Sports Shorts: Statistically Speaking, Game Was Closer Than Score

Yes, the final score of the night to the nation’s top-ranked team, Don Bosco Prep of Ramsey, N.J., was pretty lopsided at 35-7, but those numbers don't tell the entire story.

Statistically, the game wasn't nearly the rout the final score would indicate. Except in one category: turnovers. The Diablos lost the ball four times, the Ironmen not once.

Six sacks of Alex Bridgford really cut into Mission Viejo's rushing totals (27 yards compared to Don Bosco Prep’s 221), but the senior quarterback outgained his counterpart through the air, 198 yards to 79. The Ironmen had 300 yards of total offense and 17 first downs, while the Diablos gained 225 yards and 15 first downs.

Pulling No Punches

What did Bob Johnson have to say after the game? Here's a roundup of the Mission Viejo coach's quotes from various news organziations that covered the game:

• ESPNLA: "They're very talented, as good as any team I've ever planned for. They have eight legit D1 guys on defense. We knew it when we scheduled them. You can't take anything away from them. On defense, they have off-the-chart talent.... Not much went our way. We're better than the score. But I was real proud — the kids never stopped fighting."

• NJVarsity.com: "Bosco thumped us real good. We'll learn a lot from it, I hope, and rebound. The score didn't indicate what the game should have been. I thought we had our chances in the first half. We drove the ball twice, but we didn't get it done. The bottom line is when they had the momentum, they turned it around and outplayed us and we were on our heels. We had three guys go out, two of them possibly for the season, cutting into our game plan within the first few minutes of the game. But I'm not going to use that as an excuse. They won the game decisively and we got our butts kicked. My hat goes off to them, they're a good team and very talented. Hopefully, we'll learn a lot from the film and go on."

• NJ Star-Ledger: “We got our [butts] kicked by a good team. The bottom line is they beat us up in every phase. When they got the momentum, they kicked our [butts]. When they got up, they finished us off.”

Video of the game can be found on the NJ Star-Ledger site.

The next game for Mission Viejo (1-1), , is Friday night at home against La Quinta (0-1) -- the team from the desert, not Westminster. It should provide a great opportunity for the Diablos to get rolling again.

Mustangs Run Wils at Seaside Invitational

Trabuco Hills’ boys cross-country team finished tied for first with Palos Verdes and the Mustangs’ girls team finished runner-up to Saugus in the Seaside Invitational Friday afternoon at San Buena Ventura Park in Ventura.

Palos Verdes, No. 1 in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 preseason rankings, has won four state titles and is a favorite for another this season. The Sea Kings turned in a team time of 76:04, which Trabuco Hills (No. 4 in Division 1) matched exactly. Jonah Diaz finished first for Palos Verdes in 14:28, followed by Trabuco Hills’ Nick Plumb (14:38), Knight’s Bryan Guijarro (14:58), Palos Verdes’ Justin Unno (14:59) and Trabuco Hills’ Jared Hazlett (15:02.80).

Trabuco Hills' Naoki Omatsu, who placed second in the sophomore class race last year, won the junior class race Friday in 15:08, nearly a minute faster than his winning time in 2010.

The Saugus girls team (No. 1 in Division 2), which has won the last five state division championships, recorded the third-fastest team time in the meet’s 22-year history, easily outdistancing runner-up Trabuco Hills (No. 7 in Division 1) and Palos Verdes (No. 1 in Division 3).

Karis Frankian of Saugus won the senior-class race in 17 minutes 6 seconds, 36 seconds ahead of runner-up Rebecca Mehra of Palos Verdes.
 
As pointed out by Rich Gonzalez, editor of ESPNHS.DyeStatCa, Saugus dominated the event, but its biggest challengers were from Divisions 1 and 3. Top Division 2 schools, including Woodbridge and Tesoro, did not send teams.

Three of Trabuco Hills' five fastest runners competed in the sophomore-class race:  Dominique Regalado (third in 18:35), Kathryn Bishop (fifth in 18:46) and Rachel Wilson (ninth in 18:56).

Cougars Girls Take Two Titles at Laguna Hills Invitational

Patch couldn't get out to Laguna Hills High on Saturday for the area's first cross-country meet of the season, and didn't feel like typing in all of the results, so go ahead and click on this ESPNHS/DyeStatCa link to see them.

Locally, Capistrano Valley competed in Division 1 and won the freshman team title as Grace Shafer (18:22.19) and Mikaela Mulhall (18:52.39) finished first and second, as well as the senior girls title. The Cougars finished third in the sophomore and junior girls races and fifth in the junior boys race.

Mission Viejo also competed in Division 1 and finished fourth in the sophomore boys race and seventh in the sophomore girls race.

(Aside: I once asked a librarian friend of mine if people expected her to have all the answers. She said no, but added that she knew where to find them.)

What's next? The 31st annual Cross-Country Classic, co-hosted by Woodbridge, Estancia and Costa Mesa highs, begins at 5 p.m. on Friday and 4 p.m. on Saturday at Estancia High in Costa Mesa.

Have some high school news or a score that you'd like to share? Send it to O.C. Patch sports editor Bob Rohwer at bob.rohwer@patch.com.