ORANGE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PREP EXTRA : El Toro’s Sango Overpowers Aliso Niguel, 50-18
MISSION VIEJO — Maybe the El Toro football team thinks points are like poker chips and you can turn them in at the end of the season to some sort of Southern Section cashier.
The way the Chargers are raking in points this season, they certainly would win a big prize.
“We are not trying to run up the score, we are just trying to execute and play,” El Toro’s Murle Sango said.
El Toro defeated Aliso Niguel, 50-18, Friday night, before about 4,000 at Trabuco Hills High. The Chargers have scored a county-high 170-points this season, averaging 42.5 points per game.
Much of the reason behind the Chargers’ success is Sango, who led El Toro with 205 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown run, in 16 carries and also caught five passes for 67 yards.
Richard Oates gained 231 yards in 17 carries and scored three touchdowns for El Toro (3-1) on runs of 49, 67 and 20 yards.
Sango, a 5-foot-8, 160-pound junior, showed a knack last season for finding holes and spinning off defenders. He is showing this season that his big-play capabilities are no fluke.
On El Toro’s second possession of the second half, Sango took a pitch from Charger quarterback Steve Krupp on second-and-five and ran 65 yards to Aliso Niguel’s six-yard line. Oates ran for no gain before Krupp ran it in for a touchdown to bring the score to 30-18 and put the game beyond Aliso Niguel’s reach.
Sango credits El Toro’s offensive line for his success.
“It was the offensive line,” he said. “Those guys are doing a really great job. It is all because of them.”
The Chargers scored three more times in the fourth quarter on a 45-yard pass play from Krupp to Brian Koupal and two touchdowns by Oates.
“We played better in the beginning of the second half,” said Mike Milner,” El Toro coach. “We were lethargic [in the first half].”
El Toro gained 607 yards in total offense and Aliso Niguel gained 320--only 93 in the second half.
Aliso Niguel (3-1) opened the scoring with a 25-yard pass play to Andrew Mashburn from Scott Nemeth, who completed 10 of 15 passes for 130 yards and also rushed for 107 yards in 13 carries in the game.
El Toro scored the next three touchdowns on a 14-yard pass play from Krupp to Rocky Voll, a 37-yard field goal by Chad Johnson and a 49-yard run by Oates before Nick Gerasimou scored on a 16-yard run and Sango scored on a 69-yard run to bring the score to 24-12.
But Jeremy Miller intercepted a Krupp pass and returned it 35 yards to keep Aliso Niguel in the game, 24-18 at halftime.
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