OCVarsity football wrap-up: Stories, scores and photos from Friday’s Week 9 games

• October 21, 2023

Here are all of OCVarsity’s stories, scores and photos from the Week 9 high school football games on Friday, Oct. 20.

We also have links to our coverage of the games Thursday, Oct. 19.

FRIDAY’S GAMES

SCORES

High school football: All of the scores from Friday’s games, Oct. 20

PHOTOS

Photos: High school football action from Friday’s Week 9 games

GAME STORIES

Servite football knocks off Santa Margarita for critical, and emotional, league victory

Newport Harbor football ignites wild celebration by beating Corona del Mar in Battle of the Bay

Trabuco Hills football stuns San Juan Hills, grabs share of Sea View League title

Sonora football defeats Troy to claim share of Freeway League crown

Mission Viejo football shuts out Tesoro in South Coast League

Rancho Alamitos football knocks off La Quinta, forces three-way tie for first

El Modena football too strong for El Dorado in North Hills clash

St. John Bosco football clinches share of Trinity League title by defeating JSerra

THURSDAY’S GAMES

High school football: Scores from Thursday’s games, Oct. 19

Mater Dei football rebounds from tough loss, beats Orange Lutheran handily

Irvine football uses comeback to beat Beckman, clinch share of league title

Los Amigos football rolls to win over Bolsa Grande, boosts league title and playoff hopes

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Mater Dei defensive lineman Kaho Tuihalamaka, an Arizona commit, transferred to Leuzinger

High school football: Orange County stat leaders through Oct. 14

Dana Hills football finding ways to win in quest for outright league title

Orange County football Top 25: Mater Dei remains No. 1, Orange Lutheran and Santa Margarita move up in Week 9

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Newport Harbor football ignites wild celebration by beating Corona del Mar in Battle of the Bay

• October 21, 2023

NEWPORT BEACH — Newport Harbor’s football team had reason to celebrate after it defeated rival Corona del Mar 21-20 Friday in a key Sunset League game, and the hundreds of fans that poured onto the field at Newport Harbor High to join the Sailors added to the euphoric scene.

The contest came down to a huge fourth-and-1 stop by the Sailors (4-5, 2-2), who took then possession with a minute remaining in the game and ran out the clock, snapping a 10-game losing streak against the Sea Kings (4-5, 1-3) in the annual Battle of the Bay contest.

Newport Harbor players and fans pose for a photo around the Battle of the Bay trophy after the Sailors’ 21-20 victory over rival Corona del Mar on Friday, Oct. 20. (Photo by Lou Ponsi)

With a victory against Fountain Valley in the final game of the regular season next week, the Sailors would likely finish in third place in the Sunset League and would be guaranteed a CIF-SS playoff berth.

The Sea Kings will need to defeat Huntington Beach next week to keep their playoff hopes alive and they might need an at-large selection to get into the postseason.

“I’ve lived in this city for 17 years,” said Newport Harbor receiver Cade Fegel, who had two touchdown catches. “I wanted it so bad. I knew this team was special from the start. I knew we would beat CdM.”

About a minute before the Sea Kings were stopped on fourth down, the Sailors had failed to convert on a fourth-and-inches play at the 50, giving the Sea Kings a chance to win the game with a field goal.

A missed extra point also factored into the outcome.

Kaleb Annett’s 22-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, his third touchdown pass of the game, gave the Sea Kings a 20-14 lead after the missed extra point.

Newport Harbor quarterback Jaden O’Neal also threw three touchdown passes. His third TD went for 19 yards to Fegel and gave  the Sailors a 21-20 lead after the extra point with just under six minutes left in the game.

And that’s how it stayed.

“My initial reaction is pure joy and happiness,” Newport Harbor coach Peter Lofthouse said. “But then there’s so much that goes through my mind from when I first got here in 2018. It all just goes through your mind in seconds.”

The Sailors came out fast, scoring two touchdowns, the first coming on a 48-yard pass from O’Neal to Josiah Lamarque.

Newport Harbor’s Tony Glynn recovered a fumble on the Sea Kings 7 and the Sailors converted the takeaway into a touchdown on the next play when O’Neil threw his second touchdown pass, to Fagel for 7 yards.

