Football:

Having wandered around both sidelines at Friday’s D-3 showdown between Charter Oak and Yorba Linda, the unanimous opinion was that two 10-0 programs shouldn’t have any business meeting up for at least another couple of weeks.

But neither school had any say, and both programs focused only on the things that were in their control.

And it was Yorba Linda that got out to a 24-0 lead at the break.

William Saucedo had 16-and-1 yard TD runs to give the Mustangs a 14-0, first-quarter advantage.

In the second quarter, JJ Conrad caught a 45-yard TD pass from Reyn Beal, and Jayden Flaig booted a 34-yard field goal, giving YLHS its biggest lead of the game at 24-0.

COHS would get on the board in the third quarter, as Richie Munoz threw a pair of TD’s in a span of what seemed to be 30 seconds of game time.

Munoz hit Isaiah Johnson on a 12-yard score, and then Richie and Solomon Davis hooked up on a 17-yard TD to pull to within 24-14.

With just over seven minutes to play, Munoz scrambled and hit Johnson again for what looked to be a TD that would have gotten COHS to just a field goal back of YLHS.

But as they seemed to do all night, the officials called the Chargers for a holding penalty and snuffed out the undeniable momentum swing.

Ironically enough, a few plays before that, Yorba Linda was called for a personal foul after ripping Munoz’s helmet off.

And one play before having that TD called back, YLHS was clearly guilty of a horse-collar tackle of Munoz, but it went without a penalty.

There was a camera man from one of the local news stations on the COHS sideline and he went around and showed several of us the video footage of the infraction.

But make no mistake about it, Yorba Linda absolutely earned the W and deserves to move on to the quarterfinal round.

After COHS had their TD called back, Saucedo would score on a 4-yard run with 2:50 to play to put the game on ice.

Munoz would throw his final high school TD pass with 34 seconds left to Isaiah Johnson.

Munoz was picked once, and finished his historic senior season with 40 TD passes and just three interceptions.

Congratulations to every member of that COHS staff and their players.

You had a remarkable season, and with Dominic Farrar leading the way, you did things the right way.

And after winning the first 10 games of 2022, you deserved and earned a better first-round draw.

Box Score:
CO: 0-0-14-7-(21)
YL: 14-10-0-7-(31)

Scoring:
YL: William Saucedo 16 run (Jayden Flaig kick)
YL: William Saucedo 1 run (Jayden Flaig kick)
YL: JJ Conrad 45 pass from Reyn Beal (Jayden Flaig kick)
YL: Jayden Flaig 38 FG
CO: Isaiah Johnson 12 pass from Richie Munoz (Luis Marin kick)
CO: Solomon Davis 17 pass from Richie Munoz (Luis Marin kick)
YL: William Saucedo 4 run (Jayden Flaig kick)
CO: Isaiah Johnson 4 pass from Richie Munoz (Luis Marin kick)

Records: Charter Oak (10-1); Yorba Linda (11-0)