YORBA LINDA – Foothill used Friday night’s 31-10 Crestview League-opening victory over Esperanza as a dress rehearsal of sorts for next week’s showdown with Villa Park.
The Knights (6-2, 1-0) scored two touchdowns at Yorba Linda High within an 80-second span late in the first quarter, and the Aztecs (2-6, 0-1) never were able to mount a real challenge.
Jared Copeland scored on a 7-yard TD run with 2:22 to go in the first period. Jimmy Latham followed with a 1-yard TD of his own.
After Evan Mickelson’s 21-yard field goal in the second quarter, Preston Moebius hit Gunner Perales on a 43-yard TD pass, and Foothill led, 24-0, at the half.
“Our offense was bouncing around (all season) and we wanted to find out what our niche was going to be,” Foothill coach Doug Case said. “Our defense has been great all year, but our offense seems to have found itself.”
Patrick Campos led Esperanza with 104 yards on 20 carries and a 1-yard TD run, and Tyler Cossel made a 26-yard field goal in the third quarter.
Bobby Garcia came on for Moebius when most of the starters took much of the second half off, and the junior scored on a 43-yard run in the fourth quarter to cap the Knights’ evening.
Esperanza’s Trevor Markowitz was injured on the first drive of the game and never returned.
Freshman Treyden Buzzone played in his first game of the season and completed passes of 59 and 66 yards to Blake Peters.
