Breakers brace for Highlanders

Mike Sciacca

Tonight’s matchup between top seed and top-ranked La Habra and

at-large entry Laguna Beach in the opening round of the CIF Southern

Section Division IX playoffs pits teams with similar styles on

offense.

Laguna Beach (5-5) balances the rushing of Donnelle Darling with

the passing of junior quarterback Alex Wilson.

Darling leads the team in rushing, with 1,410 yards and a 6.4

average.

He has scored a team-high 19 touchdowns.

Wilson, meanwhile, has thrown for 1,611 yards and 13 touchdowns,

with eight interceptions.

His favorite targets have been Bryce Loidolt, who has caught 22

passes for 519 yards (23.6 average) and five touchdowns; Ed Hanke,

with 30 receptions for 495 yards (16.4 average) and eight touchdowns;

and Ryan Howe, with 29 catches for 324 yards and an 11.2 average per reception.

On the defensive side of the ball, Loidolt and Darling lead the

team with three interceptions each. Marshall Paymard and Jake Wheeler

are right behind the duo with two apiece.

Steve Harris enters the game with a 33.4 average per punt.

Laguna Beach coach Dave Holland has had the opportunity to see La

Habra (9-1) in action.

He came away impressed when he scouted the Highlanders’ 41-14

nonleague win over the Breakers’ Pacific Coast League rival, Corona

del Mar, in October.

“They do everything well. They have a very talented quarterback

and a defense that has played extremely well,” he said.

Junior quarterback Daniel Morales directs the Highlanders. He has

thrown for 2,137 yards with 22 touchdowns and eight interceptions and

has completed just over 50% of his pass attempts.

As a team, La Habra is averaging more than 350 yards per game.

Defensively, the Highlanders have two shutouts to their credit and

have held eight opponents to seven points or less.

The Highlanders, coached by Frank Mazzota Jr., are on a six-game

winning streak that began with their win over Corona del Mar.

Their lone loss came in the fourth week of the season to Division

I school Los Alamitos. The Griffins (9-0-1), the No. 2 playoff seed

in Division I, had to rally late to claim a 24-20 victory.

La Habra, 4-5-1 a year ago, reached the Division IX title game in

2000.

There is a connection between the two schools.

Laguna Beach Athletic Director Mario Morales once coached under

Mazzota’s father, Frank Sr., at Cerritos College in Norwalk.

Morales, also Laguna Beach’s offensive coordinator, served as

Frank Mazzota Sr.’s offensive line coach at Cerritos from 1998-2000.

Laguna Beach and La Habra have met just one previous time on the

gridiron, and you have to go back 47 years to find that the schools

battled to a 19-19 tie during the 1955 season.

The Records

Laguna Beach (5-5)

40 La Quinta 12

39 Bolsa Grande 0

14 Costa Mesa 7

14 El Segundo 41 27 Magnolia 10

40 *Calvary Chapel 41

16 *Corona del Mar 33

14 *Northwood 40 21 *Tesoro 7

15 *University 38

(*denotes Pacific Coast League game)

La Habra (9-1)

30 Artesia 0

33 El Dorado 8

41 Cal Hi 6

20 Los Alamitos 24

41 Corona del Mar 14

14 *Fullerton 6

42 *Sunny Hills 7

35 *Buena Park 6

33 *Sonora 0

35 *Troy 6

(*denotes Freeway League game).