Breakers return home tonight

Things didn’t go nearly as well as anticipated last Friday for the Laguna Beach High football team, so it went back to the drawing board Monday.

A lack of execution, dropped passes, missed tackles and the inability to complete drives doomed the Breakers in a 26-0 nonleague loss to Santiago at Garden Grove High.

This week, Coach Jonathan Todd has “switched things up,” bringing a new but basic look and scheme to the offense.

“We were more of a finesse team in our first three games but this week at practice, we’ve switched to a more power style-type of running game,” Todd said. “We’re going back to the basics, and it might be good thing this Friday because we’re supposed to get some rain.

“In addition to working on our running game, this week also has been all about tackling. We did a poor job of that last week against Santiago.”

Todd said Laguna will still utilize its passing game at 7 tonight when the Breakers host Segerstrom in a nonleague game, but the run game will be the main focus.

It also suits Charley Bowman well. Bowman, who injured his throwing arm during a Sept. 7 game win over La Quinta, will start again at quarterback.

Despite the injury to his throwing arm, Bowman still was able to be used at receiver on offense the past two weeks.

“He’s healed, and getting him back at quarterback is great,” Todd said.

Against Santiago, Laguna (1-2) mounted several drives into Cavaliers territory, but came away without any points.

“We moved the ball well but just didn’t execute and score,” Todd said. “It’s a bit frustrating and the final score shouldn’t have been that bad.

“Offensively, I thought that Zach Smith had a good game running the ball.”

Laguna hasn’t played at home since it hosted Corona del Mar Aug. 31. Now comes a Segerstrom team that rolls into Guyer Field coming off a 45-7 drubbing of Bolsa Grande.

For the second-straight week, Laguna will face a team that runs the wing-T offense.

In last week’s win, Segerstrom (1-1) rushed for 342 yards against Bolsa Grande.

Akeem Christian rushed for two touchdowns and also caught a TD pass to lead the Jaguars.

“They’re a good team that is well-coached and disciplined,” Todd said.

“They have a lot of starters back from last year, and many of their players have been playing together for four years. This is their first four-year class of players. They have a lot of experience.”

In addition to getting Bowman back at quarterback, defensive ends Alex Ronses and Kyle Jenkins also return from injuries.

Jenkins saw time in the Santiago game but Ronses watched from the sidelines.

But Nate Wilson, who subbed for Jenkins at end last week, fractured his patella against Santiago and is sidelined.

“We’re happy to be back home playing but no matter where we play, we need to execute better than we have,” Todd said. “We need to play much better than last week because Segerstrom’s a good team. It’s a big test for us.”

Following tonight’s game, the Breakers get an early start on next week’s action as they take on University at 7 p.m. Thursday at Irvine High.