After turning the ball over on downs, punting twice and turning the ball over on a fumble, the Sea Kings righted themselves with an 80-yard, 14-play scoring drive.

Annett completed 9 of 10 passes on the drive, including a 12-yard touchdown pass to tight end Zach Giuliano.

Corona del Mar forced the Sailors to punt on the ensuing drive and the Sea Kings put together a 63-yard, game-tying drive, capped by Annett’s 28-yard scoring pass to Sebastien Boydell with 6.8 seconds remaining in the half.

“It was a heck of a football game,” Sea Kings coach Kevin Hettig said. “They played well enough to beat us tonight.”

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Sonora football defeats Troy to claim share of Freeway League crown

• October 21, 2023

LA HABRA – The Sonora football team collected six Troy turnovers and needed every one of them to pull away with a 34-14 victory Friday that moved the Raiders one step closer to winning the Freeway League championship outright.

The Raiders intercepted four passes, with Renner Williard and Alexsay Nazaroff each returning a pick for a touchdown, and recovered two of Troy’s four fumbles.

“That’s the game right there,” Sonora coach Kevin Oberlander said. “On the other end, you can’t win a game making that many turnovers.”

The Raiders (8-1, 4-0) clinched a share of the league title with the victory and seized sole possession of first place with one week left in the regular season. Troy (5-4, 3-1) and La Habra (5-4, 3-1) are tied for second.

Sonora will play La Habra on Friday, Oct. 27, with a chance to win the title outright. Troy will play its league finale against Sunny Hills.

Sonora broke a 7-7 tie on Anthony Abed’s 5-yard touchdown with 5:09 left in the first half. Two minutes later, a Rudy Alcala pass was tipped at the line by Brady Ackerman and was snatched out of the air by Willard, who went 43 yards for the TD and a 20-7 lead.

“I’ve never been part of a game like that,” Willard said. “This game, we’ve worked so hard for this, and we did our jobs The ball got tipped at the line by Brady Ackerman, I got it, and I saw my opportunity and took it to the house.”

Oberlander said he considered Nazaroff’s pick-six a dagger shot.

The Warriors ( 5-4, 3-1) opened the second half by driving from their 32 to the Sonora 22, when Nazaroff stepped in front of an Alcala pass and went 89 yards for the score.

“I dropped back, I saw the ball, I got it and I just ran for it,” Nazaroff said.

It was the first interception for the sophomore, and he made it memorable.

Sonora’s Renner Willard, left, and Alexsay Nazaroff each returned an interception for a touchdowon in a victory over Troy on Friday, Oct. 20. (Photo by Steve Dulas)

Sonora nearly had a third TD on a spectacular interception at the goal line. Alcala was looking for Vander Ploog, the 6-foot-5 junior who caught 13 passes for 122 yards. But Steve Peru of the Raiders got in front of Ploog and tipped the underthrown pass.

Robert Hernandez of the Raiders grabbed the deflection and was off to the races, going 92 yards before being knocked out of bounds at the Troy 8.

Troy’s defense salvaged the moment when Jacob Guahgorena blocked Landon Martin’s 24-yard field goal attempt.

Alcala threw for 226 yards, and only two of his 26 passes hit the ground. Oberlander called him an efficient quarterback, but the defensive scheme was to make Alcala carry the day.

“Our plan was to stop the run,” Oberlander said. “We wanted them to go to the pass, and that’s what they did. But if you can contain the run, we feel like we had pretty good control of the game.”

Troy, meanwhile, could not stop Sonora’s run game. Abad led both teams with 177 yards on 22 carries. Martin needed to attempt just two passes, with the second a perfectly thrown deep ball to Tyler Robertson, who got behind Troy’s double coverage and pulled in Martin’s pass in stride for a 49-yard touchdown.

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Rancho Alamitos football knocks off La Quinta, forces three-way tie for first

• October 21, 2023

GARDEN GROVE — Once again, things in the Garden Grove League are coming down to the wire.

