Capistrano Valley Plays It Safe, Earns Playoff Berth

Capistrano Valley, unwilling to risk all on the toss of a coin, gambled little Friday night.

The Cougars played your basic grind-it-out, hope-the-defense-can-hold-’em football. It was dull, but it got them in the playoffs without having to call heads or tails.

The Cougars won a battle of attrition, out-maneuvering Mission Viejo for a 17-7 South Coast League victory at Mission Viejo High School.

It kept the Cougars from falling into a third-place tie with San Clemente, which would have forced an immediate coin toss to determine the league’s third playoff team. Instead, Capistrano Valley finished second and Mission Viejo third, with San Clemente missing the playoffs.

“We got a little conservative tonight,” Capistrano Valley Coach Eric Patton said, “but when you have the lead, you don’t want to throw it away.”

The Cougars (6-3-1, 3-1-1) went to great lengths to avoid throwing at all. They relied mainly on their rushing game, anchored by tailback Dan Geiss. He finished with 88 yards, including a 32-yard now-you-see-me, now-you-don’t touchdown run in the first quarter.

But the Cougars also put the ball in the sure hands of tight end Blake Spence and Levi Roquemore, who normally plays linebacker. They went almost exclusively to a power-I formation in the second half, which proved safe and effective.

Spence, who had 21 yards rushing, scored the final touchdown on a two-yard run with 6 minutes 25 seconds left, putting the game out of reach.

“Man, I never expect to run the ball,” Spence said. “We only practiced that formation once this week.”

Said Patton: “We had to use everything we had tonight.”

Including the kicking game, which kept the Diablos (6-4, 3-2 in league) bottled up most of the night.

“Our kicking game was better than theirs,” Patton said. “We knew that going in.”

And proved it.

Kicker Jeff Cellini nailed a 31-yard field goal that gave the Cougars a 10-0 lead in the second quarter. Diablo kicker Kubilay Turna shanked a 25-yard attempt in the second quarter.

Mission Viejo also used two punters, neither of whom were effective. Meanwhile, Capistrano Valley’s Greg Payne lobbed four punts inside the 20-yard line.

The defense did the rest, allowing only 139 yards.

“We knew we had to take control of the line early,” said linebacker Travis Kopp, who had an interception and two sacks. “We had control of it right away. We knew the defense could win this game.”

Mission Viejo went three downs-and-punt on its first five possessions and did not make a first down until 6:50 left in the half.

Quarterback Brad Weekes was seven of 22 for 81 yards. He was also sacked five times. The Diablo running game was virtually nonexistent.

The result was good field position for Capistrano Valley, which got the ball in Mission Viejo territory seven times. That led to safe scoring.

In the first quarter, Geiss went off tackle left, then cut back right and appeared to hide behind tackle Mitch McCrimmon for five yards. When he re-appeared, he was free and clear for a touchdown run that gave the Cougars a 7-0 lead.

In the second quarter, Capistrano Valley took over on the Mission Viejo 35 and got as close as the 13. Cellini then kicked the field goal.