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.