Home for the playoffs

A rare experience in Laguna Beach High football history will occur tonight when the Breakers host Valencia of Placentia in the first-round of the CIF-Southern Section Southern Division playoffs.

It’s the first home playoff game since 1987. That’s when St. Joseph of Santa Maria, led by quarterback Mark Brunell, who went on to star at the University of Washington and in the NFL, came into Guyer Field and went home with a 20-13 first-round victory.

That year also is the last time a Laguna team won a league football championship. Coach Jimmy Nolan’s troops became the first Laguna team to win a league title since that ’87 squad turned the feat, when the Breakers spoiled homecoming festivities for Costa Mesa on Nov. 9, winning, 22-7.

The victory clinched an outright Orange Coast League title for Laguna, which finished its first year in the league with a 3-0 record.

“It was a great thrill for me to see just how excited my boys were, and I got my first Gatorade shower after the game,” Nolan said. “This has been a very good experience to see my boys mature throughout this season. We were getting our teeth kicked in for awhile, earlier this season. Then we learned from our mistakes, came together, started living our lives right off the field, and good things started happening.”

Laguna went from a 2-5 squad that suffered four consecutive nonleague defeats earlier in the season, to winning all three league games to finish 5-5 overall and earn the league’s No. 1 playoff seed.

Tonight marks Laguna’s first postseason appearance since the 2002 season and only its sixth playoff game in the last 26 years.

“We are not the same team we were for the [first] seven weeks,” Nolan said. “Sure, it took time to find our way and mature, but timing is everything and we were on time. We’ve come together and have done a great thing. Undisputed, undefeated, outright Orange Coast League champions. No one can ever take that away from our boys.

“The boys never quit. Never. All 10 games they worked hard. The last three games they worked hard and lived their lives right. We were really proud of what we accomplished Thursday night. We laughed and smiled the whole way home.”

Against Costa Mesa, Laguna racked up 350 yards rushing with quarterback Charley Bowman scoring twice and Zach Smith once. The Breakers never trailed, holding leads of 7-0, 14-0, 14-7 and by the final of 22-7.

Laguna’s defense kept the Mustangs in check, despite giving up an 82-yard touchdown run on a third-and-forever play in the third quarter. But the Breakers responded to Mesa’s jolting touchdown by driving down field for another score, Bowman finishing off the drive with an 11-yard run. Devin Hands sliced his way into the end zone to make it 22-7.

One big stop by the Laguna defense came in the third quarter when Costa Mesa threatened to score from inside the Breakers’ 15-yard line. On a fourth-down play, Justin Lendahl broke through on a blitz to drop Costa Mesa quarterback Cody Waldron for a big loss.

“He made the stop,” Nolan said of Lendahl’s key play. “A great blitz, great tackle.

“I like the way our defense has flown to the football. They play relentlessly. But I am sickened by our defense giving up ‘the big play.’ We almost gave Estancia (on Nov. 3) a gift-win by our sloppy play and lack of concentration. Then we gave Mesa a freebie touchdown last Thursday. There’s tons of room for improvement on both sides of the ball and special teams.”

The past week has been back to work and serious business for tonight’s showdown with Valencia, a tough, first-round opponent for the Breakers.

Laguna and Valencia first met way back in 1935, the first year of varsity football at Laguna when the team was coached by Maurice “Red” Guyer, whom the football field is named after. The teams last met in 1973.

The Tigers of the Empire League are 6-4 overall and are an at-large entry to the playoffs. During nonleague play, they posted wins over Pacifica and Western, two teams that went on to win their respective league championships, and two of their four losses were to Empire rival Kennedy and El Dorado, two teams who also won their respective league titles.

Running back Wes Fletcher averages seven yards per carry and has gained 1,564 yards and is the Tigers’ scoring leader with 19 touchdowns. Quarterback Marcus Beckman has completed 53% of his passes, but only has 134 attempts this year.

The Tigers defense has two shutouts to its credit.

Nolan said the happy bus journey back to Laguna following the Nov. 2 title-clinching win over Costa Mesa has been put on the backburner — for now. All focus this week has been on Valencia.

“We’ve forgotten about it. It’s in the past,” Nolan said. “We did a great thing but it’s not what we’ve done, it’s what we’re doing now and what we’re going to do come Friday night.

“There’s no time to think about our championship. That will always be there and no one can take it away. Now, it’s time to play Valencia. No one is giving us a chance. We like being in this situation. (We’re) looking forward to Friday.”

BREAKERS MVP

Name: Devin Hands

Positions: Running back/linebacker

Height: 6-0

Weight: 172

Year: Junior

Game highlights: Hands had a tackle-breaking night in the backfield on Nov. 9, rushing for 171 yards and a two-point conversion in a 22-7 victory over Costa Mesa. The win gave the Breakers an outright Orange Coast League championship.

Coach’s comments: “He carried defenders on his back for about 50-plus yards,” Jimmy Nolan said. “We didn’t know if we could run the ball against Mesa. Devin, Zach Smith and Charley Bowman ran through them, around them and proved we could dominate the run game all night.”