MISSION VIEJO – Mission Viejo coach Bob Johnson wasn’t fazed when facing the fact his inexperienced offensive line would be playing without its star tackle Friday night.
Johnson knew he could offset that gaping hole with his cache of offensive weapons.
Senior running back Isaiah Miller found that hole and ran through it.
The host Diablos raced past Oak Hills of Hesperia, 56-27, on the heels of Miller’s relentless performance. Mission Viejo, ranked No. 2 in Orange County, racked up 503 yards of offense in the rout of the Bulldogs (1-1).
Mission Viejo (3-0) and Miller controlled the ground game from the first whistle. Despite playing without key tackle Zack Aylor, who is nursing a bruised thigh, Miller had his flashiest performance of the season.
Miller had 10 carries for 160 yards and rushed for four touchdowns. All of his scoring runs came in the first half, when the swift-footed back accumulated 155 of his yards.
“He’s been a real tough runner for us all the time,” Johnson said. “The O-line did a really great job … they’re all rookies on the line. They hadn’t started a game until this year.”
Aylor, the star lineman, has offers from Michigan and Cornell. Johnson said he may miss another couple of weeks.
Oak Hills jumped to an early 7-0 lead with 8:34 left in the first quarter when Brandon Porter connected with Charles Gross on a 26-yard touchdown pass.
But Mission Viejo was quick to respond.
Miller broke off a 23-yard run on the fourth play of the Diablos’ first drive, capping the series with a 4-yard dive past the goal line.
After the Bulldogs second drive stalled at their own 44, Mission Viejo quarterback Brock Johnson connected with Peyton Marshall on a 23-yard completion to the Oak Hills 38. On the next play, Miller scampered down the left sideline, eluding several would-be tacklers for a 38-yard score, to push the lead to 14-7.
Miller added scoring runs of 46 and 3 yards in the second quarter. Brenden Schooler added a 22-yard TD run to make it 35-7.
