Trabuco Hills-Charter Oak final thoughts

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Trabuco Hills running back Matt Wagner‘s game had just ended, but his night was barely beginning.

After having done two interviews, Wagner, who rushed for 136 yards and one touchdown during Trabuco Hills’ 27-3 victory, was being ushered to the sidelines to do a third interview. His teammates, being typical teammates, teased and cheered him at the same time by chanting, ‘Mat-ty Wag-ner ... Mat-ty Wag-ner ...’

Wagner, despite not appearing physically imposing, was not an easy to player to bring down. And even when Charter Oak finally brought him down, Wagner did not stay down. He got up, sat out a couple of plays, then came back to finish the drive, and in the process finish Charter Oak, with a five-yard touchdown run in which he lost a shoe and dragged a defender into the end zone to give the Mustangs a 20-3 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

His teammates were obviously teasing him when they began to chant his name, but they were also being thankful. Because without his performance, without his 80 yards in the second half, they might not have won.

So yeah, chant, Trabuco Hills, because Wagner epitomized your we’re-not-going-to-be-denied attitude.

‘I was motivated, the whole team was motivated and we just wanted to get it done,’ Wagner said. On that touchdown run, ‘my foot was really cold because of the ground, but I just wanted to get into the end zone.’

While Charter Oak was affected by the weather and the officiating, it was more affected by Wagner and the Mustangs’ defense, which was as good as advertised.

Charter Oak’s running back Kanaan Snowden was held to 51 yards. Sure, the muddy field had something to do with it, but Trabuco’s defense deserves most of the credit.

‘They just stuffed them on every play. It’s been like that all season,’ Wagner said. ‘I don’t know how the defense does it, but they’ve been carrying our team all season.’

In three playoff games, the Mustangs have allowed only 16 points.

‘They got some (yards) in the first half and we got fortunate with a couple of penalties, but we did a pretty good of clamping them down,’ Trabuco Hills Coach Jason Negro said. ‘We made some adjustments at halftime to keep them inside, and if you forced them to run inside, it’s a little hard to do because of our size.’

Trabuco Hills will face either 10-2 South Hills (which the Mustangs beat, 13-6, in Week 1) or top-seeded 11-1 El Dorado in Friday’s Southwest Division final, which will be held at Orange Coast College.

-- Jaime Cardenas