Yorba Linda football beats Corona del Mar in OT for share of Bravo League title

YORBA LINDA – Yorba Linda’s running attack in the second half and in overtime led the Mustangs to a 35-28 win over Corona del Mar on Thursday in a Bravo League football game at Yorba Linda High.

The Mustangs’ win, in the final regular-season game for both teams, gives them a share of the league championship with Corona del Mar. Both teams finished with 4-1 league records.

It was the first loss this season for Corona del Mar (9-1 overall). Yorba Linda is 8-2.

Both teams are bound for the CIF Southern Section playoffs. Division 2 is the apparent bracket destination for the Sea Kings and Mustangs. The playoff brackets will be released Sunday morning.

Yorba Linda ran the ball on 28 of its 31 second-half offensive plays. In overtime, the Mustangs started their drive at the Corona del Mar 25, per CIF overtime rules, and ran it six times. Isaiah Trujillo scored on a 4-yard run.

Corona del Mar’s first and only play of its overtime possession was a pass that was intercepted by Yorba Linda’s Thomas Knutson.

Yorba Linda took the game’s opening kickoff and scored on a 34-yard run by Trujillo with help from a downfield block by receive Troy Roberts.

The teams exchanged turnovers before Corona del Mar tied the game on a 1-yard run by quarterback Brady Annett with 2:26 to go in the first quarter.

The Sea Kings took a 14-7 lead with 5:17 left in the second quarter on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Annett to Dorsett Stecker. The pass was tipped by Yorba Linda defensive back Thomas Knutson, and Stecker went low to grab it for the six points.

Corona del Mar’s Garrett James made a terrific one-handed catch of an Annett pass at the left sideline of the end zone to get the Sea Kings a 21-7 lead with 3:56 left in the second quarter. Corona del Mar took that 21-7 lead into halftime.

Yorba Linda’s kickoff to start the second half was misplayed, the loose ball recovered by the Mustangs’ Andrew Maldonado at the Corona del Mar 19-yard line. Yorba Linda ran five running plays, with the fifth one a 3-yard touchdown run by Isaiah Trujillo that reduced the Sea Kings lead to 21-14.

“That was huge,” Yorba Linda coach Jeff Bailey said of Maldonado’s recovery of the loose ball. “The first half we just weren’t playing well. The second half we said we’re going to get some pride stuff going, get after it, and obviously that helped out to get it rolling.”

Yorba Linda tied it on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Noah Trujillo to Troy Roberts 21-21 early in the fourth quarter. Corona del Mar reclaimed the lead on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Annett to Stecker.

The Mustangs got a key completion on fourth-and-5 at the Corona del Mar 16 yard line to put them at the Sea Kings 2-yard line where Vaughan Sharp ran it in for the game-tying touchdown with 1:02 remaining in regulation.