MISSION VIEJO – Rancho Cucamonga’s physical defense made life difficult all night for No. 15 Trabuco Hills and its new starting quarterback, Jimmy Jacobs.
The Cougars started the season with a shutout on the road, beating the Mustangs, 17-0, in a nonleague game at Trabuco Hills High.
“I thought our size and speed up front was going to be a lot for them. Pressuring them was big so their receivers couldn’t get downfield too far,” Cougars coach Nick Baiz said.
The Cougars defense sealed the game with a score midway through the fourth quarter. Isreal Fonua intercepted Jacobs and returned it 50 yards for a touchdown. Joey Mendoza’s extra point put the Cougars up, 17-0, with 7:57 left to play.
In addition to the stingy defense, Rancho Cucamonga quarterback Angel Matute passed for 300 yards and ran for 46 more. Blake Fisher caught three passes for 129 yards and a touchdown.
The game was scoreless until Rancho Cucamonga took a 7-0 lead midway through the second quarter thanks to the Matute-Fisher connection.
Matute found Fisher in single coverage along the sideline, where the 6-foot-4 receiver pulled down a jump ball, spun away from a couple of tackles and went in for a 78-yard touchdown with 6:09 left in the half.
Mendoza made it 10-0 with a 29-yard field goal at the 4:16 mark of the third quarter, after the Trabuco Hills defense had held strong inside its own 5-yard line.
It looked like Trabuco Hills might get back into the game when Chad Crosbie broke up the middle for 41 yards and was dragged down just short of the goal line in the final minute of the third quarter.
The Cougars defense, however, held strong. The visitors stuffed the Mustangs on four consecutive goal-line rushes, including three quarterback keepers by Jacobs, to force a turnover on downs and end the host’s best offensive threat.
Trabuco Hills got inside the Cougars 5-yard line again in the final five minutes, but again the defense pushed them back and forced a turnover on downs.
New Trabuco Hills coach Tony Henney called his team “probably the worst 3rd-and-1 team in the nation” after the game.
“First and foremost, that’s a really good defense we just played. They’re big, fast, physical and well-coached,” Henney said. “We’ve just got to do better job of coaching and hopefully that’ll make us do a better job of playing.”
Jacobs finished with 10 of 23 passing for 132 yards. Crosbie carried 12 times for 81 yards.
Contact the writer: jwilkinson@ocregister.com
