MISSION VIEJO – Huge returns returned Mission Viejo to the win column.
Abrae Booker-Currin returned a kickoff for a touchdown and Connor Hill scored on a punt return for the Diablos in their 49-20 win over La Habra in a nonleague game Friday at Mission Viejo High.
The many happy returns and a breakout game by junior quarterback Brock Johnson ended Mission Viejo’s modest losing streak at three games. The Diablos lost to Liberty of Bakersfield, 18-7, in their season opener and to Oceanside, 24-7, last week. They lost their final game of the 2013 season to Mater Dei in the second round of the Pac-5 Division playoffs.
Johnson completed 10 of 16 passes for 343 yards and three touchdowns, by far his best production in his three varsity starts.
——————————————————————
VIDEO: Cox 3 Post Game Show for Mater Dei-La Habra
——————————————————————
Hill scored on a 52-yard punt return and also had punt returns of 22 and 26 yards. He also had 167 receiving yards on four catches, including one that covered 56 yards for a touchdown.
Booker-Currin also had a touchdown reception of 56 yards.
Mission Viejo (1-2) played without seven starters who were out with injuries. The Diablos, who were 0-2 for the first time this century, are ranked No. 9 in Orange County and No. 6 in the CIF-Southern Section West Valley Division.
“We improved so much this week,” Mission Viejo coach Bob Johnson said. “I liked the way we played on both sides of the ball.”
La Habra (1-2) lost its season opener to El Toro, 51-35, then overwhelmed South Hills of Covina, 61-0, last week. The Highlanders are No. 3 in the Southwest Division rankings.
Carlos Martin rushed for 117 yards on 16 carries for the Highlanders. La Habra junior quarterback Eric Barriere completed 13 of 27 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown.
Jordan Loya got Mission Viejo on the scoreboard first on a 1-yard touchdown run. La Habra tied it later in the first quarter on a 5-yard run by Barriere.
Hill returned a punt 52 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter to put the Diablos up, 14-7.
Mission Viejo made it 21-7 on a Johnson-to-Cole Young touchdown pass play of 23 yards. Young leaped for the pass, pulled it down at the 5-yard line, shed the defensive back, pivoted and stepped into the end zone.
La Habra scored less than a minute later. Barriere threw deep to wide-open Joshau Levy for an 80-yard touchdown pass play to trim the Mission Viejo lead to 21-14.
Another of those big special teams plays on the ensuing kickoff pushed the Diablos lead to 28-14. Booker-Currin returned the kick 93 yards for a touchdown.
Hill had 100 punt return yards in the first half.
The Diablos extended their lead to 35-14 in the third quarter on a 3-yard touchdown run by Isaiah Miller. The Johnson touchdown pass to Booker-Currin made it 42-14. It was 49-14 after Hill’s touchdown catch late in the third quarter.
A 37-yard touchdown run by Martin in the fourth quarter concluded the scoring.
Mission Viejo plays at Norco next Friday. La Habra is home against La Mirada next Friday.
It was Mission Viejo’s “Mission for the Armed Forces” night. Diablos players wore uniforms with an American flag motif on the shoulder pads. The names of armed forces personnel is attendance were on the backs of the uniforms, which were presented to those armed forces personnel after the game.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei0NM7mAIU8
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
