The schedule-makers deserve a nice steak dinner for giving Orange County football fans multiple league championship games to watch in Week 10.
Three leagues feature two 4-0 teams at the top of their standings that will play each other this week to decide an outright league champion.
One of those leagues is the incredibly competitive Iota League. El Toro and Troy will play each other Friday at Fullerton High to decide a league champion.
El Toro (6-3, 4-0) challenged itself with a nonleague schedule that featured teams from higher-ranked leagues. Coach Peter Lofthouse deliberately scheduled tough opponents to prepare the Chargers for tough games like the one they have Friday.
“Going into the season, I really wanted to challenge our team before we got to league play,” Lofthouse said. “Having to play Tesoro, El Dorado, Trabuco Hills, Foothill of Nevada and Aliso Niguel wasn’t a soft schedule. If there is one thing that stands out to me, it’s how our players have matured with all of the experience.”
El Toro has clicked on offense all season and has scored at least 25 points in every game since its season-opening loss to Tesoro. Senior running back Makya Chee has run for 979 yards with 16 touchdowns.
“Makya is one of the top running backs in the county,” Lofthouse said. “He is explosive, exceptional between the tackles and a great receiver out of the backfield. Having an experienced offensive line and a dual-threat quarterback in Wyatt Nucci have definitely supported his success as well.”
El Toro’s offensive line of Henry Lynch, Hudson George, Henry Tingey, Chris Balbuena and Nate Nuelle has remained healthy and started every game for the Chargers.
Nucci, a junior transfer from Los Alamitos, had a breakout game last week in a 54-7 win over Santa Ana. He completed 19 of 23 passes for 319 yards with a career-high seven touchdowns.
“They are sound in all phases of their game and have a special quarterback and running back,” Troy coach Michael Echaves said of El Toro. “Coach Lofthouse has done a wonderful job with El Toro. He does a great job putting his players in a great position to succeed.”
Troy (8-1, 4-0) is on a seven-game winning streak and is a late field goal away from being undefeated. The Warriors are coming off a thrilling 21-20 win over third-place Irvine.
Running back Ethan Mundt is third in the county in rushing with 1196 yards and 18 touchdowns despite missing two games.
“There are several things that make him special, but his competitive greatness and humility is what impacts our team the most,” Echaves said. “The team feeds off his professionalism as he steps on the field.”
Troy’s defense is allowing just 15 points per game and Echaves attributes that largely to the continuity of the coaching staff. The defensive coaching staff has been together for nine years.
Troy’s secondary uses eight players who are athletic and have high football IQs. Andrew Green and Noah Torosian each have four interceptions. Luke Dolmat has two interceptions and leads the team in tackles.
“Troy presents a lot of challenges,” Lofthouse said. “Offensively, they are explosive because of Mundt and strong offensive line play. Defensively, Troy likes to bring pressure using multiple fronts and coverages. It will take a complete team effort to beat Troy.”
RISE FROM THE ASHES
It’s hard to find a county team that had a worse start to its season than Woodbridge.
The Warriors lost their first seven games of the season and were held to seven points or less in five of those games.
Woodbridge has now won its last two games and has a chance Friday to earn the third automatic playoff spot from the Omicron League with a victory against Buena Park.
First-year coach Connor McBride saw potential in the team despite taking their lumps throughout the season.
“There have been plays, drives and quarters where we have seen a team that is hard to beat,” McBride said. “Being able to do that for a full game has been our challenge. Getting our first win, getting a shutout and putting 25 points on the board in Week 8 gave us that confidence and proved we could do that.”
Woodbridge is coming off a double-overtime win over crosstown rival University. Kayjahn Pitts ran for 200 yards with four touchdowns and freshman quarterback Waylon Stone ran for 95 yards with a score.
“That win meant more than you know, and was the game that was circled on our calendar,” McBride said. “It is our rival, we share a stadium and swapped some coaches this season. Experiencing a game and result like that only motivates the program to continue to put the work in to improve.”
Woodbridge would earn the league’s third automatic playoff spot with a win Friday. If Buena Park wins and University beats last-place Katella, there would be a three-way tie for the third playoff spot.
McBride said there had not been a tiebreaking coin flip as of Wednesday.
QUICK HITS
• Last season, Western beat Trabuco Hills with a last-minute 2-point conversion to get its fifth win and qualify for the playoffs. This season, the shoe is on the other foot with Trabuco Hills needing to beat Western to get its fifth win to make a playoff appearance more likely.
• Foothill plays La Habra this week to determine who finishes third in the Epsilon League. Jake Lind threw for 231 yards with two touchdowns last week for Foothill in a win over El Dorado. Foothill has just three wins and might need to get the third automatic qualifier spot to reach the playoffs.
• The Tango League has four teams with 2-2 records. Anaheim plays last-place La Quinta and Loara plays league champion Costa Mesa. Bolsa Grande and Santiago are both 2-2 and play each other Friday at Bolsa Grande High.
• Bolsa Grande is coming off two consecutive losses, to Costa Mesa and Anaheim. The Matadors average 127 rushing yards per game and Nathan Bautista has five interceptions to lead the defense. Michael Hoang had two rushing touchdowns and a receiving touchdown last week for Santiago in a loss to Loara.