San Clemente Runs It Up (and Down) Against Fountain Valley

San Clemente won the battle on the line against Fountain Valley and it showed on the scoreboard and in the stat sheet.

The Tritons rolled up nearly 400 yards rushing and kept the Barons off-balance for most of the night as they defeated Fountain Valley, 43-10, in a nonleague game Thursday at Westminster High School.

Senior running back Mike Elespuru led the Tritons with 148 rushing yards and two touchdowns, including a 37-yard blast off the right side that put the Tritons up 36-3 early in the fourth quarter.

"The holes were huge," Elespuru said. "Our linemen just made it huge for me."

San Clemente quarterback Travis Wilson (Utah commit) passed for 127 yards and a touchdown and also added 68 rushing yards.

Fountain Valley struggled on its first two possessions as the Tritons dominated time of possession in the first quarter. However, the Barons held at their own six-yard line on the Tritons’ first possession and San Clemente had to settle for a field goal and 3-0 lead. But the Tritons closed the first quarter with an 11-play drive to push their lead to 10-0.

Early in the second quarter, the Barons pinned the Tritons at their own four-yard line with a punt by Derek Huyen that was downed by senior Cristian Calvillo. But Wilson stuck quickly with a 44-yard strike to senior Christian Tober to set up an eventual touchdown by senior Nick Pasquale that gave the Tritons a 17-0 lead.

"They took care of us up front," Fountain Valley coach John Shipp said. "Our kids battled. They busted their butts and worked hard, but San Clemente is a great football team and they took it to us up front."

The Baron’s didn’t help themselves either, with a key penalty that allowed the Tritons to push their lead to 20-0 at halftime with a field goal on the final play of the second quarter. The Barons also had a snap over the head of their punter that gave the Tritons a safety and 22-0 lead early in the third quarter.

The Tritons' defense did the rest, holding the Barons scoreless until the 1:59 mark of the third quarter. San Clemente allowed only six points in its season-opener, a 35-6 victory over Long Beach Cabrillo, and kept the Barons out of the end zone until late in the fourth quarter Thursday.

But San Clemente coach Jon Hamro insists there isn’t a lot of fancy scheming going on. "We’re just flying around. We have kids who can run and tackle well and [we're] not doing too much fancy stuff, just playing football," he said. "And we have some kids who can play.”

The Barons also had to adjust when starting quarterback Kai Fernandez injured his collar bone late in the second quarter. Shipp confirmed that Fernandez was taken to a hospital for X-rays at halftime and did not return. However, junior Chris d’entremont came in and led the Barons on two scoring drives, the first an 11-play drive that led to Huynen's 38-yard field goal.

In the fourth quarter, d’Entremont led the Barons on a short scoring drive that was set up by Calvillo's kickoff return to the 44-yard line. Three completions by d’Entremont was all it took, with the final one being a 25-yard touchdown pass to senior Sean Myers at the left front of the end zone with 2:56 left in the game.

Fountaina Valley (1-1) will be on the road the next two weeks, starting with a game at Corona on Friday, while the Tritons (2-0) will play at home Friday against La Costa Canyon of Carlsbad. San Clemente defeated La Costa Canyon, 28-21, last year, so they are expecting a team focused on revenge.

"We got them last year," Elespuru said, "so they’ll be coming at us."