A battle of early unbeatens

Mike Sciacca

For the second time in as many years, the Laguna Beach High

football team is 3-0 heading into the fourth weekend of prep action.

And, like their 2001 predecessor, the current Breakers have been

quite impressive, routing the likes of La Quinta and Bolsa Grande

and, most recently, defeating Costa Mesa on the road.

But at 7 p.m. tonight, Laguna Beach faces its most challenging foe

to date, when El Segundo High pays a visit to Guyer Field.

The Eagles, like Laguna Beach, are 3-0 and looking to remain

undefeated in 2002.

“We’re going up against a really good football team,” Laguna Beach

coach Dave Holland said of El Segundo. “Their defense is playing well

and on offense they have some excellent receivers and one of the best

quarterbacks I’ve seen since I’ve been in coaching.”

That quarterback, senior Matt Engle, directs the high-flying

Eagles offense.

“He can do it all: run, pass, and he even kicks,” Holland said.

“He’s just an all-round excellent quarterback.”

Engle enters tonight’s game as one of the Southern Section’s top

passers, completing 77.8%. He has 14 touchdown passes and just one

interception and has thrown for 1,075 yards.

Chris Ornelos is a dual threat at receiver and running back but

it’s receiver Brad Franks who has been Engle’s favorite target.

Franks has 16 receptions and six TDs in three games.

Orenlos, Ian Powell and ends Ray Reyes and Joe Wawryk key the

Eagles’ defense.

El Segundo rose from a previous ranking of No. 5 to a No. 2 rating

in this week’s CIF Southern Section Division X poll, thanks to a

51-28 rout of West Torrance, a Division IV school.

The Eagles’ other two victims this season have been Mary Star,

42-14, and St. Monica, 45-27.

El Segundo’s explosive offense will test a Laguna Beach defense

that has given up but a per game average of six points.

The Eagles come into tonight’s contest with a 46 points-per-game

average.

Laguna Beach is the only Orange County and non-South Bay area

school on their 2002 schedule.

The Breakers are coming off a 14-7 win at Costa Mesa. That one

touchdown is the only score the Breaker defense has yielded in the

last eight quarters.

Holland acknowledged the play of Clayton Caron, Alberto Sanchez,

Brad Wolf, Brett O’Connor, Bryce Loidolt, quarterback Alex Wilson,

the running of Donnell Darling and the standout play of Marshall

Paymard, named by the Breakers’ coaching staff as the player of the

game on both sides of the ball, as keys to last week’s victory.

“We were really happy with last week’s game and how well our kids

performed,” he said. “The kids came to play and a lot of them were

tired, as many of them were playing on both sides of the ball. We

gave a really good performance.

“We’ll need much more of the same, play mistake-free football and

move the ball in order to beat El Segundo. I feel that we have a real

good shot in this game.”