MISSION VIEJO – Breathing room in the backfield was hard to come by at Capistrano Valley High on Friday night.
Capistrano Valley and San Juan Hills combined for 11 sacks and nine tackles for loss, but the Stallions broke through for the win on a 26-yard touchdown run by Cole Suchesk that gave the Stallions a 17-10 nonleague victory.
The Cougars’ offense, which had scored 93 points in its first two games, was thwarted most by Stallions’ defensive lineman JJ Glass, who sacked quarterback Kevin Brown four times and added four tackles for loss.
“We wanted to knock them in the mouth and I thought we did that well,” Glass said. “We have great speed on the defensive line.”
But San Juan Hills quarterbacks didn’t have it easy either. Capistrano Valley’s Zach Ritner recorded three sacks and a tackle for loss.
With the score tied, 10-10, Stallions’ quarterback Matt Rodriguez completed 4 of 5 passes to get San Juan Hills (3-0) to the Cougars’ 26. Those throws set up Suchesk for the decisive run.
It was the only rushing attempt by either team that netted more than 10 yards in the game.
“We were just able to pop one,” Stallions coach Aaron Flowers said. “Our guys were just able to create a crease. It was rough going tonight against that defense.”
Clay Eggeman made a 37-yard field goal to open the scoring for Capistrano Valley (2-1).
Stallions quarterback Doug Jackson hit Cayden McCluskey for a 37-yard TD to give San Juan Hills a 7-3 lead.
Brock Cazel intercepted a Brown pass in the third quarter, leading to a 38-yard field goal by Jack Montgomery tfor a 10-7 lead.
Brown completed 17 of 29 for 246 yards, including the tying score, an 87-yard strike to Riley Kasper.
Contact the writer: npercy@scng.com
