SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — San Juan Hills quarterback Timmy Herr threw for 255 yards and had four total touchdowns in the Stallions’ 38-33 win over Chaparral Friday at San Juan Hills High.
The game was a showcase for two of the top quarterbacks in the Southern Section: Herr and Chaparral junior Dane Weber.
Herr threw for three touchdowns and added a scoring run, and Weber threw for 257 yards with two touchdowns and ran for 107 yards with two touchdowns.
“Dane is a phenomenal quarterback and he definitely drove me to do better,” Herr said. “He’s a class younger than me so it lit a fire under me. I can’t let a younger guy outperform me. He’s a dog.”
A key moment in the game came when Herr threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Matheson to give San Juan Hills (1-0) a 38-26 lead midway through the fourth quarter.
San Juan Hills coach Rob Frith attributed that clutch play to Herr’s hard work in the offseason.
“Timmy Herr makes that throw in the spring, in the summer, in fall camp, he’s done that a million times,” Frith said. “I’m proud of him. He put that ball on the money and Ryan Matheson made an outstanding catch, but I’ve seen that ball all throughout our offseason.”
Weber responded to that play with an 80-yard scoring drive that he finished with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Michael Farinas with three minutes remaining in the game.
“He is outstanding. Even when you think you have him, you don’t,” Frith said of Weber. “He’s next level.”
“I tell everybody the word you put with Dane Weber is competitor,” Chaparral coach Andrew Ramer said. “He’s going to look back at the film and be hard on himself, but he’s a playmaker. He’s our general and this is his team.”
San Juan Hills got four first downs in the final three minutes of the game to put the game away.
Both teams reached the CIF-SS Division 2 quarterfinals last season. Frith wanted to challenge the Stallions with a tough opening game and he got what he bargained for.
“It’s huge for us because we want to challenge ourselves against some of the best teams,” Frith said. “We are in a really good league and if we take care of business we will be in a really good playoff division. We said we were going to find out what we are all about and I think we found out.”
Chaparral opened the game with a five-play, 66-yard scoring drive capped by a 3-yard touchdown run by Norco transfer Trevor Schneider. Weber was sacked on the 2-point conversion attempt.
San Juan Hills responded quickly with an 80-yard touchdown run by Elijah Ayala on its first offensive play from scrimmage to give the Stallions a 7-6 lead less than two minutes into the game.
Ayala ran for a game-high 134 yards on 11 carries with a touchdown.
Noah Howell intercepted a pass for San Juan Hills which led to a 20-yard touchdown pass from Herr to Dean Kolasinski.
On the final play of the first quarter, Herr threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Luke Frith to give San Juan Hills a 21-6 lead.
Weber converted a fourth down with a 13-yard run and on the ensuing play he ran for a 2-yard touchdown to cut the Stallions’ lead to 21-13.
After a 30-yard field goal by San Juan Hills kicker Kyle Donahue, Weber converted another fourth down with an 8-yard touchdown run to cut San Juan Hills’ lead to 24-19 at halftime.
The third quarter was scoreless but San Juan Hills drove to the Chaparral 3-yard line as time expired in the frame. Herr ran for a 3-yard touchdown on the opening play of the fourth quarter to give the Stallions a 31-19 lead.
Weber led the Pumas on a quick 80-yard scoring drive and a 6-yard touchdown pass to Chase Bonta to cut the lead to 31-26. Bonta led Chaparral with 98 receiving yards.
The game didn’t feature many defensive highlights, but Jacob Mullen and Maxwell Porter had sacks for San Juan Hills. Camren Williams had an interception for the Pumas.
San Juan Hills will play Roosevelt of Eastvale on the road next Friday. The Stallions beat Roosevelt 38-3 last season.
Chaparral has a bye next week and then will return to Orange County on Sept. 5 against San Clemente.