Options kept open for Sea King offense

Rick Devereux

The Corona del Mar High football team had produced a 1,000 rusher

from 1995-2002 before last year when Austin Brawner led the Sea Kings

with 554 yards on 137 carries with six touchdowns.

Collectively, the offense gained 1,571 yards on the ground, with

the bulk coming from Brawner, Wess Presson (91 carries for 407 yards,

five touchdowns) and Brett Crowley (79-382, one score).

The yards could be divided even more with the implementation of

the option.

“We ran a little bit of the option last year,” coach Dick Freeman

said. “Our quarterbacks are still trying to understand the little

things about the option. It’s something you need to do all the time

in order to get comfortable.”

Even with the run-oriented option, Freeman said the offense will

throw more than in the past.

“[Defenses] won’t line up nine [near the line of scrimmage]on us,”

Freeman said. “We played nine-man fronts every week last year.

Defenses can’t go one-on-one on us with our receiving corps, so I’m

thinking we won’t see as many nine-man fronts.”

The top returning receiver will be Kevin Welch, who has earned

all-league honors two consecutive seasons.

Another key All-Sea View League returner is defensive lineman Matt

Burgner. The junior defensive end was a first-team all-league

selection as a sophomore, racking up 35 tackles, eight sacks and two

fumble recoveries.

“Matt is probably as good a guy coming back from last year as

there is in the league on defense,” Freeman said. “He did it all as a

sophomore.”

Here is a look at the Corona del Mar position-by-position

breakdown:

Quarterback: Senior Tom Welch will return as the starter, with

juniors Shaun Mohler and Collin Wigely as the backups. Freeman said

all three have been practicing the option and done well, but Welch

will be the main signal caller after finishing with an 11-5,

touchdown to interception ratio and 19.7 yards per completion. Welch

(6-foot-1, 190 pounds) averaged 3.4 yards per carry last year and

added three rushing touchdowns.

“I think that his major strength is that he is a good runner, he’s

a good athlete and he’s worked on his throwing,” Freeman said. “He

doesn’t have a rocket arm, but he’s good at the short-to-intermediate

passes.”

Running backs: The Greek version of a three-headed monster was

Cerberus, the dog that guarded the entrance to Hades. The Corona del

Mar version of a three-headed monster is Brawner-Presson-Crowley, the

two seniors and junior, respectively, that will handle the ground

attack for the Sea Kings.

“With three really good guys at running back, our problem is

spreading it out to all three of them,” Freeman said. “None will

carry the ball 30 times, but they could get about 15 carries each.

They need to do what they can with the 15 that the get.”

Presson (6-0, 195) and Crowley (5-11, 180) have the ability to cut

back and make defenders miss, whereas Brawner (5-11, 180) would

rather run over a would-be-tackler, Freeman said.

The fullback will be Taylor Meehan, a 6-2, 218-pound senior

transfer from Utah that Freeman said loves to hit.

Receivers: Kevin Welch has added 10 pounds to his 6-2 frame from

last year tipping the scales at 205 pounds, but Freeman said the

added muscle hasn’t slowed the senior’s skills.

“Kevin does a lot of things real well as a wide receiver,” Freeman

said. “He has great hands, great leaping ability and good ball

sense.”

The two-year starter has been a model of consistency for the Sea

Kings. He has 55 receptions for 1,237 yards with 15 touchdowns over

his career.

The other wide out position was going to be filled by either

seniors Shane Collins or Matt Busch, but Busch hurt his shoulder and

Collins suffered a hip flexor. David Del Fante, Matt Silva, Paul

McGovern, Steve Hillgren and Hunt Rychel are expected to fill in

until Collins and Busch return in the near future.

Tight ends: Tyler Lance had seven receptions for 161 yards last

year at tight end, but Freeman said he wants to utilize the position

more in the passing game.

Corona del Mar doesn’t use a two-tight end formation often, so

Avery Fenton will mostly be used as the back up tight end to give

Lance a breather or in case he is injured.

Offensive line: Four of the five starters from last year return,

but the loss of all-league left tackle Andy Lujan to graduation is a

sizable hole to fill.

Tackle John Fairbanks (6-4, 240) center Chris Reilly (6-2, 215)

and guards Zach Wishengred (6-0, 215) and Andrew Kiliglan (5-11, 240)

will provide experience and size to the line while Robby Richey (6-3,

270) learns the left tackle position.

Taylor Storm, John Joyce and Taylor Paselk will provide depth at

tackle and Brent Ogden and Arion Lapuz will fill-in in the interior

positions

Defensive line: Consistency on the defensive line parallels that

on the offensive front with only last year’s starting defensive end

Brian Dunn graduated. Fairbanks and Fenton (6-3, 220) are back to

clog up the middle as the defensive tackles and Burgner (6-0, 200)

and is back at one defensive end. Carlos Corrales (6-3, 200) will

replace Dunn at the other end.

Freeman said the strength of the line will be its quickness as

opposed to brute strength, signaling our Burgner as a catalyst for

creating chaos in the backfield.

“He’s not nine feet tall throwing guys around like a rag doll,”

Freeman said, “but the other team is going to have to pay attention

to him if they run toward him. They’re going to have to do something

to try to stop him.”

Richey and Storm are the backups for the interior, and Paselk and

Glenn Smith are at the end spots.

Linebackers: The Sea Kings run a 4-2-5 defense, and John Shanahan

(5-7, 170) and Mohler (6-3, 200) were the starters last year. Meehan

figures to push both for playing time with Mike Peters (5-11, 195)

and serving as a backup.

Secondary: The reason why Freeman runs a nickel package is to take

advantage of the team speed on defense. Last year the team picked off

14 passes and allowed 7.4 yards per pass attempt.

The starting corners are Del Fante and Matt Loyd. Busch, Lance and

Brawner will be the three main players at the two outside safety

spots and Kevin Welch will return as the starting free safety.

“Kevin plays the ball in air well and is real good versus the

run,” Freeman said. “Overall, our team speed is a major strength of

the defense. We’re not real deep but we have some good ones, though.”

Tom Welch and Matt Silva are the back up corners, Rychel, Crowley

and Tommy Folks will provide depth to the safety position, and

Presson and Rychel backup the free safety spot.

Kicking game: Junior Andrew Hummel will handle the field goal and

point after touchdown duties. Del Fante, who kicked a 36-yard field

goal and converted 18 PATs last year, will be the emergency kicker if

anything happens to Hummel.

Freeman said the team might not punt this year, but Presson or

Kevin Welch could handle the job if called upon.

Freeman was said he was confident in the return game because of

the team speed. Collins was slated as a return man, but his hip

injury will keep him off the field for a few weeks. Presson and Loyd

will handle the returns, and Freeman said other skill players also

have a shot at receiving kickoffs and punts.

“I feel pretty good [with the returns],” Freeman said. “We have a

lot of young, skilled guys that can do it.”

Fenton will be the long snapper.