Rancho Alamitos’ football team beat La Quinta 21-14 on Friday night at Bolsa Grande High, thanks to a go-ahead, fourth-quarter touchdown by Cruz Gonzalez and a defense that collected five turnovers.

Gonzalez, a junior, took over as the primary ball carrier on the pivotal drive after senior running back Jesus Diego started cramping up. Gonzalez scored on a 4-yard run with 2:24 remaining.

“He’s done a great job for us all year and we didn’t actually even get him the ball in the first half and then, all of a sudden, he had fresh legs and it made a big difference right there,” Rancho Alamitos coach Mike Enright said of Gonzalez.

“We play hard, that’s one thing we do,” Enright added. “We may get beat but we’re gonna play hard.”

The victory was crucial for Rancho Alamitos (6-3, 3-1), which is now tied for first place with La Quinta (6-3, 3-1) and Los Amigos (5-4, 3-1) with one week left in the regular season.

“That’s one thing about our league, though, especially this year,” Enright said. “We’re very balanced and every game is coming down to the last minute.”

The Aztecs began the game with a nice drive deep into Vaqueros territory but their scoring chance ended when sophomore quarterback Jakson Clark was picked off by Carlos Herrera at the 25.

La Quinta got on the scoreboard on their next possession when Cooper Starnes took an inside handoff 97 yards to the end zone for a 6-0 lead after a missed PAT.

Starnes finished with 184 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown.

Diego’s 3-yard run gave Rancho Alamitos a 7-6 lead in the second quarter and La Quinta fumbled on its next possession but Vaqueros quarterback Henry Garcia was intercepted by Kyle Hoang.

Clark would go on to find Hoang for a 56-yard TD pass and Starnes’ 2-point conversion made it 14-7 Aztecs with 1:31 remaining in the half.

The Vaqueros needed three plays to tie the game when Garcia hit freshman Osvaldo Ramos (6 receptions, 111 yards) for a 49-yard score with 40 seconds left.

“You can’t beat teams with five turnovers and six or seven penalties,” La Quinta coach James Stewart said. “Give Rancho credit, they ran the ball, they hit that big pass play to tie the game up in the first half, and then they grinded us down and we couldn’t respond.”

The Vaqueros needed a victory to have a chance at claiming a share of their sixth consecutive league title.

Los Amigos needs a win over Santiago next week to secure a share of back-to-back league titles, and Rancho Alamitos claim another league championship if it beats Loara.

If the Aztecs beat Bolsa Grande next week, they can become league champions for the first time since 1990.

“The big picture is, we gave ourselves two chances to win a league championship and we got one more,” Stewart said. “We got one more game, we gotta close out and get in the playoffs.”

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Trabuco Hills football stuns San Juan Hills, grabs share of Sea View League title

• October 21, 2023

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — Trabuco Hills’ football team ended San Juan Hills’ perfect season with a 24-17 upset win Friday at San Juan Hills High and clinched a share of the Sea View League championship.

The Mustangs (6-3, 2-0) most recently won a Sea View League championship in 2021 when it shared the league title with Capistrano Valley and El Toro.

“I’m so proud of these guys,” Trabuco Hills coach Mark Nolan said. “We take things one week at a time and we have to take care of business against our local rival El Toro in their place (in the league finale Oct. 27). We are in the driver’s seat and this is a great night for Trabuco Hills.”

San Juan Hills (8-1, 1-1) entered the week ranked No. 9 in the Register’s Top 25 poll. Trabuco Hills was ranked No. 21.

Trabuco Hills was playing short-handed with five of the seven offensive linemen who typically play missing the game due to injury. The offensive linemen that did play Friday stepped up and led the Mustangs to 194 yards rushing and three touchdowns.

“I have to give a major shoutout to Brody Brown and Izaac Stroman who we ran behind all night,” Nolan said. “Yusef Kaya played center and he is back from a broken ankle this summer. Cooper Overman is a tight end who volunteered to play tackle this week and no tight ends ever do that.”

Oliver Roeder and David Hemmes also played offensive line for the Mustangs on Friday.

Ryan Luce was the star of the game with two big rushing touchdowns and 10 receptions. Many of his touches converted third and fourth down attempts in the fourth quarter.

