San Clemente Overwhelms Another San Diego Team

CARLSBAD —  San Clemente halfback Allen Vaughan showed Carlsbad he could run, catch and, yes, even coach a little. Vaughan, a 5-foot-11, 170-pound senior, rushed for 142 yards and three touchdowns and caught six passes for 102 yards in San Clemente’s 44-13 thrashing of Carlsbad in front of 2,800 Friday night at Carlsbad High.

Carlsbad (0-2) is the second San Diego County team to be dominated by San Clemente, which beat San Diego Crawford, 50-22 last week.

“Our coach was saying that San Diego teams think we can’t play, that we’re just a bunch of rich kids that hang out at the beach,” Vaughan said.

Vaughan didn’t look much like a beach bum Friday, though. He was virtually unstoppable whenever he touched the ball. He scored in the first half on runs of four and 11 yards as the Tritons built a 21-7 lead.

Vaughan added his last touchdown on a two-yard plunge that made the score 38-7. Carlsbad, a slower and much smaller team than San Clemente, had problems tackling Vaughan. It was a rarity when one player tackled Vaughan, who usually eluded the first defender, ran through him or bounced off him.

“He was a good back, a tough kid,” Carlsbad linebacker Travis Krueger said. “If you didn’t wrap him up, he’d get by you. He’s just a shifty guy.”

But a humble Vaughan gave Carlsbad credit for its aggressiveness.

“This was a really good team,” he said. “I’m beat up.”

San Clemente quarterback Geoff Buffum also had a big game, completing 13 of 20 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns. Vaughan got most of the work, catching six of Buffum’s passes and rushing 22 times.

“Like my old coach used to say, “If you have a cannon, you shoot it,’ ” San Clemente Coach Mark McElroy said.

And sometimes, even when McElroy didn’t shoot his cannon, it went off anyway.

With San Clemente leading, 38-7 in the fourth quarter, Vaughan became the coach for a play. He took the snap on what was supposed to be a punt and took off down the left sidelines, gaining 17 yards on a fourth and two.