Sea Kings let one slip away

Patrick Laverty

Opportunity knocked. Corona del Mar High’s football team just never

answered the door.

Despite moving the ball at will, the Sea Kings let one scoring

opportunity after another slip through their hands, the last one

coming in overtime when the ball went through the hands of a Sea

Kings receiver and was intercepted to seal a 28-21 Tesoro victory in

front of a capacity crowd on the Titans campus.

“Mistakes killed us,” Sea Kings Coach Dick Freeman said. “You

can’t do that against a good football team.”

The loss, which came in spite of nearly 400 yards of offense, puts

Corona del Mar (5-4, 2-2 in Pacific Coast League play) in a must-win

situation in next week’s regular season finale against University. A

victory would earn the Sea Kings third place and an automatic entry

into the CIF Southern Section Division IX playoffs.

Tesoro (7-2, 4-0) will play for the league championship against

Northwood, but the Titans were lucky to escape with a victory against

Corona del Mar.

The Sea Kings turned the ball over five times and while the

interception in overtime ended the game, a much costlier miscue came

when a fumbled center exchange by CdM was recovered by Tesoro’s Chris

Penhall at the Titans’ 5-yard line with 3:41 remaining and the score

tied, 21-21.

Corona del Mar had driven 69 yards, chewing up more than six

minutes of the clock. It had received big third down plays when

quarterback Tom Welch scrambled for 17 yards on a third-and-12 and

later lofted a perfect pass to twin brother Kevin for a 24-yard gain

on third-and-23.

But the fumble prevented the Sea King from retaking the lead in a

game that they had never trailed.

It wasn’t the only lost opportunity for Corona del Mar.

After Mordy Ornguze recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff, the

Sea Kings lost a fumble on third-and-3 on the Titans’ 15-yard line.

On their third possession of the game, after a 16-yard punt return

by Shane Collins put them in excellent field position, the Sea Kings

drove to the Tesoro 17-yard line, but turned the ball over on downs.

Driving late in the third quarter, Corona del Mar had marched into

Tesoro territory, but a fumbled center exchanged resulted in no gain

on third-and-5 and it was forced to punt.

After Tesoro tied the score, 21-21, with 11:54 remaining, the Sea

Kings fumbled on their first play of the ensuing drive.

Corona del Mar’s defense prevented Tesoro from scoring, just like

it did on the Titans’ final drive of regulation. But the missed

opportunities hurt what was otherwise a splendid performance by the

Sea Kings’ offense, which was playing without running back Wess

Presson, who is out with a leg injury.

“Our offensive line did a heck of a job,” Freeman said.

That was particularly evident on the opening drive of the second

half, when the Sea Kings ran seven consecutive running plays,

marching 66 yards before Austin Brawner scored on a 1-yard run to put

Corona del Mar up, 21-14.

Brawner led the Sea Kings with 128 yards on 22 carries. Seven of

those carries went for more than 10 yards, but none were more than

19.

Tom Welch, who added 49 yards rushing, passed for 180 yards,

including two touchdowns to his twin brother. The first of those was

the longest scoring pass play in Corona del Mar history, a 92-yarder

that put the Sea Keings ahead, 7-0.

But every time the Sea Kings scored, Tesoro had an answer. When

the Titans finally took their first lead, in overtime, after an

11-yard strike from Nick Nelson to Erik Hamren, Corona del Mar

couldn’t come up with its own retort.

The Sea Kings gained four yards on an end around to Kevin Welch on

their first play of the overtime possession, but the interception

came on second-and-6 from the Tesoro 21-yard line. Sean Calcagnie

made the interception inside the 10-yard line.