The pivotal play came in the fourth quarter with the Mustangs facing third down and long. Trabuco Hills ran a reverse to Luce who broke two tackles and ran for a 32-yard touchdown.

“I knew that coach was giving me a chance to go out there and seal the game for us,” Luce said. “I saw the defender get kicked out, I cut up inside, broke a tackle and instinct took over for the touchdown.”

Taylor Bowie ran for 117 yards on 23 carries with a touchdown for the Mustangs. Quarterback Jacob Perry completed 20 of 29 passes for 140 yards.

Trabuco Hills’ defense forced three turnovers and blocked a field goal. Ben Holland and Jaden Webber had interceptions and Tyler Schmaltz forced a fumble that Jaedyn Berry recovered.

Lucas Short blocked a San Juan Hills field goal attempt in the first quarter.

“The defense was absolutely lights out,” Nolan said. “Holding a very good San Juan Hills team to no offensive touchdowns until late in the fourth quarter is amazing. I couldn’t be more proud of those guys.”

San Juan Hills scored first on a 45-yard interception return for a touchdown by highly-touted junior Weston Port to give the Stallions an early 7-0 lead.

Trabuco Hills tied the game on a 3-yard run by Luce out of the “wildcat” formation early in the second quarter.

On the ensuing Trabuco Hills possession, Bowie broke a tackle and ran 26-yards for a touchdown to give Trabuco Hills a 14-7 lead.

After an interception by Holland, Trabuco scored on a 34-yard field goal by Ethan Schwartz to put the Mustangs in front 17-7 at halftime.

San Juan Hills made a field goal in the third quarter to cut the Mustangs’ lead to 17-10.

Webber intercepted a San Juan Hills pass and returned it 21-yards to midfield. The interception set up the 32-yard touchdown run by Luce to extend the lead to 24-10.

Colton Chase returned the ensuing kickoff 44 yards which set up a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Timmy Herr with under two minutes remaining. Herr led San Juan Hills in rushing with 87 yards on 11 carries.

Holland recovered the onside kick to seal the game for Trabuco Hills.

“We are banged up, nobody gave us a chance, our coaches put together a great game plan and our players believed,” Nolan said. “We knew we had to play hard, physical, throw caution to the wind and see where it lands.”

San Juan Hills will play Aliso Niguel on the road next week to wrap the regular season. The Stallions can still clinch a share of the Sea View League championship with a win and a Trabuco Hills loss to El Toro.

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El Modena football too strong for El Dorado in North Hills clash

• October 21, 2023

PLACENTIA — The El Modena football team is clicking at the right time.

The Vanguards posted their most impressive win of the season Friday night, rolling to a 38-10 victory against El Dorado in a North Hills League game at Valencia High.

Quarterback Xzavior Guess led the charge, completing 27 of 33 passes for 365 yards and two touchdowns. Guess rushed for two other scores.

Brodie Hitchens contributed 118 rushing yards on 14 carries and a touchdown, and Deron Taylor and Troy Parker each had over 100 yards receiving for El Modena (5-4, 2-0), which can clinch an outright league title with a win against Canyon next week.

Defensively, the Vanguards limited the Golden Hawks (4-5, 1-1 ) to one touchdown while intercepting three second-half passes.

“We’re clicking and executing well on both sides of the ball,” El Modena coach Matt Mitchell said. “We’re hitting our stride at the right time.”

El Modena received the opening kickoff and marched 65 yards on seven plays, taking a 7-0 lead on a 5-yard run by Hitchens. Christian Tafua set up the score with receptions of 23 and 12 yards.

After stopping El Dorado on downs, the Vanguards quickly capitalized. Hitchens ran 45 yards to the 5-yard line and Guess weaved into the end zone on the next play for a 14-0 lead.

The Golden Hawks had to convert a fourth-and-5 on their next possession to keep the drive alive and they later settled for a 27-yard field goal by Devin Coleman to cut the lead to 14-3 with 57 seconds left in the first quarter.

