Villa Park shuts down Trabuco Hills

ORANGE- Villa Park’s Parker Roberts made big plays on defense and special teams to lead the Spartans to a 13-9 victory over Trabuco Hills on Thursday at El Modena High.

Roberts returned an interception 99 yards for a touchdown, ran for 45 yards on fourth down to keep a scoring drive alive and, on defense, combined with teammate Clay Craft to break up a potential touchdown in the final moments as Villa Park notched its first victory.

The Spartans are 1-2. Trabuco Hills is 0-3.

Villa Park had lost seven in a row since beating Corona del Mar in its final nonleague game of 2007.

“It was very nice to get this one,” said Roberts, a senior safety/receiver. “We believed all week we could win this game.”

The game was tied, 3-3, in the second quarter when Roberts stepped in front of a Mustangs receiver at the Villa Park 1, then sprinted untouched along the right sideline for the touchdown. It was his second interception of the game. Andrew Miller, who had kicked a 32-yard field earlier in the quarter, added the extra point to give Villa Park a 10-3 lead.

Trabuco Hills scored with 1:53 left in the half on a 23-yard pass from quarterback Ryan Ochoa to receiver Justen Lasch. A bad snap on the extra-point attempt left Villa Park with a 10-9 lead.

In the third quarter, Villa Park had a fourth down at its 20 with Roberts set to punt. Trabuco Hills went for the block and probably would have been successful had Roberts attempted the kick.

Instead, Roberts dodged one Mustang in the backfield, then ran 45 yards for a first down.
That led to a 39-yard field goal by Miller that made it 13-9 with 1:36 to go in the third quarter.
Late in the fourth quarter, Trabuco Hills drove to the Villa Park 17. On third down, Ochoa threw to receiver Michael Morovick as Morovick crossed the goal line.

Just as the ball reached Morovick, Craft and Roberts were there to pop Morovick from opposite sides to force an incompletion.

A fourth-down pass also was incomplete, sealing the victory for Villa Park.

Trabuco Hills took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter on a 47-yard field goal by Mitchell Murar. Miller’s first field goal made it 3-3.

Trabuco Hills was 12-2 last year.

Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com