Two-minute drill

Corona del Mar High enters its first semifinal football playoff game since 1995 hurting.

When the No. 2-seeded Sea Kings (10-2) play host to No. 3-seeded Lakewood Mayfair (9-3) Saturday at Newport Harbor High at 7 p.m., they will possibly be without five starters.

This creates a problem for a team like CdM, which has a handful of two-way starters.

The Sea Kings lost Dillon Norton, the team’s senior all-purpose threat in the fourth quarter of a 41-0 quarterfinal victory at Laguna Beach Friday.

CdM first-year coach Jason Hitchens said Norton broke his left leg at the end of a 26-yard punt return.

No one on the Sea Kings’ side celebrated after shutting out the Breakers for the second time this season.

With Norton out, he joins sophomore free safety Will Morrow (meniscus) and sophomore kicker Andrew Boehm (tendon), two starters lost for the season.

Both junior linebacker Justin Tam and senior wide receiver/defensive back Andrew Hicks sat out the Laguna Beach game with fracture-related problems.

Hitchens said Hicks might return for the Mayfair game with a hard cast on his wrist. As for Tam, he wasn’t sure.

• Quarterback Mitch Sands has been running the ball quite a bit in the playoffs for CdM.

In two games, the senior has rushed for 187 yards and four touchdowns on 22 carries.

Sands led the team with 14 carries against Laguna Beach and almost led the team in rushing yards. He finished 12 yards behind junior running back Alex Swigert, who had 95 yards.

For someone chasing CdM’s single-season touchdown passes record, Sands has run for more scores than he’s thrown for in the last two weeks.

Sands is cool with only firing three touchdown passes. He needs two more to surpass the school record of 22 set by Taylor Hughes in 2006

“Winning is most important,” Sands said. “I like to run. [I] let the game come to me and try not to force anything.”

• Do you want to know how CdM has done in previous semifinal playoff games? Below are the results:

CdM lost to Servite, 21-16, in 1995.

CdM lost to Newport Harbor, 28-21, in 1992

CdM defeated Sunny Hills, 27-0, in 1989.

CdM defeated Pacifica, 14-7, in 1988.

The Sea Kings went on to win section titles in 1988 and 1989.