Capistrano Valley Is Winner, 22-21 : El Toro’s 51-Yard Field-Goal Try Fails as Time Runs Out

An unsuccessful field-goal attempt by El Toro High School fell short as time ran out, and Capistrano Valley came away with a 22-21 South Coast League victory over the Chargers Friday night before a crowd of 7,000 at Capistrano Valley.

El Toro kicker Ken Romaniszyn’s 51-yard attempt landed in the middle of the end zone. The kick came after El Toro had driven 54 yards, from its 20, in less than 50 seconds.

El Toro quarterback Bret Johnson, who completed 19 of 37 attempts for 279 yards, passed for all of the 54 yards on the drive. But with the ball on the Capistrano Valley 34, Johnson threw three consecutive incompletions.

Capistrano Valley (8-0, 3-0) scored the winning touchdown with 2:25 left on running back Matt Spence’s two-yard run.

Spence’s touchdown and a two-point conversion pass from quarterback Todd Marinovich to Davy Rawson put Capistrano Valley ahead, 22-15.

El Toro (5-3, 1-2) scored less than a minute later when Johnson completed a 45-yard pass to Sean Drinkwater.

The pass fell into Drinkwater’s hands as Capistrano Valley defensive back Tommy Adams fell down.

However, El Toro’s two-point conversion attempt, a pass from Johnson to wide receiver Chris McCarthy, was incomplete.

Capistrano Valley, attempting to run out the clock, could do no better than take the clock down to 56 seconds.

That’s when Johnson started the last march that ultimately ended up fruitless.

The game was billed as a showdown between Johnson and Marinovich, the state’s two top quarterbacks.

Johnson completed more passes for more yards but came up the loser. Marinovich, who completed 10 of 21 passes for 161 yards, knows the feeling. Last season, Marinovich out-performed Johnson statistically but came up a loser, 17-15.

“Anyway we could beat them, that’s great for me,” Marinovich said. “A win is a win. Thank God we held them. I’ve never been so tired in my life.”

If Marinovich was the focal point for Capistrano Valley coming into the game, Spence ended up being the Cougars’ key weapon.

Spence gained 169 yards in 18 carries and scored 2 touchdowns.

It was Spence’s 77-yard run for a touchdown that gave Capistrano Valley a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Capistrano Valley’s first touchdown came with 2:06 left in the first quarter on a six-yard pass from Marinovich to Toney Jenkins.