Sea Kings left with nothing

For a photo gallery of the game, click here.

NEWPORT BEACH — Dick Freeman was so displeased, he was almost speechless Friday night.

After his Corona del Mar High football team lost to Pacific Coast League rival Laguna Hills, 20-0, Freeman spoke to the team for less than a minute before turning the post-game remarks over to one of his assistants.

He walked over to the empty Sea Kings’ bench at Newport Harbor High.

“There’s nothing to say,” he said. “Twenty to zero, there’s nothing to say.”

Freeman had no further comment on the game in which the Sea Kings (3-5, 1-1 in league) netted a total of nine offensive yards and one first down in the first half.

It was the first time CdM has been shut out since Oct. 6, 2005, a 21-0 loss to Northwood.

Laguna Hills (3-2, 1-0), ranked No. 5 in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division, was coming off a bye week, and its defense shut down nearly every option CdM had, save for a couple of trick plays with less than two minutes left.

CdM had five plays that netted at least 15 yards. The biggest was a 31-yard pass from junior Max Haase to junior Noah Molnar, a last-ditch attempt to score from the Hawks’ 34-yard line. Haase tossed the ball after catching a pitch from backup quarterback junior Mitch Sands.

Sands had thrown a would-be 13-yard touchdown pass to Ali Meshkin with 1:16 left, but it was called back due to a holding penalty. Sands was sacked on the next play, the last of four Laguna Hills sacks.

“Every team we play, we have to go up against with the mindset of ‘We can beat them and we’re going to beat them no matter what their ranking or anything,’ ” said starting quarterback Hunter Alder. “I think we had a good shot to beat this team. If we do things differently we can win. Their ranking means nothing to us.”

Laguna Hills’ longest scoring drive was 41 yards, and the Hawks enjoyed good field position for most of the night. The Hawks Garrett Denham blocked a punt that put the ball on the Sea Kings’ 29-yard line. It resulted in the Hawks’ first score of the night, a one-yard run by tailback Matt Giovanizzo.

After a sack forced CdM to punt, Laguna Hills scored again, less than four minutes later, on Ryan Wertenberger’s 25-yard pass to Sean Gordon.

Michael Parishaian partially blocked another second-quarter punt that provided a short field for the Hawks to score once more before halftime.

The Sea Kings finished with 150 yards, including 97 on the ground.

Senior Erik Rask, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last season against Laguna Hills, led all CdM rushers with 33 yards on two carries.

Five different receivers caught passes for CdM, from three different passers.

CdM faces an uphill battle to make the CIF playoffs, with its final two league games coming against University and Irvine.

The game had a larger-than-usual crowd because of the homecoming festivities, which made the loss all the more bitter for the Sea Kings, according to tailback senior Austin Raiger.

“It makes a huge difference,” Raiger said. “I mean, to be honest, we usually don’t have that big a crowd, and we had a lot of people come out tonight. We got kind of embarrassed tonight.”

SORAYA NADIA McDONALD may be reached at (714) 966-4613 or at soraya.mcdonald@latimes.com.

SECOND QUARTER

LH – Giovanazzo 1 run (Hogan kick), 7:28.

LH – Gordon 25 pass from Wertenberger (Hogan kick), 4:19.

LH – Hogan 39 FG, 0:31.

FOURTH QUARTER

LH – Hogan 32 FG, 10:49.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

LH – Ludwig 21-91; Giovinazzo 12-46, 1 TD; Werternberger 1-10; Youde 1-6; Refsnyder 1-5; Pickens 2-1.

CdM – Raiger 8-24; Harmon 4-3; E. Rask 2-33; Sands 2-37.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

LH – Wertenberger 4-9-0, 40, 1 TD.

CdM – Alder 2-6-0, 11; Sands 2-7-0, 10; Haase 1-1-0, 31; Raiger 0-1-0, 0.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

LH – Gordon 1-25, 1 TD; Tucker 1-7; Giovinazzo 1-7; Refsnyder 1-1.

CdM – Molnar 1-31; Meshkin 1-6; Haase 1-5; DiChiro 1-5; Townsend 1-5.