San Juan Hills football overcomes rough start to beat Tustin

From ocregister.com

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – It was an awful start for the San Juan Hills football team.

The Stallions fumbled the ball away on the game’s first offensive play. Tustin converted that into points and an early lead.

San Juan Hills survived. The Stallions took the lead in the second quarter, with the help of their outstanding kicker and held on to it in the second half for a 13-10 win over the Tillers in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs Friday at San Juan Hills High.

The Stallions (9-2) will play at Rancho Cucamonga (8-3) in the quarterfinals Friday, Nov. 13. Rancho Cucamonga defeated Crean Lutheran, 33-24, on Friday in a first-round game.

Tustin finished the season 6-5.

The Tillers’ troubles in the playoffs continued. Tustin has not advanced past the first round of the football playoffs since 2016, although they have qualified for the playoffs in every season since then.

It was a hard-hitting game, as expected. San Juan Hills coach Robert Frith was impressed by Tustin’s spirit.

“Hat’s off to Tustin,” Frith said. “They have a really good defense. I’m proud of our kids for being resilient for all 48 minutes.”

Tustin took a 3-0 lead on a 24-yard field goal by Jaiden Mendiola on its first possession after the Tillers’ Jackson Perez recovered the fumble caused by Amir Moorehead.

San Juan Hills scored all of its points in the second quarter

Stallions senior kicker Trevor Koko kicked field goals of 38 and 35 yards in the second quarter. He has made 10 of his 11 field-goal attempts this season.

In between was Jackson Smith’s 2-yard touchdown run. San Juan Hills took a 13-3 lead into halftime.

After a scoreless third quarter that included an exchange of fumbles, Tustin scored on a 3-yard touchdown run by quarterback Hayden Koo with 7:07 left in the game to trim the Stallions lead to 13-10.

Tustin lost another fumble in the fourth quarter that was recovered by San Juan Hills’ Noah Howell with 3:54 left in the game. Stallions senior defensive lineman Maxwell Porter sealed the victory with a sack with 15 seconds to go.

Porter knew Friday’s game would be a challenging one against the Tillers.

“They have a ton of guys going off to college football,” Porter said. “We knew the way we’ve been playing, playing together and for each other, that we were going to come out and win.”

Koo started at quarterback in place of regular starter Ayden Edwards who could not play because of a knee injury. Koo, an outstanding receiver, had played quarterback earlier this season.

Koo completed 10 of 14 passes for 76 yards.

San Juan Hills quarterback Parker Armstrong, who replaced injured starter Eiler King last month, completed 13 of 20 passes for 110 yards. Luke Frith had 5 receptions for 83 yards for the Stallions.

A skirmish broke out in the final minute. One player from each team was ejected. An ejected player cannot play in the following game. Frith said he would examine game video to see if an appeal of the ejection could be pursued.

Read full article at source →