Football: Tesoro Scores Critical Victory Over Trabuco Hills

With a probable playoff berth from the South Coast League at stake, Tesoro kept the football on the ground and pounded away at Trabuco Hills until it finally paid dividends.

The Titans scored a 26-14 South Coast League victory over visiting Trabuco Hills on Friday, and if the rest of the season plays out like it's projected, Tesoro has positioned itself for one of the league's three automatic playoff berths in the Pac-5 Division.

Tesoro (5-2, 2-1) has the inside track over Trabuco (5-3, 0-2), which still has games remaining against Dana Hills (3-5, 0-2) and Mission Viejo (5-2, 1-0). Tesoro has games remaining against Dana Hills, Mission Viejo and San Clemente (8-0, 2-0).

Nate Tago carried 20 times for 134 yards and a score, and Blake Rodgers carried 11 times for 100 and two touchdowns. More than 200 of their combined yards came in the second half.

Meanwhile, the Tesoro defense throttled Trabuco. Mitchell Simonsen gained only 14 yards on nine carries; he had been averaging more than 140 per game. Quarterback Jonathan Newsom ran for 128 and passed for 178.

The only scoring in the first half came off the foot of Tesoro kicker Zach Schottenfeld of 31 and 30 yards, the latter with one second left in the half.

But Rodgers scored on runs of 16 and 12 yards, the second with 8:49 remaining in the fourth quarter. Trabuco didn't score until 3:43 remained, Newsom's one-yard run, but Tago answered 29 seconds later with a seven-yard TD run.

Newsom completed a 47-yard score to Braden Ballantyne with 1:32 remaining to complete the scoring.