Prep football: CdM hardship ends

Barry Faulkner

CORONA DEL MAR - The end to what Corona del Mar High football Coach

Dick Freeman termed the most calamitous season of his long career,

brought disappointment Sunday.

Troy, to which the Sea Kings blew a 21-point fourth-quarter lead in a

34-34 nonleague tie Sept. 15, collected the lone at-large bid into the

CIF Southern Section Division IX playoffs. With it, the Warriors (6-3-1)

earned a first-round road date Friday with top-seeded South Hills (9-1),

the defending Division IX champion, which eliminated CdM in last year’s

first round, 34-3.

And while Freeman would have loved the opportunity to continue

competing, he did not challenge the section playoff committee’s decision

to go with Troy.

“I can see their logic,” said Freeman, who believes the Freeway

League’s superior postseason record (5-6 the last two years as opposed to

the PCL’s 1-6) had more to do with the decision than the Sea Kings’

finishing the regular season with two straight losses and Troy winning

its last two contests.

“The one thing I really look back on is that Troy game,” Freeman said.

“We had that game.”

Freeman also looked back Sunday on the Sea Kings’ 5-4-1 campaign,

which featured numerous injuries, player defections, the tragedies of

Sept. 11, and the death of junior tailback Mark Cianciulli’s 50-year-old

father, Hugo, the morning of a league victory.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Freeman said.

Freeman cited a 19-14 come-from-behind win over Golden West League

champion Westminster (Oct. 5) as one highlight, as well as the maturation

of several young players the program will count upon next season.

Freeman said the extreme youth that comprised this team -- only two

seniors, sometimes one, started on defense, while three juniors started

on offense -- as well as a talented freshman team that lost to Northwood

Thursday in a PCL title showdown, create a positive outlook for the

future.

“I talked to our freshman team (Saturday) and we planned on bringing

about 10 of them up for the playoffs if we had made it,” Freeman said.

“We were very young this year and we played some guys, due to injuries,

who never thought they’d see playing time. We’re bringing veterans back,

guys who know what they have to do in the offseason.”

Freeman expects continued leadership from Cianciulli, as well as

junior tailback-outside linebacker Keith Long, and junior twin brothers

Matt and Kris Cooper. Junior defensive tackle Jayson Skalla is another

standout who will be back.

“I really liked those guys’ attitude,” Freeman said. “We know those

guys will work hard in the offseason.

“It’s hard to believe that a guy like Matt Cooper, a 215-pound

fullback and linebacker, is going to step it up a notch, but I think he

will.

“And Kris (an outside linebacker-tight end who missed much of the

league season with a torn knee ligament) is a guy who worked and battled

to be able to come back at the end of the season. I know he’ll work hard

for next year.”

Freeman said the lesson to be learned from all the hardship this

season is clear.

“It really showed us that you’ve just got to keep at it and you can’t

let (adversity) get to you,” Freeman said.

Cianciulli, despite personal tragedy, kept at it. By rushing for more

than 100 yards in each of the final five games, including two of more

than 200, he finished with 1,290 yards and 11 touchdowns on 195 carries.

His single-season total is sixth best in the program’s 40 varsity seasons

and he became the third straight CdM back to rush for at least 1,000

yards.

The Sea Kings also benefited from the contributions of senior

quarterback Dylan Hendy (1,057 passing yards with eight touchdown passes

and only five interceptions), senior Steven Ward (a team-high 31

receptions for 400 yards and five TDs, as well as a team-best four

interceptions) and senior line standouts Steven Russell and Steve

Shipman, among others.