Coach isn’t satisfied

The Laguna Beach High football team is 2-0, but head coach Jimmy

Nolan hasn’t been very impressed with his team.

He wasn’t even pleased by last Friday’s 38-13 road win over La

Quinta, which came on the heels of a season-opening 40-19 victory

over Centennial of Compton.

Nolan didn’t mince words.

“Since I have been at Laguna Beach High School, I have never been

so angry with my boys as I was Friday night,” he said. “We continue

to fumble the ball, miss assignments, line up wrong, etc. I believe

we dropped more passes than we caught, and those were passes that

were touchdowns. We should have scored 60 points. We also missed

another PAT [point after touchdown]. This will not happen again this

year.”

He went on:

“I am most displeased with my offensive line play,” Nolan said.

“This week I will spend extra time getting in their faces and try to

instill some much-needed, long-overdue toughness in each one of them.

They have the size. They have the strength. But they lack the

o7fightf7. These guys need to get meaner, more aggressive and

physical, and quit being so o7softf7.

“If we continue to allow opposing defenses in our backfield, we

will lose our quarterback and definitely will continue to have no

chance of running the ball in between the tackles. I challenge my

guys.... Are you going to accept being the weak point of this team,

or are you going to decide to get tougher, physical, and dominate

someone? The team needs you. Are you going to blame the fact that

this low-budget program has no sled for you to practice on? No

excuse. Go hit someone. Enough said.”

Laguna used “big-play trickery,” as he put it, to subdue La

Quinta. The Breakers offense scored four times against the La Quinta,

and defense scored once.

Nolan’s passion for the game -- and for his team -- is evident

even with his criticism, and he did offer some praise after the game

against La Quinta.

He said that George Chheng had another solid performance running

the football. Nolan also said Jody Stevens, nearly recovered from

last year’s hamstring injury, looked solid on both sides of the

football.

“When this guy is ready, we will be a whole new ballclub,” Nolan

said of Stevens. “One of our only kids who has played football

before, Jody brings a certain toughness this team has been lacking.

He has been injured, but I think his time has arrived.”

Nolan also said he’s impressed with the defensive play of Cooper

Henderson, who had some nice coverages and came up with an

interception. Kevin Kelly, who plays baseball at the school and is a

recent addition to the football team, has been “stepping it up” on

defense, Nolan said.

Kelly returned a fumble for a touchdown against La Quinta.

Derek LeBon, who has put the ball into the end zone on most of his

kickoffs, has been a boon in pinning the opponent, Nolan said.

The Breakers take to the road again tonight to play Ocean View of

Huntington Beach.

Game time is 7 p.m. at Ocean View’s on-campus stadium.

The Seahawks dropped their season opener last Friday as they let a

12-0 lead slip away in a 19-12 loss to host Santiago.

Laguna dumped the Seahawks in 2004 by a score of 48-13.

“From my experience so far at Laguna Beach, we have proven to be

one of the worst traveling teams around,” Nolan said. “This must

change. I am going to really get on these boys all week, and I think

we’ll see a new certain toughness with this team come Friday night --

win, lose or draw.

“We hear they [Ocean View] want some payback for the lopsided loss

they took against us last year. I expect them to come out and try to

run the ball straight through our defense, where we have shown

weakness. They also might put the ball in the air, as we’ve proven

incapable of covering anyone. I expect a good fight from both teams.”