BUENA PARK — Capistrano Valley football coach Sean Curtis and Cougars quarterback Trey Kukuk gave a chunk of credit to their defense after the Cougars’ 21-7 victory over Sunny Hills in a nonleague game Thursday at Buena Park High School.

The Cougars’ defense deserved a lot of credit after allowing only a single touchdown, which came on a short field after a botched punt attempt.

Kukuk, despite misfiring on a handful of passes, managed to complete 23 of 43 passes for 323 yards and three touchdowns, helping the Cougars improve to 2-0.

Although the total points scored by the teams was substantially less than in the Cougars’ 38-30 victory over the Lancers (0-1) in last season’s matchup, this season’s game was just as much of a battle, Curtis said.

“This team has always given us a challenge,” Curtis said. “They did an amazing job on defense slowing down our receivers.”

Early in the game, the Lancers made the Cougars work for every yard and made plays in key situations.

The Cougars received the opening kickoff and drove 77 yards to the Lancers 3-yard line.

Capo Valley had first-and-goal from the Sunny Hills 6, but after it could advance the ball only 3 yards on three plays, the Cougars faced fourth-and-goal from the 3.

Kukuk tried running through the left side of the line but was stopped by Connor Irons and Vance Voarathavorn.

Irons also batted down a pass on another Cougars possession in the first half and Cole Dunkleberger sacked Kukuk for a 5-yard loss on a third-and-1 from the Lancers 39, forcing the Cougars to punt on another drive.

“We had to reset over the course of halftime and make sure our guys were settled down and make sure our guys knew we were in a dogfight,” Curtis said.

Kukuk led Capo Valley on a 76-yard scoring drive, capped by a 4-yard touchdown pass to his favorite target Hunter Napoleon, giving the Cougars a 7-0 lead.

The Cougars’ next scoring drive was for 91 yards, with 75 of those yards coming on a touchdown pass from Kukuk to Jackson Seivers to make the score 14-0.

Sunny Hills made it a one-score game on Nathaniel Lee’s 1-yard touchdown run with 2:44 left in the third.

The game’s key sequence came in the final seconds of the third quarter when the Lancers had possession on their 35 with a chance to tie the score.

But the Lancers gained only 19 yards before being forced to punt.

The Cougars took possession on their 20 with 11:46 remaining and despite Kukuk being sacked for a 5-yard loss by Kaito Inoue in the middle of the drive, Capo Valley drove the 80 yards, which included two successful fourth-down plays.

Kukuk then tossed his third touchdown pass, this one to Reilly Walker for 5 yards.

“It was not our best game,” Kukuk said. “The chemistry was a little bit off, but a win is a win. But we’ll definitely dive into the film and figure everything out. I told my defensive coordinator after the game, ‘I owe you one.’ ”