A Good Win for Trabuco Hills

Trabuco Hills dominated the line of scrimmage through the second half Thursday night and helped set up Mark Goodwin’s winning 21-yard field goal as the host Mustangs defeated Covina Charter Oak, 10-7, in a season-opening football game.

Goodwin connected with 6:28 left in the fourth quarter, after an eight-play drive that began on the Charter Oak 34.

Daniel Tellez carried the ball 25 times for 139 yards and the Mustangs’ only touchdown, a two-yard dive that tied the score, 7-7, with 6:58 left in the third quarter. It capped a 47-yard drive on which Tellez carried the ball on all five plays.

Mustang Coach Bill Crow said he criticized his offensive linemen at halftime, and they responded well in the second half, opening huge holes for Tellez and Deante Pate.

“I had a few choice words for them at halftime,” Crow said. “From there we got a better result.”

Tellez, who had just 39 yards at the half, carried on 13 of the Mustangs’ first 14 second-half plays before leg cramps slowed him.

Pate (14 carries, 55 yards) replaced him early in the fourth quarter and came up with a big four-yard gain that gave the Mustangs (1-0) a first down at the Charter Oak 8, setting the stage for Goodwin’s winning kick.

After Trabuco Hills fumbled away its first possession of the game, Charter Oak jumped ahead, 7-0, as quarterback Brandon Kile connected with David Boler for a 13-yard touchdown.

The Mustang defense buckled down after that, though. It didn’t allow a completion the entire second half and allowed just five yards of offense in the second half.

Charter Oak finished 13-1 last season and fell one game short of a Southern Section championship.