El Dorado then forced a three-and-out by El Modena, got the ball back near midfield and scored on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Nate Bento to Vincent Tapia, trimming the deficit to 14-10 with 10:25 remaining in the first half.

That was as close as the Golden Hawks would get, however.

The Vanguards followed with an 11-play, 76-yard drive that was capped by Guess’s 2-yard touchdown run that extended the lead to 21-10 with 6:28 left in the half.

El Modena appeared to add to the lead when Guess scored on a 11-yard run with 1:17 left in the half, but the Vanguards were penalized for holding and unsportsmanlike conduct, backing them up to the 35 and they ultimately had to punt.

After intercepting a pass on El Dorado’s opening drive of the second half, the Vanguards had another touchdown called back on a penalty, but they didn’t let those points slips away, as Guess found Tafua for a 22-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead to 28-10 with 8:18 left in the third quarter.

The Vanguards quickly got the ball back and Guess continued to have plenty of time to scour the field and find open receivers. He hit Taylor over the middle for a 33-yard touchdown pass to make it 35-10 with 3:47 remaining in the third.

“The corners kept on bailing, leaving the hitches that we kept on running wide open,” Guess said. “Might as well keep taking that and not forcing nothing, so we just kept taking what they were giving us.”

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Mission Viejo football shuts out Tesoro in South Coast League

• October 21, 2023

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA – Mission Viejo improved its chances for securing a berth into the CIF Southern Section football playoffs with a 36-0 win over Tesoro on Friday in a South Coast League game at Tesoro High.

The Diablos improved to 6-3 overall and 1-1 in league. They lost to San Clemente 20-10 last week in their league opener.

Mission Viejo, No. 7 in the Orange County Top 25, will play at No. 17 Capistrano Valley next Friday, the final week of the regular season and the league finale.

Tesoro (5-4, 1-1), No. 13 in the county rankings, will play at No. 5 San Clemente on Friday, Oct. 27.

CIF Southern Section football playoff brackets will be released Oct. 29.

Mission Viejo would likely play in CIF-SS Division 2. Tesoro, also still in the running for a playoff berth, might be in Division 4 if the Titans get in.

Teams will be placed in playoff divisions at the end of the regular season according to the Calpreps ratings.

It is Mission Viejo’s third shutout of the season. The Diablos blanked Highland 58-0 and Hawaii’s Kamehameha 34-0 in nonleague games last month.

Mission Viejo junior quarterback Draiden Trudeau threw two touchdown passes. Sophomore quarterback Luke Fahey, who shared equal time at the position with Trudeau as they have all season, also threw two touchdown passes.

Diablos junior receiver/cornerback Dijon Lee had a touchdown reception and returned an interception 19 yards for a touchdown. Lee (6-3, 180) has scholarship offers from many schools including Oklahoma, Oregon, UCLA and USC.

Mission Viejo sophomore receiver Vance Spafford caught two touchdown passes to give him 11 touchdown receptions this season.

Lee said the Diablos needed Friday’s win after the previous week’s loss to San Clemente.

“We played real hard today,” said Lee who returned an interception for a touchdown against Tesoro last season. “Started off slow but when we came out after halftime and sped it up and scored three touchdowns.”

Diablos sophomore safety Zachary Foeldi had two interceptions in the first half. One was erased by a Mission Viejo penalty. The one that counted led to Michael Salgado-Medina’s 42-yard field goal halfway through the first quarter to give the Diablos a 3-0 lead.

Tesoro had a chance to tie the game four minutes into the second quarter. Titans kicker Lance Guerrero’s 43-yard field goal attempt had the distance but was slightly wide to the right.

On the next play at the Mission Viejo 20-yard line Fahey launched a perfectly-place pass to Spafford who made the catch at the Tesoro 39-yard line. Spafford tried to outrun the Tesoro defender, figured he would not do so, and stopped at the 10-yard line before cutting inside to angle his way into the end zone. The point-after kick attempt was no good, leaving Mission Viejo with the 9-0 lead that the Diablos would take into the second half.

Trudeau connected with Cash Semonza for a 13-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. The point-after kick attempt missed, so the Diablos lead was 15-0. Lee scored on his 19-yard interception return – he cut in front of the receiver to snag the ball and a few strides later was in the end zone – early in the fourth quarter for a 22-0 lead.

