Tesoro rallies, 19-14

Bryce Alderton

Tesoro High’s freshman football quarterback Todd Sciacqua’s helmet

crackled against two Corona del Mar High tacklers on a failed

two-point try, sending loud vibrations into the cool air at Corona

del Mar High Thursday, typifying a hard-hitting Pacific Coast League

title game between two unbeaten teams in league.

The Tesoro Titans (10-0, 5-0 in league) won the battle against

Corona del Mar (8-2, 4-1 in league), 19-14.

“They scored when they had to and played a great game,” said

Corona del Mar Coach Gary Almquist. “Our guys played a great game and

that’s what football is all about. Our coaches Jeff Brown (offense)

and Bucky Gillett (defense) did a great job as well.”

All was well for the Sea Kings early, jumping out to a 14-0 lead

early in the second quarter. Corona del Mar quarterback Shaun Mohler

took the handoff on the first play of the second quarter and raced

down the sideline for a 50-yard touchdown, following an 8-yard

touchdown run by tailback Brett Crowley in the first quarter.

But the CdM offense went cold following Mohler’s TD run with 9:50

left in the second quarter and Tesoro took advantage of two Sea King

fumbles, the most dramatic coming on a reverse attempt when a fumbled

exchange sent the ball to the ground and Tesoro’s Steven Tinoco

picked it up and sped 35 yards for the TD with 2:30 remaining in the

first half.

The Titans went seven plays following a Corona del Mar fumble on

its own 26, as Sciacqua hit Joey Westerman with a 6-yard TD pass to

cut CdM’s lead to 14-7 in the second quarter.

“What can I say, the fumbles hurt us,” Almquist said.

CdM managed only 47 yards of total offense in the second half, 32

of those yards coming on the legs of Crowley, while Troy Hall had 6

yards rushing. The Sea Kings didn’t have a drive that lasted longer

than 2:39 in the final two quarters, while Tesoro had the ball for

nearly six minutes in the third quarter, punctuated by Sciacqua’s

18-yard TD strike to Scott McKnight to make it, 19-14.

Corona hurt itself with penalties -- an offsides call on fourth

down continued Tesoro’s eventual 12-play scoring drive in the third

quarter and a personal foul call, also on fourth down, allowed the

Titans to run the clock out in the final minutes.

“Our kids have tremendous heart,” said Tesoro Coach Matt Poston.

“We challenged our kids when (CdM) was up, 14-0, and they responded.

We wore them down in the second half.”

Hall finished with 50 yards rushing on seven carries and Chase

Harmon, who laid a ferocious hit on a Tesoro receiver on an

incompletion, caught two balls for 17 yards to lead the Sea Kings in

receiving yards. He also ran once for 13 yards. Matthew Burgner

caught two passes for 9 yards.