Tritons Squeeze By Trabuco Hills in Game of Inches

San Clemente’s offense didn’t move the ball much all night. Fortunately for the Tritons, they only needed to move it 12 inches to keep their South Coast League title hopes alive.

Senior James Allen scored from a foot away on fourth down with 47 seconds left to give San Clemente a thrilling, 14-10, victory at Trabuco Hills. Allen (54 yards, 21 carries) and the San Clemente offense had been stymied all night, but the Tritons took eight minutes to drive 80 yards in 20 plays for the victory.

Allen had been stuffed two consecutive times on runs up the middle. But on the last play he ran in untouched, behind right tackle Andrew Comeau and right end Tim Burnette.

“I was pretty confident,” Allen said. “I knew all I had to get was another inch. I thought I was in the last time but they said only my helmet was over.”

San Clemente Coach Eric Patton said he had no thoughts of trying a game-tying field goal on fourth down.

“A tie puts us in a tie for third place and then we have to depend on a coin flip to get in [the playoffs],” he said.

San Clemente (6-3, 3-1) can win at least a share of the league title if it beats Mission Viejo (4-5, 3-1). The Tritons secured at least third place and a playoff berth, thanks to Capistrano Valley’s victory over Dana Hills.

The game-winning drive appeared to have been stopped on Trabuco Hills’ 30 with 2:49 to play, but a pass interference call gave San Clemente new life. Dan Coviello’s pass to Chris Roesti was well overthrown, but Roesti was pushed in the back as he went for the ball.

“We were playing aggressively all night,” Trabuco Hills Coach Bill Crow said. “Those kind of calls can go either way. Nobody in the world could have caught that ball, but that’s the way it goes.”

That’s the way it has been going for Trabuco Hills (4-5, 1-3), which has lost three in a row and dropped out of the playoff race. The Mustangs had an opportunity to go ahead by 10 points early in the fourth quarter, but fullback Eric Rapley slipped as he was taking a fourth-down-and-two handoff from quarterback John Baggerly on San Clemente’s 21. Baggerly kept the ball and dove into the line, but he came up a yard short.

“He never fails to get that type of yardage,” Crow said. “But that’s been our luck lately.”

San Clemente scored first when it converted a Baggerly fumble on his 25 into a touchdown. Allen capped the short drive with a seven-yard touchdown run. The Tritons returned the favor six minutes later when Coviello coughed up the ball after being sandwiched by blitzing linebackers Chris Cordova and Rapley. Linebacker Dennis Hong picked up the ball and sprinted 65 yards for a touchdown.