Prep football: Uni inches out Sea Kings

Barry Faulkner

COSTA MESA - Determined to earn a share of the Pacific Coast League

title and improve its postseason draw, the Corona del Mar High football

team got macho Friday night.

The Sea Kings, leading visiting University, 15-14, midway through the

fourth quarter at Orange Coast College, spurned the punt on

fourth-and-inches from their own 30-yard line.

But the Trojans, seeking their first outright league crown in their

31-year history, stuffed an off-tackle play and, four plays later, scored

the winning touchdown to cap a 22-15 victory before a modest gathering of

700.

“We had been running the ball well,” said CdM Coach Dick Freeman on

his decision to try to move the chains.

The Sea Kings had, in fact, used seven running plays to march 53 yards

to take the lead on their previous possession. And, sandwiched around a

4-yard loss on a fumbled snap, the hosts gained 13 yards on two carries

after Charlie Alshuler intercepted at the Uni 20.

But, the Trojans (8-2, 5-0 in league and ranked No. 5 in CIF Southern

Section Division IX), used a strong line surge to create a 1-yard loss

and give them their first short field.

“I take my hat off to (Freeman) for going for it on fourth down,” Uni

Coach Mark Cunningham said. “They should have gone for it, because they

were blowing us off the ball. I’d have done the same thing.”

A 1-yard run and three Jay Nichols quarterback keepers helped the

Trojans erase their second deficit of the contest, as Nichols rumbled in

from 7 yards with 4:02 left in the game. Nichols, who was intercepted

three times, then threw to Scott Pickett for the two-point conversion,

leaving CdM time to recover.

But, lacking senior star tailback Blake Hacker, who sprained an ankle

on the final play of the first half and got just 15 of his 112 yards on

three second-half carries, the Sea Kings (5-5, 3-2) produced only one

first down. A fourth-down incompletion gave Uni the ball back and the

visitors ran out the final 1:42 to spark a wild celebration.

“CdM played a great game,” Cunningham said of the league’s third-place

representative. Estancia, with most of its players and coaches in the

stands, finished second after beating the Sea Kings in Week 9.

CdM took a 7-0 first-quarter lead, six plays after Bart Welch’s diving

interception at the Uni 39. Hacker carried five times on the drive,

including the 3-yard capper.

Pickett raced 70 yards for the equalizer with 5:31 left in the half

and the Trojans took the lead on a 39-yard Nichols pass to tight end

Kevin Conlin with 2:29 left in the third quarter.

CdM bounced back after a desperate punt attempt, forced by an errant

snap, lost 1 yard and set the Sea Kings up at the Uni 47.

Sticking to the ground -- the Sea Kings completed just one pass for 8

yards all night -- the hosts sliced through the league’s stingiest

defense. Sophomore Matt Boyce, who gained 77 yards on 12 carries in

relief of Hacker, burst 20 yards through the right side to the 2. He then

finished the job from there with 9:21 remaining.

Knowing a tie would still leave them in third place, CdM went for two

and Dylan Hendy connected with Taumata Grey for a 15-14 lead.

But, after surrendering its fourth turnover, Uni was bailed out by its

defense on the fateful fourth-down play.

“They scored on two plays and they made a big play to stop us,”

Freeman said. “It’s my fault. I made the decision to go for it.”

Nick Prosser intercepted a pass for CdM, which relied on punts and

kickoffs from Rory McKeever and Jon-Luke Del Fante to maintain the

field-position advantage.

Uni’s average starting position on its first eight possessions was its

own 20, including starts from its 1, 5 and 8, and none better than its

own 40.

But the ninth possession came after the defensive stop, for which

Cunningham could not give individual credit.

Nichols, who had rushed for eight TDs, thrown for eight more and

scored another on an interception return his first four league games,

threw for 94 yards and rushed 89 more.

Pickett finished with 119 yards, while Nephi Wheeler added 70 to help

give Uni the a 388-230 edge in total offense.

“This was a great win,” Cunningham said. “These guys made history.”