Trabuco Hills Wins on the Run

Mission Viejo Trabuco Hills has been without its best rusher, Danny Tellez, since the second half of the season opener. Tellez has had internal bleeding in his leg, and the Mustangs don’t know when he’ll be back.

They do know that since he left, they haven’t had a running game.

“We’ve been putrid,” Coach Bill Crow said.

But those putrid days may be over the way that Adam Santos ran the ball on Thursday night, helping Trabuco Hills to a 17-0 nonleague victory over Villa Park, the fourth-ranked team in Southern Section Division VI rankings.

Santos rushed for 122 yards in 22 carries for Trabuco Hills (2-1), which lost last week on a last-minute field goal.

“We were going to go with Oscar Daboub, and if he wasn’t doing the job, we were going to bring in Adam,” Crow said.

And Santos did the job, as his effective running opened up the Trabuco Hills passing game.

Junior quarterback Brian White completed nine of 15 passes for 121 yards and one touchdown, a 14-yard completion to Christian Merritt.

“It feels great to run the ball,” said Santos, a senior who did not play last season to concentrate on his studies. “Coaches said run up the field, don’t run side to side, and that’s what I did.”

Trabuco Hills opened up a 17-0 halftime lead before play got ragged in the second half.

Villa Park’s best chance to score came late in the first half, but Eddie Monroe made an interception in the end zone after Villa Park had reached the 14-yard line.

The defense limited Villa Park (1-1) to 102 yards.

Merritt, a defensive back, and linebacker Riley Montgomery led the defensive performance, which got three turnovers.

Villa Park quarterback Sean Cavanaugh, who had been Southern Orange County’s leading passer, seven of 19 for 20 yards, and two interceptions.