El Toro Senior Is Killed in Crash

Blake McGill loved to laugh, loved to cook and loved to drive--fast.

The popular 17-year-old El Toro High School senior often took his car into Trabuco Canyon to drive the tight curves of Live Oak Canyon Road, and early Sunday morning, that’s where his life ended.

McGill was heading south on Live Oak near Monastery Road when he lost control of his car shortly before 12:30 a.m., California Highway Patrol Officer Denise Quesada said. Authorities said that stretch of road, which snakes through the canyon, is a tempting but deadly highway.

Officers said McGill was trying to negotiate a curve when his car slammed into a telephone pole, shearing it off at the base, and then rammed a tree.

The canyon road has a posted 35-mph speed limit and police said it appeared the young driver was speeding.

Two passengers--Matt Grabot, 16, of Mission Viejo, and Jeremy Block of Lake Forest--suffered moderate injuries and were taken to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center, authorities said. McGill died at the scene.

On Monday afternoon, more than two dozen of McGill’s friends and classmates gathered at the crash site--some crying, others standing in silence as they stared at the twisted metal of a fence damaged in the wreck. They placed heart-shaped balloons, flowers, candles and notes around a white cross adorned with a photo of McGill--smiling and raising a cup to the camera.

Classmates said that McGill--a football player whose height and bulk belied his gentle nature--had an infectious, toothy grin and a sense of humor that could win over anyone.

“He would just say certain things that would get you going, and you couldn’t stop laughing,” said Justin Gautier, 18, a senior who played on the football team with McGill.

Matt Rolf, 18, said his classmate was the kind of guy others went to when they needed cheering up.

“He was always laughing,” Rolf said. “And he had no enemies. Everybody loved him.”

Word of McGill’s death spread quickly in the Lake Forest community. Eddie Randall, 18, said a friend called early Sunday to break the news.

By Monday morning the news had swept the campus. A banner was hung in the campus and about 400 students gathered during morning break to listen to their classmate’s favorite Bob Marley songs. Students scribbled notes on the banner.

“You could always make me laugh,” one student wrote. “Time stopped today,” read another.

A memorial assembly is planned Friday at the school.

The outpouring of emotion came as no surprise to Kim Ogle, one of McGill’s teachers: “He walked into class every day with a smile on his face.”

Ogle said McGill once won thunderous applause from classmates when he read them a sonnet he had written about breaking up with a girlfriend. A copy of the poem lay among the mementos at the crash site.

“Now I’m better off alone,” the poem read, “with the wind at my back and the sun on my face.”

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Mai Tran contributed to this report