Sea Kings have a shot at PCL crown Friday
Barry Faulkner
Coming off what Coach Dick Freeman termed its most complete game
in several seasons, the Corona del Mar High football team is hoping
for what could be its most meaningful win in at least that long when
it hosts Northwood in a battle of Pacific Coast League unbeatens
Friday at 7 p.m. at Newport Harbor High.
The Sea Kings (5-3, 3-0 in league), ranked No. 6 in CIF Southern
Section Division IX, can clinch at least a share of the league crown
by knocking off the defending league champion Timberwolves (7-1,
3-0), ranked No. 5 in Division IX.
Having already clinched a berth in the playoffs, CdM, which
finishes the regular season Nov. 15 against last-place Tesoro, is
gunning for its first outright league crown since 1988.
But Freeman hopes his squad, which has won three straight after a
three-game losing skid interrupted a euphoric 2-0 start, doesn’t play
for a title as much as it merely plays the game.
“We need to play like Corona del Mar and not wait and see what
Northwood is going to play like,” Freeman said. “We need to play a
whole four quarters like we did last week and see if Northwood can
play a whole football game against us.”
The Sea Kings will likely need their best effort of the season to
topple Northwood, which is 17-2 since it welcomed its first senior
class, 8-0 in the PCL during the same span.
Coach Rick Curtis’ Timberwolves have won seven straight after
opening with a 35-14 loss to El Toro and have outscored league
opponents this season, 112-26.
Northwood, which draws a good portion of its athletes from the
talent pool that used to flood Irvine High, defeated CdM, 35-21, in
last season’s regular-season finale. The loss knocked the Sea Kings
out of the playoffs.
The Sea Kings, who have not won a playoff game since 1992, are
hoping to enter this year’s postseason as the league’s first-place
representative, something that hasn’t happened since the CIF Division
IV championship season of 1988.
The Sea Kings may or may not have the services of standout senior
tailback Mark Cianciulli, who was limited to one carry in last week’s
50-8 trouncing of Calvary Chapel, after sustaining a right shoulder
strain in practice four days prior to the game.
“He should be able to play,” Freeman said of Cianciulli, who has
rushed for 851 yards and nine touchdowns on 177 carries this fall.
Cianciulli, CdM’s No. 2 all-time rusher with 2,300 yards, won’t
start however, as senior Keith Long, who missed nearly four games
with a strained back this season, gets the nod. Long has gained 144
yards on 37 carries this fall.
But after relying on the running game for nearly all of the
offensive production the first half of the season, the Sea Kings have
found success through the air in the PCL.
Senior quarterback Jonathan Hubbard has completed 19 of 25 passes
in league, for 411 yards and two TDs, without an interception. He is
51 of 89 for 761 yards and six TDs, with three interceptions, for the
season.
Hubbard’s leading target is sophomore Kevin Welch, who exploded
for eight catches and 215 yards last week, including an 87-yard
scoring bomb. Welch has 24 catches for 498 yards and five TDs in his
first varsity season.
Northwood is balanced offensively with Jeff Keller pacing the
running attack and Kyle Harper triggering the passing game.
Keller, a 5-foot-7, 150-pound sophomore, has 839 rushing yards and
10 TDs on 146 carries.
Harper, a 6-3, 190-pound senior, has thrown for 1,036 yards and 13
TDs, completing 58 of 109 with three interceptions.
The T-wolves’ leading receiver is senior Brandon Egan, who has 38
catches for 728 yards and eight TDs.
“Northwood is pretty balanced, but the thing that can unnerve you
is the way they get to the line of scrimmage so quickly out of the
huddle,” Freeman said. “If there’s anything our defense has not done
well, it’s not getting ready for the play. We’re going to have to
turn that around this week.”
Defensively, CdM hopes to continue a trend of opportunism. The Sea
Kings are plus-five in turnover ratio in three league games, evening
their ratio for the season. The defense has produced two touchdowns
the last two weeks on fumble recoveries and last week’s game included
a blocked punt for a safety.
Northwood, averaging just more than 29 points per game, has an
added weapon in senior kicker Tony Pacheco, whose five field goals
this fall include connections from 44 and 37 yards.
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