemingly out of the play.

The pass was deflected by a defensive back 10 yards away, and the ball went right into Rechner’s hands almost by divine intervention. The play gained 15 yards.

That’s the kind of night it was for Rechner and Trabuco Hills, which scored a 42-20 victory over Laguna Hills, their Pacific Coast League rival, in front of 2,000 at Mission Viejo High Saturday.

With the Division VIII victory, the Mustangs (10-3) advanced to the Southern Section finals for the fourth time in six years. They will meet the last team to beat them, Costa Mesa (9-2-2), which won the Pacific Coast League title because of it.

Laguna Hills, which defeated Trabuco Hills in the 1991 title game, 35-28, finished 9-4.

Trabuco Hills scored on its first three possessions of the second half to put the game away. Trabuco Hills held a 21-14 lead at halftime on the strength of a 19-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Chad Collins to Bobby Johnson with 26 seconds left.

Each team matched the other throughout the first half, until Collins came off the bench and directed the Mustangs 59 yards in four plays in the final 1 minute 26 seconds. His scoring pass to Johnson and Gerry Beckham’s third extra point put the Mustangs ahead by seven.

“That was the key play of the game,” said Trabuco Hills tailback Jake Galasso, who rushed 22 times for 99 yards. “It gave them something to think about. We had momentum and we got the ball to open the third quarter.”

And the Mustangs took advantage of it. Rechner returned the kickoff 46 yards, and the offense went 52 yards in eight plays. Johnson, who caught two touchdown passes, scored from three yards to make it, 28-14. The key play was a 24-yard gain in a third-and-six situation, and it was those types of plays that Laguna Hills Coach Steve Bresnahan said killed his team.

“We had to play the perfect game,” he said. “We had to stop them in those type of situations.”

Trabuco Hills’ second touchdown, a 24-yard pass from J.C. Pintsak to Devin Martin, came on a fourth-and-four situation. That drive was kept alive twice on third-and-nine and third-and-14 situations.

Trabuco Hills continued to roll in the second half with Pintsak’s 18-yard scoring pass to Johnson and Galasso’s 15-yard run with 8:36 left.

Laguna Hills added a touchdown with 5:50 to go when Justin Vedder passed eight yards to Rick Stilson. Vedder finished 12 of 17 for 158 yards and two touchdowns.

But Pintsak did even better, completing 14 of 19 passes for 260 yards and three touchdowns.

Laquent Fobbs hurt Laguna Hills early. He broke three tackles--including a spin move to elude two defenders--to complete a 50-yard touchdown pass from Pintsak.