CdM opener a shore thing

Game planning for a season opener usually entails being prepared for a certain degree of the unknown.

With eight months to scheme for the first opponent, coaches often submit to the temptation to get creative.

When it comes to preparing to play Laguna Beach High, and its unpredictable coach, Jimmy Nolan, Corona del Mar High head man Dick Freeman faces an extra challenge heading into tonight’s nonleague clash at 7 at Newport Harbor High.

“We’re not sure what they’re going to run because, last year, it was different almost every week,” Freeman said of the Breakers, whose strategies, under Nolan, have been about as predictable as a Robin Williams monologue.

It didn’t matter much what the Breakers ran last year, because the Sea Kings simply ran roughshod over their then-Pacific Coast League rivals for a 27-0 triumph.

CdM, in fact, has owned its coastal neighbor to the South, having won 11 straight in the series, dating back to 1966. Laguna Beach won the first three meetings in the early 1960s, but trails the series, 11-3.

The odds appear similarly stacked in the Sea Kings’ favor this season, since Laguna Beach may easily have one of, if not the smallest team in Southern California.

Nolan has said his starting 11 on both sides of the ball will average fewer than 170 pounds, and experience may also be in short supply.

For CdM (6-6 last season, including its first CIF Southern Section playoff triumph since 1995), there are also plenty of question marks.

The Sea Kings, however, know they can count on senior receiver and cornerback Steven Hillgren, who produced four of his team-leading 10 interceptions last season against Laguna Beach. The four interceptions were a school single-game record.

Hillgren, a first-team All-Pacific Coast League honoree and a member of the Newport-Mesa Dream Team as a junior, also caught 27 passes for 453 yards and six touchdowns at receiver last season.

He is one of six starters back on offense and five on defense, but Freeman, entering his 11th season at the helm, is looking to see how relatively untested players will step up in the backfield.

Taylor Hughes, a senior transfer from Mater Dei, had won the starting nod at quarterback, but Freeman said they were still awaiting final paperwork in order to establish his eligibility. That wait may or may not end prior to kickoff, so sophomore Mitch Sands is prepared to step in, Freeman said.

Senior Tom Folks, expected to start at tailback, was dealing with shin splints, Freeman said, which placed his status in doubt. Even if Folks is able to play, Freeman said several Sea Kings will carry the ball.

Junior Erik Rask, an All-Newport-Mesa linebacker as a sophomore, is among those expected to contribute at tailback.

The newcomers will be asked to fuel a ground game that produced 3,045 yards — more than 77% of the team’s total offense — in 2005.

Junior Max Prescott, a potential starter at offensive tackle and defensive end, is expected to miss the next few weeks with a broken bone in his leg, Freeman said.

Defensively, Hillgren is anxious to hawk the passes of returning Laguna Beach quarterback Charlie Bowman. Hillgren picked off two Bowman passes in the second quarter and two more in the third quarter last season. Hillgren returned his first interception after halftime 27 yards for a touchdown.

In addition to Hillgren, Bowman, a 5-foot-9, 148-pound junior who was first-team all-league last fall, will have to deal with a Sea Kings defense that sacked him seven times last season.

That CdM defense will rely on quickness, since its 11 projected starters average just shy of 181 pounds.

Gone from that Sea Kings defense are three-year standouts Shaun Mohler, a punishing inside linebacker now at Orange Coast College, and end Matt Burgner, who collected a school career-record 36 sacks before heading off to Georgetown.

Making quick adjustments may also be required of Freeman, who doubles as the Sea Kings’ defensive coordinator.

“They’ll run some wing T and, with some skill guys they have back, we think they’ll also run some spread formation and try to throw the ball,” Freeman said. “Then again, they could come out with something weird.”

Laguna Beach was 5-4-1 last season.

The Sea Kings have won their last five season openers.