Saunders’ Late Score Give Laguna Hills Win

Scott Saunders scored on a one-yard run with 36 seconds left in the game to give Laguna Hills High School a 17-14 victory over Costa Mesa in a Pacific Coast League football game Saturday at Mission Viejo High.

Saunders’ score, his second of the night, ended a 10-play drive in which Chris Leigber completed 2 passes for 54 yards. Leigber, who completed 12 of 21 passes for 182 yards, followed Saunders’ touchdown with a two-point conversion pass to Brian Fleming.

The victory put Laguna Hills (2-6 overall, 2-2 in league play) in a tie with Trabuco Hills for the third and final playoff spot with one game to play.

Costa Mesa (1-8, 0-4), which led most of the game, opened the scoring with two minutes gone in the second quarter on Rich Schones’ one-yard quarterback sneak. Schones’ score was made possible one play earlier on Terry Bryant’s 21-yard run.

The Hawks narrowed the Mustangs’ lead to 7-6 with five minutes left in the third quarter on Saunders’ 1-yard run, but Fleming’s point-after conversion kick attempt was blocked.

Four minutes after Saunders’ first score, Costa Mesa extended its lead to 14-6 on Schones’ 15-yard touchdown pass to Shane Talbert. The touchdown ended a 68-yard, 7-play drive in which Schones completed 3 passes for 52 yards.

Fleming closed Costa Mesa’s lead to 14-9 with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter on a 36-yard field goal. The kick capped a 10-play drive in which Leigber completed 3 passes for 51 yards.