Prep football: Sea Kings bounced in first round

Tony Altobelli

COVINA - The Corona del Mar High football team saw a higher level

of football than it has all year long in Friday night’s 34-3 loss to

South Hills in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division IX

playoffs at Covina High.

“They definitely have the horses over there,” CdM Coach Dick Freeman

said of the second-seeded Huskies (10-1). “Our underclassmen are going to

have to work hard in the offseason to get to that level of football.”

It was an especially rough night for CdM’s offense. The Sea Kings

(5-6) accumulated 32 rushing yards, 14 passing yards and no first downs

for the entire game.

Senior tailback Blake Hacker, hampered by a sprained ankle, was held

to 16 yards on only six carries. His backup, Matt Boyce, also dinged up

his ankle during the game and gained only 11 yards on nine carries.

Hacker winds up with 1,401 rushing yards this fall, 177 shy of the school

single-season record.

“It’s never easy to gain yards with your two tailbacks all banged up,”

Freeman said.

The Sea Kings’ lone points came on a 46-yard field goal from Jon-Luke

Del Fante that actually gave CdM an early 3-0 advantage.

Senior Matt Moore helped set up Corona del Mar’s lone points with a

31-yard punt return, giving the Sea Kings excellent field position.

From there, South Hills (10-1) scored on its next four possessions and

also had a touchdown off a CdM punt.

Tailback Marcus Nolan rushed for 126 yards and two touchdowns on 17

carries to lead South Hills’ ground attack.

Jason Murray caught four passes for 70 yards to go with his 60-yard

punt return for a touchdown as the Huskies racked up 27 second-quarter

points to build a comfortable lead.

One bright spot for the Sea Kings’ defense came from cornerback

Charlie Alshuler. The senior intercepted two South Hills passes,

including one deep in his own end zone. The thefts gave him nine for the

season.

“Our seniors showed a lot of leadership,” Freeman said. “This group

has nothing to be ashamed of. It was a fun year.”

A majority of the Sea Kings can learn from this game and apply it to

next year’s season.

“We have more sophomores on our team than Northwood,” Freeman said

with a laugh.