Monday Morning Quarterback:

Now in his twelfth year as head coach of the Corona del Mar high football team, Coach Dick Freeman has seen his teams make it into the CIF playoffs before.

Just last year, at this time, the Sea Kings were preparing to face Estancia in the first round of the playoffs. CdM won, 44-40, and went on to lose, 20-24 in the quarterfinals to Cypress.

That team finished the season 7-5.

At 4-5, the 2007 team doesn’t resemble its predecessor too much. The Sea Kings were 3-6, but after Troy had to forfeit a win for using an inelegible player, the record changed to 4-5.

CdM never settled into a rhythm, which was partly becase a young, undersized offensive line, Freeman said.

But the team also never really settled into a quarterback, and Freeman chose to switch between senior Hunter Alder and junior Mitch Sands for nearly the entire season. Alder played a full game in CdM’s 26-6 season-opening win over Laguna Beach, while Sands took all 48 minutes in the Sea Kings’ last game of the season against University.

“We started off just being pretty thin on the offensive line, and I think that hurt us,” Freeman said. “I’m not sure what we could have changed. We’re young on the offensive line, and we didn’t have a whole lot of depth. That affects your consistency.”

Freeman also said the passing game was up-and-down, but he stuck by the decision to use two quarterbacks. The Sea Kings’ ran the ball by committee as well, using running backs Tyler Harmon, JD Abbott, and Austin Raiger most frequently.

“We couldn’t really anything comfortable going there,” he said. “We just thought changing would help.”

The season also took an unexpected turn because of the California wildfires, and the Sea Kings missed a crucial game against Irvine, which plays Estancia at Newport Harbor in the first round of the playoffs this week.

Pacific Coast League officials elected not to reschedule games canceled because of the wildfires, which left third place in the league to be decided by a coin toss.

CdM has had eight playoff appearances in twelve years with Freeman at the helm. He doesn’t think the team’s record reflects its talent or the season accurately.

“It’s hard to judge the season on wins and losses,” Freeman said. I thought we played pretty competitively based on what we had.”

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