Football: Trabuco Hills Defeats Dana Hills to Avoid Cellar

Nothing comes easy in the South Coast League, and that was certainly the case for Trabuco Hills in its 63-40 victory Friday over visiting Dana Hills.

The Mustangs scored three touchdowns in the first three minutes to take a 20-point lead, but found themselves tied in the third quarter before finally pulling it out.

Trabuco (6-3, 1-2) closes out the season on Friday with a home game against Mission Viejo (7-2, 3-0), the No. 2 team in the Orange County top 10. Even with a victory over the Diablos, it would not be enough to get one of league's three playoff berths; San Clemente (8-1,m 2-1) and Tesoro(6-3, 2-1), which play each other, have the tie-breaker advantage over Trabuco should there be a tie for third place.

Dana Hills (3-5, 0-4) is finished for the season and finishes fifth in the five-team league. The Dolphins were game against Trabuco, though, as it fought back to tie the score at 20 and 27. Shane Scambray passed for a season-high five touchdowns and ran for a sixth. He completed 27 of 46 passes for 378 yards with three interceptions. Scambray finished with 18 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions on the season.

With the score tied, 27-27, Mitchell Simonsen scored the second of his three rushing touchdowns as Trabuco took the lead again—and never relinquished it. Garret Hartman followed up with a 33-yard scoring run for an insurmountable 42-27 lead.

Simonsen scored on runs of two, one and five yards; he finished with 136 yards rushing, and was complemented by Hartman's 79.

Quarterback Jonathan Newsom passed for one touchdown and ran for another; he finished with 166 yards passing on a seven-of-14 night.

It was also a big night for the defense in which it returned two interceptions for touchdowns, of 37 yards by Matt Wood to go ahead 20-0, and a 45-yard return by Matthew Kirkland to make it 56-34 with 4 minutes 5 seconds left in the game.

Tobias Dates had a 35-yard TD reception, and Chris Reck scored on a six-yard run with 52 seconds remaining.