Trojans trample Eagles

IRVINE - Should it get the opportunity to secure a guaranteed berth

in the CIF Southern Section Division IX playoffs with a coin flip after

tonight’s remaining Pacific Coast League games, the Estancia High

football team likely will bring a lot of good fortune it didn’t use

Thursday night.

Host University High, on the other hand, cashed in a season’s worth of

misfortune as tipped passed found the hands of Trojan receivers and Uni

running backs squirted through would-be tacklers en route to a surprising

48-12 romp.

“Who would have figured?” said University Coach Mark Cunningham, whose

squad (4-6, 2-2 in league) would gain the league’s third-place playoff

spot over the Eagles (6-4, 2-2), should Costa Mesa knock off

league-leading Corona del Mar tonight at Newport Harbor High.

If CdM wins, Estancia, Mesa and Uni would form a three-way tie for second

place, necessitating a postgame coin flip, or flips, to determine who is

the league’s No. 2 and No. 3 representatives.

Should Estancia or Mesa be the loser in such a scenario, they would need

to be given the division’s lone at-large berth to enter the postseason.

The Eagles failed to make much of a case for the CIF officials who grant

at-large bids, incurring a 34-0 halftime deficit that became 41-0 four

plays into the third quarter.

University, which had lost four of its previous five games, scored on six

straight possessions, en route to its most prolific scoring effort since

joining the Pacific Coast League in 1994.

“Everything went our way,” said Cunningham, whose team can’t get an

at-large berth due to its sub-.500 record.

Estancia Coach Dave Perkins was thoroughly perplexed by the margin of

defeat.

“I’ve got to figure this one out,” Perkins told his dejected team

afterward. “I take full responsibility for this one.”

The Eagles got on the board with 6:33 left in the third quarter on a

5-yard Sean Freeman touchdown run.

After Uni upped its cushion to 48-6, Marshall Hendricks, who used 72

second-half yards to break the school single-season rushing record,

scored from 2 yards out to give the Eagle rooters something else to cheer

about.

Hendricks finished with 98 yards on 20 carries to up his season total to

1,477 yards. James Dawkins’ 1,473 yards in 1996 had been the school

record.

But there was little consolation for the visitors, who were submerged by

Uni running backs Colin Cavanaugh (135 yards on 15 carries) and Jacque

Newsome (153 yards on 12 attempts). Cavanaugh added 60 yards on two

receptions, as Uni senior quarterback Pat Josten threw for 152 yards to

break the school single-season passing mark.

Josten completed 7 of 10 to finish the regular season with 1,373 aerial

yards, topping Mike O’Laughlin’s 27-year-old standard by 144 yards.

Josten’s two biggest completions went for touchdowns to Ben Messelbeck

(43 yards) and Cavanaugh (46), the latter after an Estancia defender

tipped the pass in the secondary.

Uni cornerback Roderick Benford hauled in a deflected Estancia pass for

an interception and returned it 41 yards to make it 21-0 with 26 seconds

left in the first quarter.

Freeman added 81 rushing yards on 14 attempts for the Eagles, who punted

four times, had three turnovers and had two fake punt running attempts

stopped short to yield possession.

University did not punt en route to amassing 528 yards total offense.