ROMOLAND – A trio of costly turnovers proved too much for El Toro to overcome on Friday night, as it fell to Heritage of Romoland, 42-14, in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 playoffs.
“We just made too many mistakes tonight, and you can’t do that against a good team,” El Toro coach Mike Mayoral said. “Our turnover ratio has not been good this season, and this young team has to learn how to take care of the football.”
Heritage’s Sherod White scored three touchdowns, rushing for 126 yards on 18 carries and adding three catches for 25 yards.
Top-seeded Heritage (11-0) advances to face San Clemente, which defeated Chino Hills, 36-13, next week.
The first five possessions of the game ended in punts, before Heritage capped a 10-play drive with Javier Luna’s 15-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter.
El Toro (4-7) then drove the length of the field in less than two minutes, tying the score on quarterback Cooper Jones’ 1-yard keeper with 49 seconds left in the half.
Heritage remained aggressive on its ensuing drive, and White broke off a 49-yard run on the Patriots’ second play.
“We started off slow but we were able to pull it together,” White said. “When we left the field at the half we knew we were capable of playing better, and we did play better in the second half.”
Heritage scored three times in the third quarter, twice on goal-line runs by White, to secure the victory.
Heritage quarterback Devin Freedland was 10-of-16 passing for 83 yards and a touchdown, while Luna and Rashound Shelton both caught three passes for 24 yards.
Marcus Blevins ran for 56 yards on 13 carries for El Toro, and Jones finished 13-of-28 passing for 116 yards.
