Michael Huntley takes a hard look at the Orange County high school football scene after last week’s games. He’s looking at what worked or didn’t work, who starred, who stumbled and who is feeling the heat this week.

Versatility matters

Over the course of the 16 years I have spent in Orange County as a player, coach and reporter, the best teams I have seen all have one thing in common: They can win games in a variety of ways.

Of course it’s possible for one-dimensional teams to win and have some success; but the elite teams that compete for championships can adapt and dig deep into the playbook when facing adversity.

Yorba Linda showed why it’s a great team during its 36-7 win over Orange in Week 2. The Mustangs needed to air it out and threw for 270 yards and three touchdowns in a win over La Mirada the previous week.

Orange was being physical with the Yorba Linda receivers and the Mustangs struggled to throw the ball in the first half. Coach Jeff Bailey adapted and ran the ball on 50 of 61 offensive plays.

Yorba Linda’s William Saucedo ran for 165 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries in a 36-7 victory over Orange on Thursday night. (Photo by Michael Huntley, Contributor)

The strategy worked and Yorba Linda ran for 260 yards and five touchdowns. William Saucedo led the pack with 158 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

“They (Orange) were giving us certain things so we had to adjust. We’ve been better this year at being balanced,” Bailey said. “Last week, they took away the run so we passed and this week was the opposite.”

Great coaches and great teams can adapt on the fly and beat you with their Plan B or C when things don’t go according to plan.

Crosstown rivalry week

Orange County is unique because there has been so much league realignment the past 10 years. One side effect of this is that we get to see a lot of crosstown rivalries happen early in the season because the two schools aren’t in the same league anymore.

El Dorado and Valencia are two schools that are less than 2 miles apart and share the same stadium for their home games. The two schools play each other this week in one of the 500 “Bell Games” the county will see this year.

The Golden Hawks beat Valencia 28-6 last season after losing the two previous meetings between the two schools. El Dorado is the heavy favorite this year with running backs Diego Soria and Isaiah Quintero leading the Golden Hawks.

Aliso Niguel and Dana Hills used to be in the Coast View Conference together before the Dolphins joined the Pacific Coast Conference for football. Dana Hills beat the Wolverines 29-28 last season, snapping a five-game losing streak against Aliso.

Dolphins running back Christian Guarascio leads the county in yards per game. Dana Hills is coming off a bye week after an exciting last-minute win over Laguna Beach.

Aliso Niguel recovered nicely from its drubbing at the hands of Canyon with convincing wins over Rancho Mirage and Valley Christian. The Wolverines have not turned the ball over this season and have caused seven turnovers. It will be interesting to see if CJ Besuzzi and the Aliso Niguel defense can contain Guarascio.

Godinez will play Santa Ana Valley and Fountain Valley will play Marina in other local rivalry games.

Fun beach town matchup

One of the best matchups of the week is San Clemente vs. Corona del Mar. The Tritons are 0-3 against Corona del Mar, but lost two of those games by a combined total of five points.

San Clemente is 3-0 this season and has played quality programs from San Diego County, but not the best San Diego has to offer this year. Blake Allen is averaging 112 yards per game and has four rushing touchdowns for the Tritons. Sophomore quarterback Broderick Redden has five touchdowns with just one interception.

The Tritons’ defense is athletic and difficult to move the ball against. Kyle Yamano and Cole Robertson are among the leading tacklers in the county with 33 and 32 tackles, respectively.

Kaleb Annett did a fine job in his first varsity start at quarterback last week in Corona del Mar’s 14-7 win over Palos Verdes. The junior threw for 180 yards and two touchdowns.

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Starting quarterback David Rasor is nursing an ankle sprain and it is unclear if he will play against San Clemente or if Annett will get another opportunity.

Friday will be the toughest test of the season so far for both teams. We will get a much better idea of where San Clemente stands among the county’s best teams after Friday.