MISSION VIEJO — Trabuco Hills quarterback Jackson Verplancke didn’t handle the ball cleanly. Bobbled it. Grabbed it. Pushed himself into the end zone. Grit. Determination. And a comeback that no one expected.
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Verplancke’s 1-yard score with 43 seconds remaining capped an improbable come-from-behind victory for Trabuco Hills, which scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to steal victory away from Bellflower, 28-24, in a nonleague game Friday.
It was a wild finish to a game that Bellflower looked destined to win. The Buccaneers gained 395 yards to Trabuco’s 225, but the game isn’t decided by yardage, time of possession, or looking the part.
The only thing that mattered was the scoreboard, and Trabuco managed to win that stat.
Verplancke’s game-winning score helped Trabuco improve to 2-0 overall. The Mustangs will face St. Bonaventure of Ventura next week, and the lessons learned against Bellflower will no doubt help.
“Starting off 2-0 will help our energy,” Trabuco Hills running back Luke Hoffman said of the victory’s impact on the team psyche. “Everything is better being 2-0. It will definitely boost us next week.”
Trabuco was opportunistic. Bralynn Graham’s 20-yard field goal gave Bellflower a 17-8 lead with 1:40 left in the third quarter. But from that point on, Trabuco took control.
A 42-yard completion from Verplancke to Nate Davis, a couple of penalties, and an eight-yard scoring strike to Hoffman – on the first play of the fourth quarter—pulled Trabuco to within 17-15 after Logan Bailey’s extra point.
Bailey’s kickoff then went uncovered by Bellflower. Riley Overman picked it up, and just like that, Trabuco had the ball at the nine-yard line. Verplancke was sacked, but Hoffman caught a 17-yard pass and then scored from a yard. The two-point conversion failed, but Trabuco led, 21-17.
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Bellflower showed its grit. It answered with a 17-play, 79-yard drive as E’lacio Saxton passed three yards to Ryan Clark with 3:06 remaining.
That was too much time.
Trabuco drove 80 yards in nine plays; 48 yards came on the first play, a connection from Verplancke to Davis. Eventually, Verplancke got his chance, his bobble, and his moment of glory.
The big play of the night, everyone agreed, was Overman picking up the lonely kickoff that was given up on by a Bellflower backup freshman.
“I was as surprised as anyone else,” Overman said. “I’m a ball hog. So I find the ball and go get it. And it worked out. We go over this in practice every day, what if there’s a brain fart, what do you do?”
He and Hoffman, a pair of three-year varsity players, agreed the game was one of the two most memorable in their prep careers—the other being a victory last season over Huntington Beach. But this one seemed to come out of nowhere for a team that, for the second week in a row, has owned the late stages of the game.
Verplancke completed 17 of 26 passes for 196 yards and a touchdown. Hoffman had a rushing and receiving touchdown; he carried 13 times for 36 yards, and caught five passes for 43. Davis led Trabuco receivers with eight receptions for 128 yards.
Saxton was 17 of 25 for 203 yards and three touchdowns for Bellflower. Kevin Cuba Jr., rushed 21 times for 111 yards, and Keondra Smith caught 12 passes for 171 yards and a touchdown.
“We played hard, we played physical, and we played fast, but we made some timely mistakes in some critical moments that cost us the game, and that’s something we’ll learn from,” Bellflower coach Keith Miller said. “Really proud of the team and how it competed. I think we let one slip away. Hat’s off to Trabuco Hills, they played to the finish and they made enough plays to win.”
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