Trabuco Hills football builds confidence with depth at QB position ...Middle East

There was a score two weeks ago — El Toro 56, Trabuco Hills 14 — that likely shocked a lot of the high school football fans in Orange County.

“We played inconsistently, and time and time again made costly mistakes,” Trabuco Hills coach Mark Nolan explained.

The Mustangs were playing that night without senior quarterback Tristan Zale, a San Diego commit who averaged 264 passing yards per game last season with 30 touchdowns. He got off to a good start this season as well.

Trabuco Hills bounced back from that loss and beat Brea Olinda 43-36 last week, scoring the game-winning touchdown in the final minutes of the game.

Freshman quarterback Jackson Verplancke had a breakout performance against Brea Olinda, completing 23 of 28 passes for 296 yards with six touchdowns. Verplancke led the game-winning, 80-yard touchdown drive that included converting two fourth-down plays.

“It is important for us to know we have depth at the quarterback position, because it allows us to plan as we move forward with our ‘Air Raid’ system,” Nolan said. “As Tristan Zale completes his senior season and moves on to play for the University of San Diego, we will be able to move forward with great confidence that we have QB depth and an opportunity to continue to put up great numbers.”

Micah Bowen led the Mustangs with 85 yards receiving and a touchdown against Brea, and Joshua Fitch caught two touchdown passes. Andrew Batayola, Skyler Richey and Andrew Davis each had sacks to lead the defense.

Trabuco Hills has a tough matchup against Corona del Mar this week in what should be one of the better games of the week. Corona del Mar is one of seven undefeated teams in Orange County at this point in the season and is coming off a bye after a 28-21 win over Charter Oak.

The Mustangs were competitive in a 17-15 loss to Corona del Mar in 2023 but allowed 380 rushing yards in a 51-38 loss to the Sea Kings last season.

“Corona del Mar is well-coached and they do a great job executing their system,” Nolan said.

Playing higher-ranked teams like Corona del Mar will help Trabuco Hills prepare for a challenging Delta League schedule, which features three teams — Tustin, Capistrano Valley and Western — ranked in the Orange County Top 20.

FINDING BALANCE

Garden Grove has traditionally been known as a team that runs the ball extremely well and the Argonauts are carrying on that tradition this season.

Senior running back Quentin Pacelli leads the state in rushing yards with 1,162 and 11 touchdowns in just four games. He matched a career-high for rushing yards in a game with 380 last week in Garden Grove’s win — its first of the season — against University.

“Quentin is just a monster and he focuses on all the little things,” Garden Grove coach Matthew LemMon said. “I have been around a lot of great players in the last 10 years of coaching and he just gets it. (He) takes coaching well, is constantly trying to get better and he is an animal in the weight room.”

A welcomed addition to Garden Grove’s offense the past two weeks has been a productive passing attack. Junior quarterback Calvin Keovphan threw for 248 yards with two touchdowns in a loss to Santa Ana two weeks ago and threw three touchdown passes against University last week.

“He is seeing it better,” LemMon said of Keovphan’s improvement. “I think in the first couple weeks he was worried about making a mistake and quarterback coach Chris Bauer has been great at getting him more confident and helping me scheme up easy throws for him to get going.”

The Argonauts are renewing a crosstown rivalry this week against Rancho Alamitos, which they haven’t played since 2019. LemMon was previously coaching in Northern California until last season, so he is new to the inter-city rivalries that are somewhat unique to Garden Grove.

“I am in no way a local, so it’s just another game for me, but the school is buzzing and the kids are ready to play,” LemMon said. “I have heard how excited they are to play them and have heard kids in school talk about being excited to go to the game.”

QUICK HITS

• Esperanza has struggled offensively, scoring just seven points in each of its last three games. The Aztecs have a good opportunity this week to turn their offense around against Peninsula, which has allowed at least 25 points in three of four games this season. Esperanza beat Peninsula 14-7 in 2024.

• Katella has not won two consecutive games since 2021. The Knights on Friday play play Godinez, which is coming off a 35-6 loss to Rancho Alamitos. Katella’s running back trio of Adam Haqi, Randy Ruiz and Angel Garcia lead an offense that averages 167 rushing yards per game.

• St. Margaret’s and Laguna Hills are both coming off rough losses and play each other Friday. Khryztopher Entrala ran for 155 yards with a touchdown for Laguna Hills against St. Margaret’s last season in a 28-14 win. Kai Letcher and Sam Orellana each ran for touchdowns for the Tartans in that game.

• The week 1 game between El Toro and Aliso Niguel was postponed to this Saturday due to a personnel issue at Aliso Niguel. Aliso Niguel quarterback Carter Vestermark threw for 269 yards with two touchdowns in a 28-14 win over El Toro last season and Brady Defrain ran for a touchdown. El Toro’s Makya Chee ran for 104 yards with a touchdown in that game.

Fryer on Football: Previews and predictions for Week 5’s top games

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