Villa Park Rally Comes Up Short, Mustangs Win

Villa Park quarterback Matt Jackson had no difficulty directing a 75-yard drive in the final two minutes to bring the Spartans within one point against host Trabuco Hills Friday night.

It was the three yards after the touchdown that became a problem.

On a two-point conversion attempt that would have put Villa Park (0-2-1) ahead with less than 20 seconds to play, Jackson’s pass intended for Josh Harnett fell short and the Mustangs escaped with a 17-16 victory.

“I knew we were going to go for the win,” Jackson said. “We already have a tie. We wanted a win.”

Jackson rolled to his right on the play, but threw incomplete when he was pressured by Trabuco Hills’ James Puskas.

“We talked about it with about four minutes left, and said we’d go for it if we had the chance,” Villa Park Coach Pat Mahoney said. “It was a bootleg pass that we hadn’t tried all game.”

The Spartans struck first on a 15-yard touchdown run by Dache Dameron in the second quarter.

But Trabuco Hills (1-2) got a 32-yard field goal by Brandon Heaney on the following possession, and a seven-yard scoring run from Al Gandall a few minutes later to take a 10-7 lead.

The Mustangs cushioned the lead on a one-yard quarterback keeper by Joseph Edwards with 5:50 left in the third quarter.

The Spartans used eight minutes on the following drive but had to settle for a 28-yard field goal by Mike Clements.