Californians who vote with their feet

• October 21, 2023

Between 2020 and 2022, Los Angeles lost nearly 2% of its population. While San Francisco’s exodus of 7.5% was even worse, these cities are not alone. People have also been fleeing San Jose, Long Beach and Oakland. It is not just that people are leaving the state; where they are fleeing to is also of note.

Based on IRS data, about one-half of the Californians migrating to other states moved to just five – Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Washington and Florida.

What do these states have in common?  Four of these states do not levy an income tax at all. The other, Arizona, levies a 2.5% flat income tax. Compared to our 13.3% top rate, these ex-Californians, who earned nearly 40% more than the average Golden State household, are saving lots of money.

People are clearly leaving California because of bad public policy choices.  The state’s roads are poorly maintained. The cost of living is unaffordable. The streets are unsafe, the homelessness problem continues to fester, and economic opportunities are becoming scarcer.

These results are consistent with the new Pacific Research Institute Free Cities index that I authored ranking the 50 largest cities, whether a city promotes pro-growth policies has a huge impact on where people decide to live and where businesses decide to invest.

Los Angeles ranked second-worst on the list for pro-growth cities, while Long Beach ranked fifth-worst in the country.  California had three of the worst five cities on the list, with Oakland ranking last.

The study groups the 50 largest cities based on the latest population trends.  There are 17 cities whose populations have declined by more than 1% between 2020 and 2022 (which we call declining cities), 19 cities whose population change was between a 1% decline and a 1% increase (called stagnant cities) and 14 cities whose population grew by more than 1% (called growth cities).

There are important lessons in these three categories for California policymakers.

First, consistent with California’s exodus, declining cities impose high state and local marginal income tax rates (averaging 9%), while growth cities levy a more affordable tax burden (averaging 3%). The tax burden in the stagnant cities averaged 5.5%. Cities and states with high income tax rates discourage individual entrepreneurs from starting a new small business and they deter larger employers from expanding existing businesses and creating jobs compared to the lower-taxed cities.

Declining cities also overburden average families with a higher combined sales, income and property tax burden. The average burden from these taxes is over 22% higher in the declining cities compared to the growth cities. Not surprisingly, the tax burden in California’s cities was among the highest.

Many Californians would be willing to pay a higher tax burden if it meant having a higher quality of life, great schools, and superior public services. But the opposite is true. On a host of issues ranging from affordability to regulations, declining cities have the most anti-growth policy environments while growth cities have policy environments that encourage growth and quality of life.

California’s elected officials should learn from these troubling trends.  If they paid attention, they’d see that high taxes, poor services, and anti-growth policies drive businesses, jobs, and people away.  By adopting policies that make cities more affordable and attractive, they will actually encourage businesses to locate there and expand, and create jobs and tax revenue.

Historically, California’s cities have been important drivers of nationwide economic prosperity and technological innovation. They have fostered cutting edge scientific breakthroughs and invigorated artistic expression. Without healthy population trends, California’s cities will fail in their efforts to serve these vital roles.

Between 2020 and 2022, Los Angeles lost nearly 2% of its population. While San Francisco’s exodus of 7.5% was even worse, these cities are not alone. People have also been fleeing San Jose, Long Beach and Oakland. It is not just that people are leaving the state; where they are fleeing to is also of note.

Based on IRS data, about one-half of the Californians migrating to other states moved to just five – Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Washington and Florida.

What do these states have in common?  Four of these states do not levy an income tax at all. The other, Arizona, levies a 2.5% flat income tax. Compared to our 13.3% top rate, these ex-Californians, who earned nearly 40% more than the average Golden State household, are saving lots of money.

People are clearly leaving California because of bad public policy choices.  The state’s roads are poorly maintained. The cost of living is unaffordable. The streets are unsafe, the homelessness problem continues to fester, and economic opportunities are becoming scarcer.

These results are consistent with the new Pacific Research Institute Free Cities index that I authored ranking the 50 largest cities, whether a city promotes pro-growth policies has a huge impact on where people decide to live and where businesses decide to invest.

Los Angeles ranked second-worst on the list for pro-growth cities, while Long Beach ranked fifth-worst in the country.  California had three of the worst five cities on the list, with Oakland ranking last.

The study groups the 50 largest cities based on the latest population trends.  There are 17 cities whose populations have declined by more than 1% between 2020 and 2022 (which we call declining cities), 19 cities whose population change was between a 1% decline and a 1% increase (called stagnant cities) and 14 cities whose population grew by more than 1% (called growth cities).

