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MISSION VIEJO -- An investigation into incidents within a program. Key injuries. Playoff scenarios, and a South County rivalry known for dramatic finishes.
JSerra and Santa Margarita combined to offer plenty of questions entering their Trinity League game at Trabuco Hills High on Thursday.
Ryan Hopkins, Logan Christensen and JSerra led the way in supplying the answers.
The Lions' defense swarmed to stop Trent Mosley on a 2-point conversion run with 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter to seal a 35-33 victory and their first league triumph.
In his first came back from injury, Mosley scored his third touchdown on the previous play, a 5-yard run to the right from the Wildcat formation.
On the ensuing 2-point conversion attempt, Mosley again ran right and was stopped by a group of tacklers that included Travis Jeffrey, Elisha Canales, Christensen and star linebacker Madden Faraimo, who played with one hand heavily wrapped.
"We knew it was going to Mosley," said Christensen, a safety committed to UNLV. "We knew what we had to do. We knew had to fly over there to make a tackle. He's very tough to take down. Just wrap up and hold on."
JSerra (6-3, 1-3), ranked No. 5 in Orange County, did just that and held off the No. 6 Eagles (3-6, 0-4), who won the teams' game last year on a field goal by Ryan Gass with one second left.
"This is such a rivalry," JSerra coach Victor Santa Cruz said. "Hats off to Santa Margarita and Trent Mosley being back for his first game. The guy is a heck of a weapon. Just the competition that was today was high school at its greatest. So I'm just proud of our guys for being able to respond."
JSerra certainly responded in the third quarter. The Lions opened the second half by driving for a 4-yard TD run Christensen out of the Wildcat formation for a 25-20 lead.
After JSerra's Garrett Dudenhoeffer recorded a sack to help force a Santa Margarita punt, the Lions took advantage of good field position to march for an 8-yard touchdown run by Hopkins. The Lions opened a 32-20 lead.
Santa Margarita answered with a Mosley's touchdown run early in the fourth quarter but a booming 42-yard field goal by Carter Meza with 4:14 left provided the decisive points.
Playing for the first time since Sept. 13, Mosley made his presence felt in the first half with eight catches for 92 yards and a touchdown. He finished with 13 receptions for 125 yards and 25 yards rushing.
The junior's play helped the Eagles take a 20-19 lead after a back-and-forth opening half.
But it was a defensive play that factored significantly at intermission. Eagles' cornerback Jayden Crowder intercepted a pass near his 40 and returned it to the JSerra 28 with 7:19 left in the second quarter.
After a personal foul on the return moved the ball to the 14, John Gazzaniga threaded a 14-yard TD pass to Jack Junker as the Eagles took their first lead at 20-13.
JSerra responded a 19-yard TD pass from Hopkins to Christensen with 2:30 remaining in the half. Crowder emerged again by blocking the PAT as the Eagles held a 20-19 lead.
Earlier in the week, Santa Margarita president Andy Sulick said there was no updates available on the school's investigation into incidents within the program or status of coach Anthony Rouzier, who is on administrative leave.
The Eagles entered the game ranked eighth in the CIF Southern Section power ratings. The narrow loss could keep them in thatposition and on the bubble to join No. 7 JSerra in the Division 1 playoffs as an at-large entry.
Next week, Santa Margarita concludes the regular season by playing host to Servite at Trabuco Hills High on Friday, Nov. 1. JSerra plays at St. John Bosco on the same night.