PREP FOOTBALL / Saturday Pullout : Fielding Sets Scoring Record in Mission Viejo’s Victory

Senior Todd Fielding ushered in the Bill Denny era at Mission Viejo in record-breaking fashion as he single-handedly defeated Santa Ana Valley Friday night.

Fielding scored 35 points in the Diablos’ 41-13 rout before about 3,200 at Mission Viejo High. He ran for four touchdowns and kicked four extra points and two field goals, breaking the Diablo single-game scoring record of 30 points.

“He does it all for us,” Denny said. “He runs, he kicks, we’ll probably have him clean up the sidelines afterward.”

Fielding came close to breaking the record, previously held by Eric Ekdahl (1988), Todd Yert (1985) and Roger Brown (1982), in the first half as he scored on touchdown runs of nine and 18 yards, kicked his own conversions and booted field goals of 34 and 31 yards.

The Diablos led, 20-7, at the half and opened the second half by recovering an onside kick. Within four plays, Fielding was in the end zone again. This time, he went 34 yards untouched on a trap play.

Fielding scored his last touchdown on a six-yard run that was set up by Dwayne Cherrington’s second of three fumbles. Fielding finished with 147 yards on 14 carries as he consistently ran through gaping holes in the Falcon defense.

“I owe it pretty much to the line,” said Fielding, who had shoulder surgery in May and missed spring and summer practice. “I was surprised I was able to run this well.”

When Fielding wasn’t running wild in the Valley secondary, sophomore quarterback Austin Moherman was riddling it with passes. Moherman completed 14 of 27 passes for 189 yards and did not throw an interception.

“For a first night, this was as crisp a performance by an offense as I’ve seen,” Denny said. “I owe that to the offensive coordinator, Kerry Crabb.”

Meanwhile, the going was mighty slow for Cherrington, who finished with a hard-earned 101 yards in 27 carries, a touchdown and three turnovers.

Mission Viejo scored its final touchdown on an 18-yard run by backup tailback Robert Hoover. Fielding kicked the conversion for the last of his 35 points.

Denny said it was an easier debut that he expected.

“You’re never sure if you’re any good until you’ve actually played someone else,” he said. “It’s hard to tell when you’re going against yourself in practice every day. The kids were super high early and the thing that I liked is their emotions never fell off.”

Fielding said the team wanted badly to give Denny his first victory.

“We wanted him to know that he’s welcome and that he’s doing a great job,” Fielding said.