There are important lessons in these three categories for California policymakers.

First, consistent with California’s exodus, declining cities impose high state and local marginal income tax rates (averaging 9%), while growth cities levy a more affordable tax burden (averaging 3%). The tax burden in the stagnant cities averaged 5.5%. Cities and states with high income tax rates discourage individual entrepreneurs from starting a new small business and they deter larger employers from expanding existing businesses and creating jobs compared to the lower-taxed cities.

Declining cities also overburden average families with a higher combined sales, income and property tax burden. The average burden from these taxes is over 22% higher in the declining cities compared to the growth cities. Not surprisingly, the tax burden in California’s cities was among the highest.

Many Californians would be willing to pay a higher tax burden if it meant having a higher quality of life, great schools, and superior public services. But the opposite is true. On a host of issues ranging from affordability to regulations, declining cities have the most anti-growth policy environments while growth cities have policy environments that encourage growth and quality of life.

California’s elected officials should learn from these troubling trends.  If they paid attention, they’d see that high taxes, poor services, and anti-growth policies drive businesses, jobs, and people away.  By adopting policies that make cities more affordable and attractive, they will actually encourage businesses to locate there and expand, and create jobs and tax revenue.

Historically, California’s cities have been important drivers of nationwide economic prosperity and technological innovation. They have fostered cutting edge scientific breakthroughs and invigorated artistic expression. Without healthy population trends, California’s cities will fail in their efforts to serve these vital roles.

Reversing California’s troubling outmigration trend requires local policy leaders to establish policy environments that reward entrepreneurship, keep taxes low, make it easy to start or expand a business and create jobs, and provide core public services at efficient costs.

Wayne Winegarden, Ph.D. is a senior fellow in Business and Economics at the Pacific Research Institute. His latest study, The Free Cities Index, is available at www.pacificresearch.org 

​ Orange County Register 

California’s Top Two primary system denies voters a real choice

• October 21, 2023

Error: Contact form not found.

Will California voters get a choice between parties for the U.S. Senate election on Nov. 5, 2024? They didn’t in two of the last three Senate elections, when it was only Democrats on the ballots.

In 2018 the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein survived a challenge by Los Angeles Councilmember Kevin DeLeon, recently disgraced from racist comments at a meeting. In 2016, it was Attorney General Kamala Harris, now the vice president, defeating Rep. Loretta Sanchez. 

The culprit is one of the worst initiatives ever, the Top Two system instituted when voters passed Proposition 14 in 2010. Under it, a “jungle primary” is held in a battle of all against all. Then the top two, regardless of party, or no party, rise to the November runoff.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, hoodwinked voters into thinking it would advance “moderates” like him from both parties. As recently as 2017, Politico reported he was stirring “buzz” he might run for the Senate in 2018. He didn’t.

But instead of moderation, Top Two gave us only liberal Democrats in those two races. And although the California GOP certainly has wounded itself often enough, not having candidates in these crucial, statewide races of national import kept it out of the public eye.

With global and domestic crises boiling over, next year’s race is vital. Ballotpedia currently lists 37 hopefuls for the job. They include 16 Democrats, the top ones being Reps. Adam Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee. And 13 Republicans, the two most prominent being Eric Early, an attorney, and Steve Garvey, whose website so far largely features pictures of him during his Dodgers playing career.

Then there’s Sen. Laphonza Butler, whom Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed to complete the remainder of Feinstein’s term. Butler has until Dec. 8 to decide if she runs in the primary. My guess is she well. The Senate is the world’s most exclusive club after the College of Cardinals in Rome.

So far, the top three Democrats have engaged in two debates and, most recently on Oct. 15, the AFSCME California PEOPLE Forum at Loews Coronado Bay Resort. Their views weren’t all that different.

I wondered if future debates would include any Republicans. Calls and emails to all three Democratic campaigns were not answered. Someone from the California Democratic Party got back to me and said she would check, then crickets. Garvey’s campaign also didn’t get back to me.

Related Articles

Early quickly replied to my call to his campaign. “They won’t invite me for whatever reason, and it’s not good because I absolutely should be part of these debates,” he told me, as his chihuahua chirped in the background. “You know they’re in dreamland the other side. They are just approaching it and their media allies are approaching it as if, oh, it’s just an automatic Democrats are going to win the Senate.” He said denying him and other Republicans places on stage is “to try and skew it so only two Democrats remain on the top. But I have a very good chance of ending up in the top two.”

