MISSION VIEJO – A competitive start by Long Beach Poly didn’t get in the way of a homecoming cruise for Mission Viejo on Friday.
The Diablos scored 21 points in the final 4:33 of the first half to separate and pull away from Long Beach Poly in a 56-7 win at Mission Viejo High.
Mission Viejo (6-1) enters its bye week before opening Alpha League play against rival San Clemente on Oct. 17. Long Beach Poly (3-3, 2-0) returns to Moore League play against rival Millikan next week.
Ohio State commit Luke Fahey completed 22 of 24 passes for 325 yards for the Diablos, including touchdown passes of 59 yards and 21 yards to Jack Junker. Fahey also ran in a score. Junker caught six passes for 161 yards.
“Even following that win last week, we didn’t really do what we wanted to do against Chaparral,” Junker said. “We wanted to make some noise. We wanted to do what we could do, gain some confidence going into the bye week.”
Jojo Reed caught a late touchdown pass from Brett Burnor and reeled in an interception.
Davonte Curtis ran in two touchdowns. Carson Vandermade and Noah Carreon ran in touchdowns in the second half. The Diablos did not punt once in the game.
Zachary Foeldi pulled in an interception. Everett Mahoney recovered a fumble late.
Mission Viejo was again without Miami-committed receiver Vance Spafford, but coach Chad Johnson expects him back after the bye week.
“It shows how good our offense is, what we’ve been doing without him,” Junker said. “When we get him back, it’s going to be another beast.”
After a literal back-and-forth first quarter where Mission Viejo’s long opening drive stalled on fourth down, Long Beach Poly’s opening response drive was picked off at the 10-yard line and both teams scored matching touchdown drives, the Diablos shifted gears midway through the second quarter.
Following the Jackrabbits’ game-tying touchdown, Fahey opened the ensuing Mission Viejo drive with a 30-yard strike to KJ Woodbury Jr., and the Diablos were moving.
Curtis capped a 10-play, 77-yard drive with three straight runs inside the 9-yard line, including a third-down touchdown plunge to regain the lead, 14-7.
Mission Viejo’s defense rode the wave and sent Poly backwards on the next two drives.
Following the first three-and-out, Fahey went deep and hit Junker in stride on a 59-yard touchdown sprint for a 21-7 lead.
With its quarterback nursing a leg injury, Poly switched to a wildcat formation on the next drive, which again went backwards.
After a fourth-and-22 punt, Mission Viejo took the short field with 40 seconds remaining. Fahey found a sliding Junker in the end zone on a 21-yard touchdown pass with six seconds left in the half.
Over the final 4:33 of the first half, the Diablos scored 21 points, while Poly’s offense netted minus-16 yards.
Another big pass from Fahey to Junker (35 yards) in the third quarter set the Diablos up for a 6-yard touchdown run by Vandermade.
Fahey’s quick passing game sparked the next drive that Fahey capped himself with a 3-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter for a 42-7 lead.
