Saddleback wins, 10-7

Joseph Boo

NEWPORT BEACH - Corona del Mar High’s football team needed it’s

offense to get going after scoring 10 points in three games. Against

Saddleback, the Sea Kings got the big plays they wanted, but none of them

counted. Four big plays were called back by penalties in the first half.

CdM could not recover and fell, 10-7.

The Sea Kings’ defense came up big in place of the offense, causing three

turnovers in the first half and sacking Roadrunner quarterback Victor

Ortiz four times in the game, while not allowing an offensive touchdown.

All three turnovers were from senior David Beser. He had two

interceptions, including one at CdM’s 9. He also recovered another fumble

at CdM’s 10-yard line.

But Saddleback’s defense stuck with the Sea Kings the whole way. CdM

running back Grant Estabrook carried the ball 29 times for 77 yards. But

28 of them came on one play, and he only had 15 at halftime.

With CdM’s top two quarterbacks Matt Moore and Joe Barber, out with

injuries, CdM went to Evan Burden. He responded with a 7-for-16 day with

one touchdown and one interception.

Burden and the rest of the offense was really limited though, by four

huge plays that got called back on penalties.

- On CdM’s first play on offense, Burden threw a 32-yard play-action pass

to Elliot Patterson that was called back on a holding penalty.

- A 56-yard Estabrook run in the first quarter was nullified by another

holding call.

- A 60-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter to Patterson was brought

back by a clipping call.

- A 59-yard touchdown run by Estabrook in the second was brought back by

an illegal procedure call.

The penalties seemed to deflate CdM, but Saddleback could not take

advantage and only managed a 27-yard field goal to take a 3-0 halftime

lead.

Saddleback’s offense struggled against CdM’s defense. Star running back

Joel Gonzalez was held to 25 yards in the first half, and it failed to

convert on a fourth-down conversion. But Gonzalez scored the first

touchdown of the game when he returned an interception 30 yards to give

the Roadrunners a 10-7 lead.

CdM’s offense started to move the ball in the second half, but it could

not convert. A 34-yard field goal attempt went wide in the third. The Sea

Kings had a 62-yard drive carry over to the fourth quarter, which was

kept alive by a fake punt pass from Burden to Eric Snell. But Saddleback

stuffed Estabrook on it’s 1-yard line to keep CdM from scoring.

CdM finally scored on a 4-yard pass from Burden to Estabrook. But there

was only a 1:49 left on the clock. After Gonzalez got a crucial first

down, Saddleback ran out the clock for a hard-fought win.

“It was a good effort,” CdM Coach Dick Freeman said. “We shot ourselves

in the foot. We deserved to win it. We did everything possible.”

Indeed, CdM had many strong performances. Burden missed some open

receivers, but he also made some tough throws, and had bad luck with two

big plays being called back. Jay Bottom had two sacks and numerous

tackles to control the line of scrimmage. Mike Hayes caused a fumble on a

sack and Scott Biggs chased down Ortiz for CdM’s fourth sack.

The injury-depleted Sea Kings were missing seven players, and had a scare

in the fourth when Jon Schrank had to be carried off the field after an

end around. But he seems to be OK, according to CdM Coach Dick Freeman.