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MISSION VIEJO — Mission Viejo’s football team entered Friday with the longest active winning streak in Orange County and a Calpreps rating higher than every school in the state except a certain juggernaut in Santa Ana.
The Diablos are No. 2 in the county for now, but their resume continues to grow impressive.
Draiden Trudeau tossed four touchdowns and Vance Spafford caught two scores and blocked two punts as Mission Viejo improved to 5-0 with 31-28 victory against visiting Arizona powerhouse Basha of Chandler.
Jaden Williams added two of five sacks by the Diablos, ranked second in the county to Mater Dei and No. 10 in the nation by MaxPreps.
Mission Viejo extended its winning streak to 13 games. The Diablos haven’t lost since a 20-10 result against San Clemente last season.
Mission Viejo’s players pointed to that home loss against the Tritons as the turning point to their 2023 campaign. The Diablos went on to capture CIF-SS Division 2 and CIF State Division 1-AA championships.
Mission Viejo led 17-14 at halftime and opened the second half with an 80-yard scoring drive. Spafford capped the march with an 11-yard TD catch from Trudeau.
The Diablos leaned on their ground attack of Davonte Curtis and Hinesward Lilomaiava on the drive, setting the tone for their strategy for the second half. Curtis rushed for 105 yards on 17 carries.
Trudeau’s fourth TD — a 10-yard connection to Cash Semonza — helped Mission Viejo open a 31-21 lead with 5:40 left in the fourth quarter.
After Basha, ranked No. 2 in Arizona, trimmed the lead to 31-28 with 4:22 remaining, Mission Viejo used mostly Curtis to run out all but 17 seconds to essentially seal the victory.
Basha (3-1) was coming off a 50-0 victory against Saguaro of Arizona last week.
The Bears started fast as Gio Richardson returned the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown.
Mission Viejo took a 14-7 lead later in the first quarter on touchdown passes by Trudeau of 20 and 31 yards to Curtis and Spafford, respectively.
Best known for his speed at wide receiver, Spafford set up his 31-yard TD catch by blocking a punt from the Basha 24.
Basha showed more speed later in the first quarter as sophomore running back Noah Roberts tied the score with a 60-yard TD run. Roberts finished with three TD runs.
In the middle of the second quarter, Spafford sparked Mission Viejo again by blocking a punt from the Bears 22. The block led to a 30-yard field goal by Caleb Sylvia, who gave Mission Viejo a 17-14 lead.
A controversial play occurred about two minutes later. Basha appeared to recover a fumble at its 48 but the Diablos maintained possession before punting.
Next week, Mission Viejo plays host to Chaparral on Friday, Sept. 27. Chaparral edged San Clemente 17-16 in the teams’ season opener in Temecula.
