Looking for that first win

Mike Sciacca

A night of “firsts” on Sept. 3 didn’t go as planned for the Laguna

Beach High football team.

Playing on a new turf and in new uniforms under new head coach

Jimmy Nolan, Laguna opened its new season with an uninspiring, 14-7

loss to visiting Palos Verdes.

Nolan took blame for the loss and says the season shouldn’t be

measured by victory or defeat.

“I didn’t see a whole lot of pluses,” he said of the opening night

setback. “We are much better than our poor display last Friday. Many

of our boys play both ways and get very tired; so, rather than

stepping it up when the game was on the line, we chose to feel sorry

for ourselves.

“I don’t necessarily measure our success with wins and losses. I

measure it with what happens to our team when dealt with adversity,

how we play when we are exhausted both mentally and physically and

how we handle success and failure. So, Friday night, we were

unsuccessful.”

Laguna struck first in the game, with Garrett Preston hitting

Elliot Whalen with a seven-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter

for a 7-0 lead.

The Breakers led, 7-6, at the half, and by the same score late in

the game.

But with 41 seconds remaining, Palos Verdes running back Scott

Lulejan scored his second touchdown of the night, this one on a

three-yard run, and a two-point conversion gave the Sea Kings an

eventual 14-7 win.

“I did a very poor job of getting our boys prepared for Friday and

want to apologize to the city of Laguna Beach,” Nolan said. “Thus,

the loss was my fault. We will learn from this loss and become better

because of it.”

The Breakers get the chance to rebound tonight at 7 p.m. when they

host La Quinta in a nonleague game.

The Aztecs, winless (0-10) in 2003, opened their season Sept. 3

with a 10-3 loss to Vasquez.

Among those 10 losses last year was a 50-7 whipping Laguna placed

on the Aztecs.

Despite having a majority of its starters back from last year, La

Quinta still lacks depth at key positions.

“La Quinta struggled last year,” Nolan said. “I believe they will

be ready for us. They lost a close game in the final minutes last

week. This should be a difficult test for us. I expect another

battle.”

Key La Quinta returners include junior quarterback Kevin Nguyen

and senior wide receiver/defensive back Derrick Nguyen.

Laguna’s focus in practice this week has been correcting glaring

mistakes from its opener.

“This week we worked on mental control when we’re at our absolute

most exhausting breaking point,” he said. “Our No. 1 problem last

week was the ability to call a play in the huddle. Fifty-percent of

the time we were running the wrong plays and lining up wrong, spiking

the ball on fourth-down, going off-sides, taking plays off, things

like that. That’s because we lost focus when we got tired. We made

far too many mental errors.

Miscues, and not the Sea Kings, Nolan felt, doomed the Breakers.

“I don’t feel like Palos Verdes beat us, I feel like Laguna Beach

beat Laguna Beach,” he said. “Our quarterback spot needs to step up

and take control. Defensively, we need to toughen up and do what

we’re told. We have the strength, size and speed. When we get the

heart needed for these to work, we’ll be successful.”

Laguna, however, has lost several key starters to injury in the

opening week, Nolan said:

-- Lineman Brad Wolf, whom Nolan named MVP for the Palos Verdes

game for playing “harder than anyone on that field,” broke his leg

and will miss the remainder of the season.

-- Adam Kennaday, a tight end/defensive back and the team’s “most

dangerous offensive and defensive weapon,” is out for the season due

to a torn ACL that will require surgery.

-- Garrett Preston, who started at quarterback, had an MRI X-ray

done this week on a torn muscle in his shoulder, and will be out of

action for two-to-three weeks, Nolan said.

-- Jody Stevens, a running back/defensive back and the team’s

fastest player, re-injured a hamstring during the first play from

scrimmage and will join Preston on the sideline for the next few

weeks.

“Since I’ve been a coach and a player, I’ve never seen a team with

this many injuries so early in the season,” Nolan said. “We have a

couple of our best players gone for the season. A couple more will be

out for a few weeks. Do we throw in the towel? What does a wounded

animal do when it’s hurt? Does it lay down and die? No. It gets up

and fights. That’s the only way. Expect to see a different team

Friday night.”