Lee scored on a 6-yard pass from Trudeau a few minutes later Fahey threw a short pass to Spafford who flashed into the end zone for a touchdown and a 36-0 lead with 1:41 to go.

Mission Viejo’s Jeron Jones and Trey Tolmaire also had interceptions.

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Servite football knocks off Santa Margarita for critical, and emotional, league victory

• October 21, 2023

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NORWALK — Servite’s football players took the field Friday with the memory of a fallen classmate in their hearts.

The Friars left Cerritos College with their biggest victory of the season.

Quarterback Leo Hannan threw three of his four touchdown passes in the first half and running back Quaid Carr scored twice in the second half to lead Servite past Santa Margarita 50-42 in an explosive Trinity League game.

Servite (5-4, 1-3), ranked sixth in Orange County, boosted its playoff chances by claiming a fifth victory to ensure that it will finish with at least a .500 record, a key component for receiving an at-large berth.

The Friars also recorded their first Trinity League win since 2021 as they played for fallen classmate and former teammate Jack Kennedy. The senior died suddenly this past week, the school stated Friday.

Servite honored Kennedy with a moment of silence before kickoff. Most of the team then prayed in the end zone after marching onto the field.

“This game was dedicated to him and I think we definitely pulled out a great win,” said senior running back Johnny Merrill, who counted Kennedy as one of his best friends. “We stood together as a team even through this tough week.”

“I’ve had my moments (of struggle),” Merrill added, “but football is a great outlet to leave it all out on the field. Kind of get your anger out, get your emotion out.”

Santa Margarita (5-4, 1-3), ranked third in the county, secured its fifth victory last week to ensure that it will finish with at least a .500 record.

Hannan passed for a season-high 338 yards to help Servite hold off the Eagles’ and Trent Mosley, who scored four touchdowns and had 11 catches for 219 yards.

The teams combined for 1,008 yards of offense. Servite outgained Santa Margarita 513-495.

“Our offense is super sweet,” said Hannan, who completed 20 of 27 passes and tossed touchdowns to four different players. “We get better every game. We’re peaking at a good time.”

Servite grabbed a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter as Hannan lofted a third-and-9 pass for a 68-yard strike to Ethan Naudin. The score arrived after an interception at the 1-yard line by Friars senior safety Beau Jako.

Santa Margarita responded early in the second period with a 48-yard touchdown burst by running back Skylar Lendsey.

But Hannan kept Servite’s offense revving. He threw a 20-yard touchdown and a 2-point conversion to tight end Aidan O’Callaghan.

The junior then capitalized on a botched Santa Margarita punt. One play after the Friars took over at the Eagles 15 following a high snap and miskick, Hannan threw a touchdown to Quinn Rosenkranz as Servite opened a 22-7 with 5:16 left in the opening half.

The teams then traded scores before intermission.

Lendsey scored on a 10-yard TD run after the Eagles received a 54-yard kickoff return from Mosley. Lendsey rushed for 140 yards.

But Servite answered with a 78-yard scoring drive capped by a 2-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Camren Hughes to Jacob Trevizu.

Santa Margarita started the second half well, driving for a 2-yard touchdown by Mosley to trim the Friars’ lead to 29-21.

Servite’s offense, however, continued to roll. The Friars march 92 yards to take a 36-21 lead on a 5-yard scoring run by Quaid Carr.

The teams traded scores later in the third.  Mosley scored his 22nd touchdown of the season on a 4-yard run but Hannan kept Servite in control by throwing a 31-yard TD to Carr. The score came after Santa Margarita narrowly missed recovering an onside kick.

Servite’s defense made the first stop of the second half as cornerback Tristin Ordaz broke up a third-down pass intended for Mosley. The Friars promptly drove for a 1-yard touchdown run by O’Callaghan on a third-and-goal for a 50-28 lead.

Next week on Oct. 27, Servite closes out the Trinity League by playing host to JSerra at Cerritos College while Santa Margarita takes on Mater Dei at Santa Ana Stadium.

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