CdM at wit’s end

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - The Corona del Mar High football team appears to be

finding ways to lose, more efficiently than Coach Dick Freeman and his

staff can diagnose and cure the previous methods of self-destruction.

In Friday night’s 21-14 nonleague loss to Westminster at Newport Harbor

High, it took just three minutes and three touchdowns, spanning the last

45 seconds of the first half and the first six plays of the second, for

the hosts to surrender three TDs and conjure 34 years of forgettable

school history.

The loss dropped the hosts to 0-5, their first such start since 1965. It

also left Freeman at wit’s end.

“We’re inventing new ways to lose football games,” a visibly frustrated

Freeman said after a valiant fourth-quarter comeback bid fell short when

Westminster’s Tony Flores intercepted on third-and-16 from CdM’s own

41-yard line.

“We’re playing hard and we didn’t quit on it. I don’t know what to do.”

What the Sea Kings failed to do was protect their biggest lead of the

season -- a 7-0 cushion earned when Mike Hayes ran 4 yards for a

touchdown with 4:57 left in the first quarter.

The touchdown, which capped a four-play, 42-yard drive, was sandwiched by

encouraging Sea King possessions.

CdM’s first drive ended on downs at the Lions’ 28, four plays after a

holding call negated Grant Estabrook’s apparent 21-yard scoring run. It

continued a trend of inopportune penalties for the hosts, who had four

TDs called back in last week’s 10-7 loss to Saddleback.

CdM’s third possession began when Jay Bottom blocked Phillip Jenkins’

32-yard field-goal attempt. It progressed to the Westminster 21, before

CdM’s 39-yard three-point try came up short.

Westminster (2-3) responded by marching 80 yards on 12 plays, with

All-Golden West League quarterback Kelly Coburn hitting Vince Laurel for

a 4-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal. It was the second fourth-down

conversion of the possession and was a fitting display of how the Lions’

short passing game moved the chains and drained the clock all night.

Westminster finished with a more-than 18-minute edge in time of

possession.

Westminster’s defense came up big on the first snap after the kickoff, as

a defender drove his helmet through the ball, separating it from the CdM

ballcarrier. Christian Chamberlain scooped up the loose ball and cruised

26 yards to the end zone. The second of three Jenkins conversion kicks

gave the Lions 14 points in 17 seconds.

Westminster seized the momentum completely on its first second-half

possession, when Hector Colunga hauled in a screen pass and raced 72

yards to expand the lead to 21-7.

That’s the way things stayed, until the Sea Kings exploded for a

three-play, 57-yard touchdown drive which halved the deficit with 5:29

left.

After junior quarterback Evan Burden hit Eric Snell with a 31-yard bomb

on second down, Estabrook bounced 16 yards around the right side for the

touchdown.

Rory McKeever’s PAT made it 21-14 and CdM gave its home crowd further

inspiration on the ensuing kickoff, when Snell smothered Laurel at his

own 3 to pin the Lions deep.

Two runs set up third-and-six, but Coburn, who seemed to find his target

all night, lofted a strike to Keishun Hollins near the sideline for 28

yards and a key first down.

“That was the biggest play of the game,” Westminster Coach Ted McMillen

said.

CdM got one more crack, however, when Coburn punted to the hosts’ 31 with

2:11 left.

But CdM never crossed midfield and Flores’ pick allowed the visitors to

run out the final 53 seconds.

It was the biggest scoring output of the season for CdM, which received

season-high rushing performances from Hayes (112 yards on eight carries)

and Estabrook (97 on 17 attempts).

Coburn, however, was the key performer. He completed 17 of 23 (including

two darts his receivers caught just out of bounds) for 241 yards. He did

not throw an interception.

Colunga amassed 115 yards on four receptions and running back Cande

Maldonado helped keep the Sea Kings honest with 55 rushing yards on 14

attempts.

“We’re finding our offense,” said McMillen, whose short passing game all

but negated the Sea Kings’ ability to mount a pass rush (one sack).

CdM, with junior quarterback Matt Moore out for the season (broken rib

and collapsed lung suffered in Week 3 against Newport Harbor) completed

only 4 of 12 passes, with two interceptions.