Sea Kings have seen this style

Rick Devereux

Corona del Mar High will not go into Friday’s game against Troy

unprepared. The Warriors will run a wing-T offense and an attacking

defense similar to what the Sea Kings faced in their 35-9 win over

Costa Mesa last week.

“We got a little bit of a taste of [the wing-T] against Mesa,” CdM

coach Dick Freeman said. “The wing-T is all play-action, and isn’t

built for a lot of throwing. If you’re running the ball well, you

keep running the ball.”

While the Mustangs employ a lot of motion and movement to confuse

the defense, Troy runs a fast tempo where the players break the

huddle, get to the line of scrimmage and snap the ball very quickly.

The hurried pace will effect the Sea Kings (2-0) on defense

because linemen and linebackers who normally switch according to

where the tight end lines up will have to stay put.

“They come out the huddle too fast for us to flip-flop,” Freeman

said. “There are six million different ways you can line up with the

wing-T, so we need to stay disciplined [on defense].”

Offensively, Corona del Mar will rely on the dominance of Wess

Presson at running back, Tom Welch at quarterback and the entire

offensive line.

“We run to win and pass to score,” said offensive coordinator Tony

Naranjo.

Presson and Welch have combined for 453 rushing yards, 68% of

Corona’s 667 rushing yards this season.

Freeman pointed out that the entire offensive line has done a good

job considering the amount of people teams have used to try to stop

the running attack of the Sea Kings.

Last week, Troy (1-0) dominated in a 22-6 victory, holding

Westminster to just 179 yards on offense and registering five sacks

to become the No. 8 ranked team in CIF Southern Section Division IX.

CdM is No. 6 in the division.

The offense was guided by returning starting quarterback Evan

Webber, who completed three of his eight passes for 67 yards and one

touchdown, but also threw three interceptions.

The Warriors did rush for 223 yards in the game, with Justin

Schultz (84 yards) and Chris Price (79 yards) providing a potent

one-two punch.

Last year against Troy, Austin Brawner rushed for 198 yards with

two touchdowns in CdM’s 22-7 win. Jim Burton is in his first year as

Troy’s head coach after being the long-time offensive coordinator

under retired John Turek.