VALENCIA IS TOO MUCH FOR TRABUCO HILLS VEREEN RUNS FOR SIX TDS IN VIKINGS' ROMP VALENCIA 61, TRABUCO HILLS 42.

Byline: Erik Boal Special to the Daily News

MISSION VIEJO - Less than three minutes into the second quarter of Friday night's Southern Section Div. II playoff football game, the public-address announcer at Trabuco Hills High made reference to the host Mustangs having one too many players on the field when a deflated stick-figure balloon landed near midfield.

It was a prophetic statement because Valencia's trio of Shane Vereen, Michael Herrick and Ricky Crouch had already sucked all the air out of the home crowd with their first-quarter performance.

Vereen rushed for six touchdowns, four in the first half, Herrick passed for 364 yards - 236 in the opening half - and a touchdown, and Crouch returned two interceptions for touchdowns, including a 59-yarder in the first quarter, to lead the Vikings to a 61-42 victory over Trabuco Hills (6-5).

``It sure felt like (everything was clicking),'' said Herrick, who added to his career state passing yardage total and moved into 19th place on the all-time national prep list with 10,366 yards.

``We were up 21-0 before you could blink. The offensive line did a great job with the pass protection and opening holes, and Shane just went out and did his thing.''

Right before the PA announcer made his remark, Vereen scored his fourth touchdown of the half on a 1-yard run to give Valencia (8-3) - which will play host to third-seeded Chino Hills (11-0), a 34-27 winner over Rancho Cucamonga, in Friday's quarterfinals - a 35-0 advantage. He also had scoring runs of 8, 5 and 39 yards in the first half and added touchdowns from 16 and 48 yards out in the second half.

``We just wanted to go out and get things rolling and have fun with it,'' said Vereen, who also caught two passes for 42 yards.

Trabuco Hills forced the Vikings to keep their starters in until the fourth quarter because of the efforts of running back P.J. Vallier, who finished with 340 yards on 34 attempts, rushing for a touchdown and scoring on a 22-yard reception.

After Trabuco Hills cut into Valencia's lead with scores on consecutive drives, and appeared on its way to a third touchdown, Crouch again took away the Mustangs' momentum by intercepting a Sean Reilly screen pass and returning it 41 yards for a score.

Reilly threw for 221 yards and two touchdown passes, but was intercepted four times, including one by Travis Quesada and another by M.J. Robotham.

Erik Boal, [phone]

erik.boal(at)dailynews.com