Mission Hills Takes Frustrations Out on Error-Prone Broncos

Prior to his team’s game against winless Mission Hills High School, Rancho Bernardo first-year coach Tristan McCoy said he wasn’t deceived by Mission Hills’ winless record coming into the nonleague contest.

“I don’t care what their record says, they’re still an awful good football team,” McCoy said before his team took the field against the 0-3 Grizzlies.

Mission Hills is winless no more thanks to a 48-0 rout that sent the host Broncos to their second defeat against three wins. It was the first shutout loss by RB since a 28-0 defeat at Vista in the 2009 season, a span of 19 games.

“We put together two nice drives in the first half, but we made too many assignment mistakes on coverages,“ McCoy said. “We went from competing in the game to having our backs against the wall."

The Grizzlies (1-3) rolled up 376 yards of offense, including 276 on the ground. The Broncos were limited to 116 total yards by the Mission Hills defense.

“They’re big up front, they’re very physical and we just made too many mistakes,” McCoy said.

The two teams played a pair of close games against each other last year, with Mission Hills winning 21-18 in the regular season and 14-13 in the quarterfinals of the CIF San Diego Section Division II playoffs. That was not the case Friday night.

The Grizzlies advanced the ball on the Broncos early and often in the first half, storming to a 41-0 lead on the strength of four Adam Renteria touchdown runs and a pair of long punt returns by Devin Holiday.

Renteria scored on runs of 35, 5, 11 and 12 yards, the latter two TDs set up by a pair of lost fumbles by the Broncos.

Holiday scorched RB with a 57-yard punt return for a score four plays into the second period, and less than two minutes later, he had a 58-yard return that led to Renteria’s second TD run.

Broncos quarterback Trent Sessions was under constant pressure from the Grizzlies defensive front as he completed just 6-of-17 passes for 62 yards.

Rancho Bernardo managed just five first downs in the game, including none in the second half, which had a running clock in the fourth quarter. Mission Hills secured the outcome with a 17-play, 71-yard scoring drive that consumed the first 8½ minutes of the third quarter.

The Broncos had five first downs on their first two possessions and none the rest of the game. Their deepest penetration was to the Mission Hills 26-yard line in the first quarter. An incomplete pass on fourth down ended that threat, and RB’s remaining possessions were ended by four punts, two lost fumbles and the clock running out on the two halves.

Running back Glenn Pagett rushed for 41 yards on 12 carries in the first half for RB, but he had no attempts in the second half when the Broncos ran just four offensive plays.

Rancho Bernardo visits Mt. Carmel for another nonleague game next Friday before the Broncos have their bye the following week.