Sea Kings cash in

Barry Faulkner

After his players threw everything they had at visiting University

High Thursday night, Corona del Mar High football coach Dick Freeman

was quite happy to simply throw up his hands. Victory had erased the

need to understand the Sea Kings’ 14-13 Pacific Coast League-opening

triumph at Newport Harbor High.

“I’m not sure what does it with these guys,” a confused, but

content Freeman said following the dramatic finish of a game that

oozed drama after the Trojans (2-4) cashed in a muffed punt reception

to claim a 13-0 lead with 2:39 left in the first half.

CdM (3-3), which entered on a three-game losing streak that had

many questioning its preseason position as a PCL title contender,

found some quick answers to respond with a seven-play, 70-yard

touchdown drive that trimmed the lead and triggered some much-needed

confidence.

“That gave us a ton of momentum,” CdM senior two-way star Kris

Cooper said of the breakthrough scoring drive that included some

clever scheming and some old-fashioned smashmouth swagger.

The scheming involved aligning 6-foot-1, 235-pound senior right

tackle John Daley next to 6-2, 240-pound left tackle Andy Lujan on

the left side in what CdM offenive coordinator Ed Blanton called

“tackles left.” The heavy-handed formation seemed to blow open holes

for senior tailback Mark Cianciulli, who burst through the Trojan

defense for gains of 13, 38 and 9 yards to set up first-and-goal at

the Uni 8-yard line.

Sophomore Wess Presson powered over the right side to the 1, then

225-pound senior fullback Matt Cooper finished the drive with a

1-yard second-effort scoring surge with 38 seconds left before

intermission. David Del Fante added the conversion kick to make it

13-7.

“We seemed to get some yards off it,” Freeman said of the creative

formation, which Freeman said he stole from a previous Uni opponent.

“We saw someone else do it against (the Trojans) and it gave them

some problems. It seemed to help us.”

CdM had posted just 30 yards of offense, before making the line

adjustment, which the hosts also utilized in the second half.

The Sea Kings drove 46 yards on six plays with the second-half

kickoff, but a fumbled pitch was recovered by Uni to halt the drive,

as well as the hosts’ momentum, at least temporarily.

Sacks by CdM outside linebacker Jeff Reed and end Joseph Carr

forced Uni to punt on the ensuing possession and a snap over punter

Robert Chan’s head bounded backward to the Trojans’ 10. But Chan

retrieved the ball and managed to deliver the punt, then was the

victim of a personal foul penalty before the ball was downed, to set

up fourth-and-one. Uni quarterback Nick Gerakos then slipped two

tackles to pick up the first, forcing a collective sigh of agony from

the CdM faithful.

But the break CdM has been waiting for much of the season occurred

on the next snap, when Kris Cooper fell on a fumble at the Sea Kings’

44 to give his team both possession and hope.

“That fumble could have been the game right there,” Freeman said

of the sudden change, which CdM quickly cashed in for the go-ahead

score.

A 42-yard sideline bomb from quarterback Jonathan Hubbard to Kevin

Welch was the key play on the go-ahead drive, which Cianciulli capped

with a 1-yard leap into the end zone. Del Fante’s conversion kick

then split the uprights for the difference.

Uni missed conversion kick and a 24-yard field goal, the latter

with 6:45 left in the game.

The Trojans had two more possessions after the failed field goal,

but a dropped pass on fourth down ended the first and the second

ended when Tomas Gomez was tackled at the CdM 11 after hauling in a

40-yard desperation bomb as time expired.

“Good things haven’t been happening for us all year, but we played

hard the whole time and something finally happened good for us,”

Freeman said.

Cianciulli finished with 137 rushing yards and Hubbard completed

all five of his passes for 82 yards, three of which went to Welch,

who had 69 receiving yards.

“We’ve had trouble with our kicking game and it cost us tonight,”

said Uni Coach Mark Cunningham, whose offense outgained CdM’s,

334-229.