Prep football: Size matters

Barry Faulkner

CORONA DEL MAR - The proliferation of enrollment-based playoffs has

helped Corona del Mar High athletics increase its already impressive

collection of CIF Southern Section championship banners in recent years.

But when it comes to football, a game in which 22 starting positions

(offense and defense) make enrollment proportionally more important than

any other sport, Coach Dick Freeman’s Sea Kings are annually asked to

pick on playoff competition that draws from a player pool nearly twice

that of its own.

And while CdM benefited from placement two seasons ago in the

enrollment-challenged Pacific Coast League, whenever the Sea Kings stray

into the land of larger schools (the Division IX playoffs), the numbers

are, well, largely unimpressive.

Since leaving the Sea View League (in which it went 4-11 its last

three years, including one on-field loss later reversed by forfeit),

Freeman’s last two teams have gone 6-3 against PCL oes. Included in that

run was a league tri-championship in 1999. But, against teams outside the

PCL, CdM, with an enrollment listed at 1,000 last year, is 2-11 the last

three seasons, including three straight first-round playoff losses.

Those playoff defeats have come at the hands of South Hills (1,650

enrollment), Valencia (2,000) and Servite (1,600, when its all-male

enrollment is doubled to compare with coed schools).

And while Freeman, entering his seventh season, won’t complain about

his typical postseason plight -- section football playoff divisions are

grouped by perceived strength of league, rather than enrollment -- he

admits a lack of bodies lessens his team’s annual margin for error.

This margin has been pared more precariously this fall, when a

36-player roster, already diminished by a lack of expected returners, has

been further weakened by a deluge of minor practice-field injuries.

Justin Wald, who started seven games at defensive end and another at

fullback as a junior last season, did not return due to a problem with

concussions.

Adam Dunn, who made 9 of his 10 starts at center as a junior and was

to be, Freeman believed, the poster child for senior leadership for this

year’s unit, will miss the season after badly breaking a leg in a July 27

car accident.

Joe Barber, who led last year’s 5-6 team in completions (46), passing

yardage (642) and touchdown passes (nine), chose not to return for his

senior campaign.

In the three conditioning days required before the team’s first

practice in full pads, the Sea Kings saw four of their five top running

backs felled by an array of sprains, strains and pulls, covering nearly

every appendage and joint (hip, shoulder and ankle to name a few).

The toll sustained by similar backfield injuries in recent years can

be statistically quantified.

Forced to feed backup quarterbacks into the fray due to myriad damage

to starters, the Sea Kings, in 53 games since the graduation of

quarterback and 1995 CIF Division V Co-Player of the Year Josh Walz, have

thrown 53 interceptions. In those 53 games, at least 41 have featured one

aerial delivery to the opposite-colored jersey. Further, CdM has gone 29

games without completing more than 10 passes.

Starting tailbacks have fallen victim to late-season ankle injuries

two of the last three years, factoring into the early playoff exits.

In 1998, senior Nate Lemmerman appeared well on his way to 1,000

yards, before an ankle injury late in the ninth game limited him to just

one carry the next two weeks, for minus-1 yard. He finished with 920

yards.

Last year, Blake Hacker also succumbed to an ankle problem in the

final week of the regular season. Hobbled, he collected just 16 of his

1,401 rushing yards in the playoff loss to South Hills. His absence also

contributed to a three-game losing streak that carries into this fall.

Freeman, however, remains optimistic about this group, which includes

just 11 seniors, but has a cast of juniors who won the PCL crown as

freshmen.

Depth at the skill positions and the expectation of a wide-open PCL

title race this fall, are additional positives. But there are also plenty

of question marks.

Senior quarterback Dylan Hendy, who started seven games last year and

threw for 451 yards and six touchdowns after transferring from Fountain

Valley, is one of six starters back on offense.

Junior running backs Mark Cianciulli, Keith Long, Matt Boyce and Matt

Cooper are expected to recover from their early season setbacks and

spearhead the ground game, which will also rely upon second-team

all-league hole punchers Steven Russell, a 6-foot-3, 245-pound senior

tackle, and John Daley, a 6-1, 215-pound junior center.

But none of those backs gained as many as 200 yards last season and

Dunn’s injury will mean three first-year starters will join the five-man

front wall. The Sea Kings have, however, produced six 1,000-yard rushers

in the last nine years and Freeman has faith that line coach Miguel Romo

will have his hogs in order.

Senior receiver Steven Ward caught 18 passes last year and could be

Hendy’s favorite target.

Defensively, senior lineman Steve Shipman, a second-team all-league

performer last fall, headlines a group that includes three primary

returning starters, though eight additional returners started at least

one game on that side of the ball.

A shift from the four-three to the four-two-five will allow the

Freeman-coordinated defense to rely more upon quickness than brawn. This

is a plus, considering the number of coaches who exceed 220 pounds (four)

equals the number of players with similar bulk expected to make an impact

in the trenches.

Freeman acknowledges the lack of numbers will put a premium on

avoiding injuries. But, he believes, it could also foster greater team

unity.

“We had a JV team a couple years ago that had about 17 or 18 guys and

they seemed to do OK,” Freeman said. “(The small roster) could be a

rallying point.

“When you go with this many people, you’re going to need some luck.

But I think if we play well enough to get a (better playoff draw), we

could play a while (in the postseason).”

Last year’s team was outgained, 3,451 yards to 2,971, and outscored,

285-277, and Freeman hopes to end a streak of four straight losses in

openers, when the Sea Kings debut their new navy blue helmets Sept. 7

against Cypress.