SAN CLEMENTE – A bounce can be good or bad, depending on your perspective.
Its impact on a football game can also be immense.
After the ball bounced off San Clemente running back Vlad Dzhabiyev’s fingers on a pitch by quarterback Sam Darnold, it could have landed on the turf and bounced out of bounds. It could have bounced back to a San Clemente player. But it bounced up into the air and Trabuco Hills’ linebacker Colin Schooler took it in and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown to extend the Mustangs’ lead to 10 points in the fourth quarter of the CIF-SS Southwest Division championship game
From that point forward, everything seemed to break in the Mustangs’ favor and they held on to win, 44-37, on San Clemente’s home field.
On the next drive, Darnold scrambled 15 yards to pick up a crucial fourth-down conversion, but he was injured on the play and didn’t return. San Clemente (12-2) added a field goal to cut the lead to a single score and got the ball back with just less than a minute remaining, but a Hail Mary thrown by sophomore backup quarterback Jack Sears was broken up by Trabuco defensive back Bret Bohan just short of the end zone as time expired.
“The pitch mesh wasn’t there and (Schooler) made a great play on the ball and changed the momentum of the game,” San Clemente coach Jaime Ortiz said. “Sam got a little dinged up, but we rode Sam all year and I think he’s one of the best players in the county.”
The bounces continued to go in Trabuco’s favor, when, in the final minute, punter Blake Cuzzupoli dropped a low snap, but was able to just get the punt off – inches off the ground – before the oncoming San Clemente rushers could close in on him.
“The way our two teams battled this year, I think the football gods were like, ‘No, we’re not going to let a team put it away. It has to come down to the wire,’” Trabuco coach Tony Henney said.
Darnold, headed to USC next year, threw for 204 yards and a touchdown on 12-of-15 passing and ran for two more scores and 181 yards on 18 carries, but Trabuco quarterback Jimmy Jacobs went toe-to-toe with him throughout.
Jacobs had 135 yards and three touchdowns on 16-of-20 passing, including the go-ahead touchdown pass to Noah Thompson from 5 yards out to give the Mustangs (10-4) a 37-34 lead with 7:51 remaining. Jacobs also ran for 90 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.
“He’s a gutty kid, isn’t he?” Henney said of Jacobs. “He really just did a fantastic job (and) made some throws when he had to.”
Jacobs’ favorite target was Oregon-bound wide receiver Jacob Breeland, who caught six passes for 78 yards and two touchdowns, all in the first half. The biggest plays of the first half were arguably Breeland’s two touchdown catches, both on fade routes where the 6-foot-5 receiver simply out-jumped San Clemente defenders. Trabuco took a 30-21 lead into the break.
“Jimmy puts up perfect balls for me and I have my height, so I just say, ‘I’m jumping for this. This is my ball’” Breeland said.
After all the controversy leading up to the game on where it could or should be played, Henney wouldn’t comment if winning on San Clemente’s home field made the victory sweeter, but showed his hand a bit when he stood up on the sideline bench with the championship trophy in hand. The championship is Henney’s third straight CIF-SS title, after winning two titles at Nordoff of Ojai in 2012 and 2013.
“I told you we’d celebrate on the 50-yard line of this field tonight,” Henney said.
Contact the writer: jbalan@ocregister.com
