San Clemente wins battle with La Habra

SAN CLEMENTE - Ninth-ranked San Clemente made sure that there will be three undefeated teams when the South Coast League schedule begins next week.

The Tritons joined league rivals No. 1 Mission Viejo and No. 7 Tesoro at 5-0, by scoring a 28-21 home victory over La Habra on Friday night. (Full game stats.)

This marks the first time that the Tritons have started a season 5-0 under Coach Eric Patton.

David Espino scored the winning touchdown, a 13-yard run, with 6:21 remaining in the game.

La Habra's potential tying drive stalled on fourth-and-10 with an incomplete pass in the end zone with 1:10 left.

"I'm ecstatic," Patton said. "Our kids played with a lot of heart. …This was a great high school football game.

"It could have gone either way."

Momentum started to swing in San Clemente's favor early in the fourth quarter. An interception by Joey Waters gave the Tritons possession on the La Habra 46 with the score tied, 21-21.

Led by quarterback Duke DeLancellotti, San Clemente went nine plays, resulting in Espino's touchdown.

"He did what he had to do," Patton said of DeLancellotti. "We couldn't get any kind of offense in the third quarter, but we hung in there and when the time came, he did a good job putting the ball where he had to."

DeLancellotti completed 18 of 28 passes for 178 yards. He completed three passes on the winning drive.

"We practiced those situations every day," DeLancellotti said of the winning drive. "It pays off."

La Habra took a 21-20 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter on Ronnie Hillman's 77-yard touchdown run.

Hillman had 197 total yards on 17 touches (nine rushes, eight catches.)

It was the second consecutive loss for La Habra to a Pac-5 school. The Highlanders lost to No. 4 Los Alamitos, by 7 last week.

"It is disappointing," La Habra coach Frank Mazzotta said. "Last week, I thought our defense played hard and our offense turned the ball over four times. Tonight, offensively, we got after them, but defensively. … It was tough to stop their offense.

"The kids understand why we played San Clemente and Los Alamitos. We wanted to get ready for what we think is a tough division (CIF-SS Southwest). We want to be battle-tested."

• Click here for full game stats.

Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com