A season to remember

Mike Sciacca

Laguna Beach High saved its best for last in this 2002 prep

football season.

The Breakers seemed undaunted when they rolled into La Habra

Stadium last Friday to take on the top-seeded Highlanders in the CIF

Division IX playoffs -- the school’s first foray into postseason play

in 15 years.

Laguna played well, although four trips inside the red zone --

including three drives inside the 10-yard line, yielded nothing, and

the Breakers had their season come to an end in a 35-11 first-round

loss.

Despite the loss, Laguna coach Dave Holland was pleased with his

team’s performance.

“I definitely felt this was our best game performance of the

year,” he said of a 5-6 season. “Although we didn’t convert on those

chances in the red zone -- which greatly hurt our chances -- there

were plenty of positive things to come out of this game.”

Holland noted the Breaker defense, which recorded five tackles for

losses and sacked Highlander quarterback Dan Morales on three

occasions.

Sophomore defensive back Elliot Whalen recovered a botched punt in

the first quarter, setting up Steve Harris’ 26-yard field goal, which

gave Laguna its only lead of the game.

Senior Bryce Loidolt, playing his last game for Laguna Beach,

teamed with junior quarterback Alex Wilson on a 40-yard touchdown

pass play in the fourth quarter on a fake punt situation.

Wilson threw for just over 200 yards with on interception, and

Loidolt had 11 receptions total 129 yards.

Holland says he hopes that the school’s first playoff berth in 15

years laid the groundwork for the future, noting that the program

began to “turn the corner” about four years ago.

“The key in the program was how hard our players began to work in

the off-season, hitting the weight room hard,” he said. “That began

about four years ago, at the conclusion of the end of the regular

season.

“Coming into the season, I thought we had the best time in my

seven years at this school,” he said. “We had some talented veterans

and got the chance to give some young guys valuable playing time. We

have some talented guys coming back next year.”

Laguna Beach went 4-1 in nonleague play, then began Pacific Coast

League action with a tough, three-game stretch in which the Breakers

went 0-3.

Holland said the lingering effects from a league-opening 41-40

loss to Calvary Chapel, took some steam out of his team.

“We wanted to open league on a winning note, but it took our team

a long time to recover from that setback,” he said. “But I was proud

of the way our guys ended up battling back from that loss. They

showed a lot of heart.”

Laguna Beach (5-6; 1-4)

40 La Qunita 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

11 {circ}La Habra 35

(*denotes Pacific Coast League game)

({circ}denotes CIF playoff game)