No. 3 Mission Viejo pounds Morningside
Diablos cruise to 55-0 nonnleague win.
MISSION VIEJO Bob Johnson said earlier this week that his Mission Viejo program is “always anxious about the season; nothing’s different this year.” But maybe after the third-ranked Diablos scored a 55-0 nonleague victory over visiting Morningside of Inglewood on Friday, he and his team can loosen up a bit.
What did Mission Viejo (1-0) get out of a game in which it scored on offense, defense and special teams inside the first three minutes?
“We got the first game experience,” Johnson said. His team will no doubt face a stiffer challenge next week when it plays host to Loyola of Los Angeles.
Donny Ruggles returned a punt 62 yards to make it 28-0 with 6 minutes 22 seconds left in the first quarter. It was a nice complement to Jake Marshall’s game-opening 95-yard kickoff return. In between, Dallin McEwen threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Joey Branker, and Brad Belida scooped up a fumble for a 7-yard TD return.
The Diablos’ running backs might be as strong a collection as the program has ever had, but with the second unit playing the second half with a running clock, they saw limited action. Exavier Edwards, a transfer from Orange Lutheran, scored twice in the second quarter on runs of 12 and 5 yards. He carried seven times for 42 yards, and Dallas Kessman rushed three for 51.
Mission Viejo’s defense has several returners, notably linebackers Tre Madden and Nick Dzubnar and defensive end Mark Millan, who make that unit even better than the offense. As a group — even including the second team in the second half — it allowed only 62 yards (to MV’s 304) against Morningside (0-1), a Western Division (III) team.
“We didn’t see the real Mission Viejo because we didn’t let them have their fun on offense,” losing coach Lafayette Fletcher said. “I thought Bob Johnson did a great job of not trying to run up the score.”
McEwen completed 2 of 5 passes for 68 yards. Alex Bridgford, the sophomore brother of Allan Bridgford, completed 2 of 3 passes for 82 yards and TDs of 35 yards to Dallas Kessman and 47 to Maciah Herbert.
