Lincoln falls to Mission Viejo in battle of SoCal powerhouses

by Kevin J. Farmer

They didn’t win the game, but they earned a ton of respect.

The Lincoln Hornets gave up 17 unanswered fourth-quarter points to Mission Viejo to see their upset hopes disappear in the non-league clash at Lincoln High School, losing 34-24.

“I have nothing but praise for Lincoln, their coaches and their kids. They played a great game,” said Mission Viejo coach Chad Johnson, whose team is ranked No. 9 in the country. “I’m a big public school fan and like us, I know the challenges you face. Those kids played hard.”

Trailing 17-10 at the half, the Hornets (2-1) came out fast in the second half.

They took the second half kickoff, established their ground game and then hit the big play to knot the score with 9:14 remaining in the third quarter. The big play was quarterback Kainan Manna (13-for-18, 168 yards, 2 TDs) finding Jaeveyion Allen wide open behind the secondary for the 56-yard score.

“I’m really a two-way player but more defense now,” said Allen, who was so open because the defense jumped the short option on the fourth-and-six play. “Coach tells me to take the chances when I get them and I did. It’s good to be back, I was out injured last year so it’s good to make an impact.”

Allen made the defensive play to set up the go-ahead score for the Hornets when he punched the ball out of a Diablo running back’s hands on a fourth-and-one on the next drive. It was recoved by Seth Fanua at their own 34.

Five Manna completions on the next drive set up Junior Curtis’ five-yard score over the left side with 28 seconds left in the third quarter to give the Hornets a 24-17 lead.

“We came out the second half to fight, fight, fight,” said Curtis. “We had to do it.”

Mission Viejo (3-0) capitalized on all three of their fourth-quarter possessions to win the game. First a 27-yard strike from Ohio State-bound quarterback Luke Fahey to Miami (Fla)-bound receiver Vance Spafford for a 27-yard score with 11:00 left in the game to tie it 24-24.

They took a 27-24 lead with 6:23 left on Caleb Sylvia’s second field goal of the game from 26 yards out.

The final score came with sunior running back Davonte Curtis scored from the 1 with 1:54 left to play.

The Diablos, ranked No. 3 California behind only No.1 Mater Dei and No. 2 St. John, take their road show next week to Tennessee to face the state’s second-ranked McCallie School in Chattanooga.

Lincoln coaches were anything but pleased with all the critical calls which seemed to go Mission Viejo’s way.

“You don’t take the game away from the kids,” said Lincoln coach David Dunn. “Their calls hurt us at the critical moments. You have to call things the same way. We get hit for celebration and they do the same thing and they don’t call it. They didn’t call a holding penalty against them the whole night. It’s not right.”

Fahey finished the night completing 22 of 32 passes for 255 yards for Mission Viejo and two TDs. Davonte Curtis rushed 19 times for 84 yards and two scores.