Trabuco Hills’ Win Sets Up Showdown With Mater Dei

Trabuco Hills Coach Bill Crow mused at the beginning of the season that he hoped his team’s final home game against Mater Dei would mean something.

At Friday night’s homecoming, Trabuco Hills got its wish, dispatching Capistrano Valley, 41-6, in a South Coast League game to set up next week’s league-championship showdown with the second-ranked Monarchs.

“We’re playing for the title next week and we don’t care who it is,” Crow said. “It’s been our goal all year. And tonight’s game couldn’t have played out any better.”

Trabuco Hills (8-0-1, 3-0-1 in league), the ninth-ranked team in the county, had little trouble with Capistrano Valley (3-6, 0-4) so Crow even got to rest his starters for the final 1 1/2 quarters.

Senior running back Al Gandall rushed for 153 yards in 24 carries and scored a touchdown on his final carry to make it 41-0 with 5 minutes 9 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Senior quarterback Brandon Heaney rushed for 55 yards and two touchdowns in 12 carries and he also completed all three of his passes for 71 yards, including a 38-yard touchdown pass to Chris Baker.

Heaney left the game with 1:28 remaining in the second quarter after an eight-yard gain when he was tackled hard at the sideline.

His replacement, Chris Cordova, finished the 73-yard scoring drive on his first play by tossing a 26-yard touchdown pass to Advon Chestnut with 1:21 remaining in the second quarter to make it 27-0.

“Brandon just got his bell rung,” Crow said. “He was OK. He could have come back in for the second half, but we just held him out.”

Trabuco Hills scored again just 44 seconds later when Capistrano Valley fumbled and Dennis Hong scooped up the loose ball and returned it 18 yards for a touchdown and a 34-0 lead at halftime.

Trabuco Hills’ starting defensive unit, which played the first 31 minutes, held the Cougars to 29 yards of offense and two first downs.