Sands helps CdM recover

One of the first things Mitch Sands learned from his new football coach was a 14-step program.

Corona del Mar High’s program was in dire need of a recovery back in April.

Jason Hitchens had just signed on to take over the Sea Kings. Players were excited as much as they were relieved.

You try going four months without a leader.

“That was pretty crazy not having a head coach,” Sands said. “I was actually in baseball [season], but the kids that were in off-season football they would go in and just lift on their own in the weight room.

“Obviously there’s no structure.”

Hitchens introduced the Sea Kings to the 14-step program.

Sands bought into it. No questions asked. Why? Players just wanted to believe in a plan, any plan after failing to make the playoffs under Coach Dick Freeman last season.

“Once we got him,” Sands said of Hitchens, “we were a little behind ... compared to other schools. He told us that. We got a late start.”

Better late than never, right?

The Sea Kings have followed Hitchens’ strategy of taking it one game at a time until reaching the final game of the year — the championship.

As to what step CdM is currently at, Sands is quick to point it out.

“We’re on the 12th,” he said.

Sands has played a major role in CdM’s success.

The No. 2-seeded Sea Kings (9-2) play at Laguna Beach (5-6) in the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Southern Division playoffs tonight at 7.

Sands enters the game with impressive numbers in his senior year. He’s thrown for 1,322 yards and 19 touchdowns and only eight interceptions.

The touchdown total is near a CdM single-season record. Sands got closer to the mark by throwing a 60-yard touchdown pass to Dillon Norton in the Sea Kings’ 26-15 first-round victory against La Mirada last week.

Three touchdowns separate Sands from Taylor Hughes’ 22 in 2006.

The former teammates run into each other at the local gym from time to time. Hughes played at Orange Coast College this season and Sands said he attended one of Hughes’ recent games.

Sands never mentioned to Hughes that he broke his regular-season touchdown record of 15. Sands’ four-touchdown performance against University, coming in the ninth game of the season, surpassed Hughes.

So, who brought it up to Hughes at the OCC game?

“My buddy brought it up,” Sands said of senior Max Haase, one of Sands’ favorite targets at wide receiver. “[Hughes] kind of chuckled and told me to [try and] break his single-season record.”

Haase is going to do his best to help Sands erase another Hughes record.

Sands has a great chance to do accomplish the feat against Laguna Beach. CdM beat the Breakers, 37-0, at Newport Harbor High on Sept. 12.

On that night, Sands twice completed touchdown passes to senior receiver Noah Molnar. One went for 11 yards, the other 51 yards.

“He doesn’t throw bad balls,” Molnar said.

Haase believes Sands could’ve been making accurate throws last year.

Instead, CdM struggled offensively, averaging 15 points per game. The Sea Kings finished 4-5 and missed the postseason for the first time since 2003.

With Sands moving from backup to starter at quarterback, the Sea Kings are potent. They’re averaging 28.5 points per game.

There are many reasons for the team’s turnaround from a year ago. More experienced players, to a new spread option offense, to a new coaching staff, but Sands said the No. 1 reason is that everyone early on bought into Hitchens’ 14-step program.

“It definitely does help [us believe in it] because he’s won,” said Sands, referring to Hitchens guiding St. Margaret’s to the CIF Southern Section Northeast Division championship during his one-year stint in 2006.

Hitchens now has the Sea Kings one win away from reaching the semifinals for the first time since 1995.

“We go back to the spring,” Hitchens said of where the road to the championship began this year. “Everything we’ve kind of been doing, even conditioning-wise, is built around 14 [steps].”

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at david.carrillo@latimes.com.