Tritons Defeat Foothill

Two turnovers in the first quarter that resulted in two touchdowns helped San Clemente, No. 17 in The Times’ rankings, beat No. 22 Santa Ana Foothill, 30-20, in a nonleague game Friday night at San Clemente High.

The turnovers turned into 13 points, seven coming on Foothill’s first possession, when San Clemente lineman Chris Wilson recovered a bad snap in the end zone.

After Todd Rusinkovich recovered a muffed punt return at the Foothill 42-yard line, Cheyne Verhagen scored from four yards for a 16-0 lead with 33 seconds left in the quarter.

Between those touchdowns, San Clemente special teams also contributed as Travis Webster returned a punt 31 yards to the Foothill 25 and Chris Miller kicked a 42-yard field goal.

“The main theme tonight is that turnovers lose football games,” said Foothill Coach Doug Case, whose team dropped to 4-1. San Clemente improved to 4-1.

San Clemente played without starting quarterback Beau Budde, who is out with a broken foot, but backup Cole Bergquist completed 15 of 21 passes for 143 yards with no interceptions.

Bergquist also scored on a quarterback sneak late in the half to give the Tritons a 23-13 lead.

Foothill played without its running back, Mike Liti, who suffered a bruised shoulder in last week’s victory over Orange El Modena. The Knights gained only nine yards rushing, with Glenn Ardrey scoring twice on one-yard runs.

Foothill’s Don Poole completed 19 of 33 passes for 311 yards with two interceptions. Quincy Lever caught 13 passes for 217 yards and a 17-yard touchdown.

Martin Henderson

Moreno Valley Canyon Springs 7, Murrieta Valley 7--No doubt both sides will watch films of this one and mull over the what ifs after playing to a standoff in a nonleague game at Moreno Valley High.

Canyon Springs (4-0-1), ranked No. 23, hung on to a 7-0 lead for most of the contest, after a bad snap in the first quarter by the Murrieta Valley punt team gave the Cougars the ball at the Nighthawks’ 17-yard line.

It took six plays and surviving its own fumble for Canyon Springs to score on a one-yard run by quarterback Josh Gibson.

Murrieta Valley (4-0-1) got the equalizer with 3:43 left in the game when two Nighthawk linemen blocked a Cougar punt and defensive back Calvin Jones returned the ball 40 yards for a touchdown.

“I knew special teams needed to do something,” Jones said, “because our team offense was executing but not getting the job done.”

Paul McLeod

Santa Margarita 37, Mission Viejo Trabuco Hills 7--Ashton White rushed for 145 yards and a touchdown in 30 carries and Santa Margarita’s defense held Trabuco Hills to only 90 yards in the second half to blow open a tight nonleague game at Trabuco Hills High.

Sixth-ranked Santa Margarita (5-0) led, 13-7, at halftime but intercepted the first two pass attempts by Trabuco Hills’ Brian White in the second half and turned both into touchdowns to take a 30-7 lead.

White, who had only four passes intercepted going into the game, also had one picked off in the first half.

He completed nine of 21 passes for 110 yards but was only three of five for 28 yards in the second half.

Santa Margarita kicker Will Johnson had field goals of 47, 34 and 27 yards, tying school records for most field goals in a game and for longest field goal.

Santa Margarita’s Case Colaw completed five of nine passes for 104 yards and two touchdowns.

Peter Yoon

Anaheim Esperanza 45, Fontana Miller 22--The No. 13 Aztecs used a balanced attack to put together five 80-yard scoring drives and routed one-dimensional Miller at Placentia Valencia High.

Quarterback Rick Taloa completed 14 of 20 passes for 286 yards and connected with Brandon Weiner on a 69-yard scoring pass play in the first quarter to pull Esperanza (5-0) to within 9-7.

Running back Eric Lyman gained 135 yards in 16 carries and scored on a six-yard run in the second quarter to help the Aztecs take a 24-15 halftime lead.

Michael Kirschner gained 141 yards in 19 carries and scored three second-half touchdowns on runs of five, one and 33 yards for Esperanza.

Quarterback Kyle Jacobo of Miller (2-3) carried 27 times for 166 yards and scored on a 10-yard run in the first half; however, he completed only two of eight passes for 46 yards with two interceptions.

Mark Alai

Culver City 30, Beverly Hills 26--Armon De’Launey ran 15 yards for the go-ahead touchdown late in the third quarter and Ron Langer kicked a 31-yard field goal early in the fourth in a nonleague game at Culver City.

The Centaurs continued their turnaround from a 3-6 season in 2001 by ending a seven-game losing streak to the Normans.

Quarterback Alex Cueva completed 12 of 21 passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns for Culver City (5-0).

Kyle McCall ran for 158 yards and four touchdowns in 25 carries for Beverly Hills (3-2).

After throwing 18 touchdown passes over the first four games, including at least four in each game, Norman quarterback Ollie Linter failed to throw a touchdown pass, completing 15 of 32 passes for 179 yards.

Steven Herbert