CdM, still jelling, wins again

NEWPORT BEACH — The Corona del Mar High football team has won four straight games and risen to the No. 2 ranking in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division.

But the bad news for future Pacific Coast League opponents, after the Sea Kings handled visiting Beckman, 20-7, in the league opener for both schools Thursday at Newport Harbor High, is that the Sea Kings have not yet vaguely begun to hit on all cylinders.

“We’re winning games, but we’re not playing well,” summed up Corona del Mar High Coach Dick Freeman, who could point to inopportune turnovers as the primary bugaboo against Beckman.

Half of the Sea Kings’ first four possessions ended in turnovers and the Patriots (5-2) cashed in the second charitable contribution by plodding 12 yards on five plays to pull even midway through the second quarter.

CdM (5-2), which opened the scoring on a nine-play, 99-yard touchdown march that all but ended the first period, answered Beckman’s lone score with a precision five-play, 66-yard procession that featured five straight first downs.

Senior quarterback Taylor Hughes, back after missing two games with a balky right throwing shoulder, triggered the second scoring drive, seemingly shaking off some rust that was evident early.

Hughes, a Mater Dei High transfer who threw for 889 yards and eight touchdowns before being relegated to the sideline, misfired on his first four passes, including one interception.

The obvious rust was not unexpected, according to Freeman.

“You could tell in practice he was rushing it a little,” Freeman said.

But Hughes appeared settled in by the time the Sea Kings took over at their own 34-yard line after a pooch kickoff with the score tied, 7-7, with 8:48 left in the second quarter.

Hughes connected with Hunt Rychel for a 16-yard gain on first down.

Junior tailback Erik Rask — who had been limited to spot duty on offense after bruising a thigh in the second game, but started and pounded away between the tackles all night — slashed for 15 yards through the heart of the defense on the next snap.

Hughes hit Rychel, who also had missed time with injury the last three-plus games, for another 11-yard gain, then rolled to his right on the next snap. After bolting away from a slight rush, Hughes appeared to have Steven Hillgren wide open down the sideline. But, by the time Hughes appeared to spot Hillgren, he had attracted a defender. Instead, Hughes flipped the ball to Rask in the flat, who utilized Hillgren’s crushing downfield block to run untouched into the end zone to put the Sea Kings ahead for good.

The conversion kick sailed wide right, making the lead 13-7 with 7:15 left in the half, but the Sea Kings defense, and a little good fortune, helped the hosts take their momentum into the halftime locker room.

The CdM defense, which struggled early to gauge the flow of the Patriots’ criss-crossing wing-T offense, appeared to buckle down after allowing tailback D’Amato Tyson to sprint 72 yards around the right side to the Sea Kings’ 18.

After a four-yard run on first down, the Sea Kings stuffed an inside reverse for no gain, then outside linebacker Austin Ray and end Stephen Deverian combined for the last of CdM’s three first-half sacks.

Facing fourth-and-13, Beckman attempted a 38-yard field goal that came up well short with 2:56 left in the half.

But rather than run out the clock, the Sea Kings botched a second-down handoff and Beckman’s Kyle Boudreau recovered at the Corona del Mar 25-yard line.

The Patriots converted on third-and-four, moving the ball to the 15 and the visitors used a six-yard pass in the flat to convert the subsequent third-and-four and stop the clock with 13 seconds left, to allow the officials to set the down marker at the CdM three-yard line.

The clock started and Beckman quickly snapped the ball in what appeared to be a spike to stop the clock. The quarterback, however, took the snap, turned away from the center and flung the ball backward, toward his team’s sideline. Instead of ruling the ball a lateral, a fumble, and a live ball, as they later told Freeman they should have, the officials whistled the play dead, as if a properly executed spike had taken place.

With two seconds showing on the clock, the officials huddled and, according to both coaches, acknowledged their mistake. But that’s where each coaches’ version differed.

“The official came over to me and told me it was an inadvertent whistle, and he was going to wind the clock, when the ball was ready for play,” Freeman said.

Beckman Coach Brian Mustain, however, said the official told him he was not going to start the clock until the ball was snapped.

The officials did, in fact, wind the clock, and signaled an end to the half, before the Patriots could snap the ball and run another play.

Rather than having a chance at a tying touchdown and possible go-ahead PAT, the Patriots shuffled off to the locker room while their coach protested, in vain.

Beckman went three-and-out after fielding the second-half kickoff and CdM went 73 yards on eight plays for the clinching touchdown.

Rask, who rushed for 121 yards on 20 carries, capped the drive with a six-yard run.

The CdM defense, keyed by Ray, fellow linebackers Kevin Rask, Tom Folks, Ben Noe and Erik Rask, as well as cornerback Hillgren (a school-record-setting 15th interception in the first quarter), did the rest.

Hughes finished nine of 17 for 146 passing yards and two touchdowns.

Rychel led Sea King receivers with 46 yards on four catches.

CdM meets Laguna Hills Friday at 7 p.m. at Mission Viejo High in a showdown of league title contenders.