A LITTLE HISTORY

1974--Created as part of a league realignment, the South Coast League became the first regional home for schools in the growing South County. The inaugural members were Dana Hills, El Toro, Laguna Beach, Mission Viejo, San Clemente and University, with El Toro and University sharing the first championship.

1987--The most anticipated game of the year lived up to expectations, but in the end left a sour taste. Capistrano Valley was unbeaten and led by Todd Marinovich, a quarterback on the verge of setting a national career passing record. Its opponent was El Toro, the defending Southern Conference champion. Capistrano Valley won, 22-21, surviving as El Toro missed a two-point conversion and a field goal in the final two minutes. But two weeks later, Cougar Coach Dick Enright resigned, admitting to charges that he had viewed tapes of an El Toro practice before the game. Capistrano Valley forfeited its victory over the Chargers, who went on to successfully defend their section title.

1999 IN REVIEW

The league race came down to the final week, with three teams tied for the lead going in, and only San Clemente left at the top coming out. The Tritons got a 214-yard, four-touchdown performance from James Allen to knock off co-leader Mission Viejo, 33-23, while Dana Hills was taking a 19-point lead on El Toro, then holding on to win, 42-37, denying the Chargers a share of the championship. . . . Allen, who finished second in rushing and scoring, was the league’s co-most valuable player, along with Ryan Switzer, a running back and linebacker at El Toro. . . . San Clemente had the league’s only victory in the Division II playoffs, a 28-12 decision over Downey Warren, before falling to Diamond Bar.

*--*

League Overall STANDINGS W L T W L T TP PA San Clemente 4 1 0 8 4 0 268 240 El Toro 3 2 0 6 5 0 285 257 Mission Viejo 3 2 0 4 7 0 241 276 Dana Hills 2 3 0 2 8 0 169 143 Trabuco Hills 2 3 0 5 5 0 134 183 Capistrano Valley 1 4 0 2 8 0 206 317

*--*

Leaders

Statistics include regular season games only

*--*

PASSING Att CP TD Yds Whitaker, El Toro 230 123 13 1,547 Hart, Mission Viejo 197 95 10 1,263 Dixon, Capistrano Valley 192 85 6 1,235 Coviello, San Clemente 149 84 2 1,018

*--*

*--*

RUSHING Att Yds Avg TD Chapman, Cap. Valley 172 1,156 6.7 5 Allen, San Clemente 176 1,108 6.3 13 Dubois, Mission Viejo 208 1,099 5.3 14 Switzer, El Toro 117 711 6.1 8

*--*

*--*

RECEIVING Rec Yds Avg TD Parry, El Toro 37 536 14.5 6 McCarthy, San Clemente 32 555 17.3 1 Shultz, Mission Viejo 30 407 13.6 7 Lonne, El Toro 23 251 10.9 1

*--*

*--*

SCORING TD FG XP TP Dubois, Mission Viejo 15 1 3 96 Allen, San Clemente 13 0 2 80 Melton, Capistrano Valley 11 0 0 66 Shultz, Mission Viejo 8 0 2 48 Switzer, El Toro 8 0 2 48

*--*

NOTEBOOK

San Clemente plays three of its five nonleague games against out-of-county schools. But it’s not by choice. Triton Coach Eric Patton contends that he couldn’t find county coaches who wanted to play his team. “Maybe it has something to do with us running the ‘fly’ [an unconventional misdirection offense],” Patton said. “Or maybe it’s because we’re down here at the end of the county and nobody wants to drive this far.” Patton said he tried to schedule Foothill and Santa Margarita, but was turned away. San Clemente is even having trouble getting out-of-county schools on its schedule. Patton said Lynwood, which San Clemente defeated in last year’s opener, would not renew its contract. . . . SuperPrep Magazine has Tritons’ senior Tim Burnette rated as the eighth-best tight end in the country. Teammate Justin Tomerlin is rated sixth among defensive linemen. Mission Viejo’s Billy Hart was rated 20th among quarterbacks. . . . Only Mission Viejo returns its starting quarterbacks. The other four teams will start first-year varsity players at quarterback. . . . Mission Viejo won or shared eight South Coast League titles from 1979 to 1990, but the Diablos have not won any titles since.