Trabuco Hills Wins With Defense

Brian Byrne returned an interception 46 yards for a touchdown to help Trabuco Hills beat visiting Laguna Hills, 13-0, in a nonleague game Friday night.

Byrne made a running catch over the middle for his second interception of the game. The most notable of many Mustang defensive highlights, the interception ended a Laguna Hills drive with just over one minute to play.

Trabuco Hills defense made sure that Laguna Hills wasn’t able to make much of consistently good field position.

“Our defense played very, very well,” Trabuco Hills Coach Bill Crow said. “They played inspired. We put pressure on [Laguna Hills quarterback Brandon] Champlin and kept him from getting comfortable.”

Mustang quarterback John Baggerley completed three of eleven passes for 36 yards and a touchdown. Dan Tellez rushed for 57 yards in 15 carries. Running back Josh Bowman left the game after injuring his left knee in the second quarter.

Ajay Allen rushed eight times for 25 yards for Laguna Hills (1-1). Champlin completed four of fifteen passes for 47 yards with two interceptions.

Trabuco Hills took a 7-0 lead on its first possession of the game. The Mustangs drove 65 yards in four plays capped by Baggerley’s 27-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Vrick.

The Mustangs (1-1) longest drive of the game failed to put points on the scoreboard, but helped secure the victory nonetheless. Trabuco Hills drove 59 yards in 13 plays in the fourth quarter, before Jay Arntson missed a 24-yard field goal. However, the drive took more than six minutes off the clock, which Laguna Hills could not afford to lose.