Fred Whitaker is the chairman of the Orange County Republican Party. “I like the idea of a debate,” he told me. “We are working with all the Senate candidates to see if they are willing to come to Orange County to speak to the Central Committee.” Of that, Early said, “Absolutely I’ll be there.”

Finally, Republicans should make passing an initiative repealing Top Two their top priority. It clearly is hurting them, making it harder to get out their message. They still can do it for the Nov. 5, 2024 election as the signature filing deadline is next June 27. Call it the Restore California Democracy initiative.

Top Two is a wound in democracy and needs to be repealed. If Republicans don’t do that quickly, they might as well all move to Florida.

John Seiler is on the SCNG Editorial Board and blogs at: johnseiler.substack.com  

​ Orange County Register 

New compliance audit for OC Go sales tax funds welcome news for taxpayers

• October 21, 2023

At the October 9th Orange County Transportation Authority Board of Directors meeting, the board voted unanimously to fund my request, taken up initially through the Measure M2 Taxpayer Oversight Committee (TOC) for a compliance audit of Measure M2 spending. Working collaboratively together with the OCTA Board of Directors, members of the TOC, and OCTA staff, we achieved a victory for Measure M transparency, and for Orange County taxpayers.

When Measure M (now known as OC Go) was originally passed by the voters in 1990, it’s language included strong safeguards to help protect the half-cent sales tax that you pay for transportation improvements here in Orange County. 

OC Go is expected to generate a total of nearly $15 billion through 2041 to maintain and improve Orange County’s transportation network.

Initially a 20-year tax with limited bonding authority, Measure M (and then extended an additional 30 years with Measure M2) included language requiring the creation of an independent Taxpayer Oversight Committee (TOC) specifically “for the purpose of overseeing compliance with the measure.” This compliance purpose is further explained “to ensure that all voter mandates are carried out as required.” As Orange County’s independently elected Auditor-Controller, one of my roles is to serve as the chair of the TOC. I am dedicated to my commitment to serving the County of Orange and its taxpayers seriously. This compliance audit will allow me and the TOC to annually certify voter mandates are met with confidence by relying on an outside auditor’s opinion. 

In reading the language of the current Measure M2 as a Certified Public Accountant, I found that the audit safeguards in place as approved by the voters were not as clearly defined. While the measure states an “annual independent audit” should be conducted, it didn’t specifically state which type of audit is to be conducted.

There are many types of audits. For this situation, when measuring compliance, the gold standard of audits is intuitively – a compliance audit, which ensures an organization or fund complies with the rules, regulations, and laws of the region, state, or country it operates. More simply put – this compliance audit corresponds with the Committee’s sole purpose of compliance and provides the kind of transparency you should expect when literally billions of taxpayer dollars are being spent.

Before you get concerned that perhaps before now there has not been any audits performed, since its inception, the Measure M fund has had a financial statement audit performed each year, ensuring that the measure’s financial statements are materially correct.  Although a financial statement audit has many great benefits, a compliance audit has a different scope and is a needed, additional effort to ensure our hard-earned tax dollars are being spent appropriately in accordance with the measure’s requirements.

Related Articles

It is worth mentioning that performing a compliance audit comes at an expense, as you can imagine. But the drafters of Measure M2 had this in mind, and a portion of funds raised by the sales tax are dedicated for this very type of auditing expenditure.  

OC Go has been and continues to be a great success and Orange County has the best road conditions in the region.  Our county’s traffic flow is the envy of our county neighbors.  We should be proud that the half cent sales tax we have been paying for nearly 30 years has paid great dividends.  This compliance audit will ensure that this spending is in line with what was approved by the voters. 

Rest assured that, along with the other members of the TOC, and I am sure the entire OCTA Board will be closely monitoring the compliance audit as it takes place and look forward to the opportunity to share the results of it with you when it is done. Ensuring our hard-earned tax dollars are spent correctly is crucial, and even more so in today’s economy, every cent counts…even a half-cent. 

Andrew N. Hamilton is Orange County’s elected Auditor-Controller. Hamilton has been a Certified Public Accountant for 27 years.

​ Orange County Register 

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

DID YOU SEE THIS?

Fryer: Orange County’s revamped football leagues for 2024 taking shape

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

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

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.”

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

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.

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

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.”

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

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.

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register