Still looking for win No. 1

Two teams on similar paths meet tonight at Guyer Field when the Laguna Beach Breakers host the St. Monica Mariners at 7 p.m.

Both teams are looking for that initial victory of the season, Laguna coming into the nonleague matchup at 0-3. St. Monica is 0-2.

“They are a team that is trying to improve, just like we are,” Laguna Coach Jonathan Todd said. “From what I’ve seen of them on film, they have a good quarterback who can throw and a good running back. It will be a good challenge for us.”

Laguna nearly pulled out its first victory of the season Saturday, but was denied when Piedmont kicked a last-second field goal to pull out a 17-15 victory in the Breakers’ home opener.

The Breakers had rallied to score on a field goal and two touchdowns in the second half to take a 15-14 lead.

Sophomore Austin Paxson came off the bench to take over at quarterback and engineered the two scoring drives.

“He will start at quarterback for us,” Todd said of Paxson. “He did a real nice job of leading us to those two touchdowns.”

John Snedegar’s 34-yard field goal in the third quarter, followed by a 25-yard scoring pass from Paxson to Jason Colladay later in the quarter and a one-yard TD run by Paxson in the fourth quarter, where the first points of the season for the Breakers.

Senior Andrew Paddon, who started the first three games at quarterback, will play receiver and cornerback, as well as back-up at quarterback, Todd said.

St. Monica has struggled offensively in two games, both losses. The Mariners are coming off a 14-7 loss Friday to Animo Leadership of Inglewood. They dropped their season opener Sept. 12, 20-7, to Mary Star of the Sea.

Hector Santiesteban is the Mariners’ leading rusher with a 6.8 per carry average (102 yards on 15 carries).

BREAKERS MVP

Name: Ethan Quirarte

Year: Junior

Positions: Defensive end; receiver

Height: 6-1

Weight: 205

Highlights: Quirarte was part of a Laguna defense that had to contend with the unorthodox A-11 offense run by Piedmont in a Sept. 20 nonleague game at Guyer Field. The junior came up with 12 tackles, six of which went for loss, in Laguna’s home opener.

Coach’s comments: “Ethan just played a dominant game,” Jonathan Todd said. “He really came up with some big stops against an offense that is hard to defend.”

MIKE SCIACCA covers sports. He can be reached at (949) 494-4321 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.