Eagles meet match

LAGUNA HILLS — One day, Estancia High football coach Mike Bargas can envision the Eagles as the defending CIF champions, using a first-round game as a stepping stone and a means to an end.

“We want to win the whole thing,” Bargas said. “That’s why I came over here.”

But Friday night, the opponent was the defending CIF Southern Section Southern Division champion, Laguna Hills. And the result was simply the end for Estancia, which fell, 34-7, in the first round of this year’s Southern Division playoffs.

Bargas admitted the Eagles (6-5) would have to play a nearly flawless game to get past the Pacific Coast League champion Hawks (9-2). On the other hand, he wasn’t displeased with his team’s effort on both sides of the ball.

Estancia held No. 3-seeded Laguna Hills to around the 32 points it had been averaging during league play, and one of the Hawks’ scores Friday night came off a blocked punt that was recovered in the end zone.

“They’re a good football team,” Bargas said of the Hawks. “We were a little mismatched, outgunned, but our kids played extremely hard for four quarters. We went after them. We got after them all night tonight. We were glad we were able to make it to the playoffs and have another week to get better.”

Laguna Hills scored touchdowns on its first three drives in the first half to open up a 20-0 lead. Sophomore Alex Salara, listed at just 5-foot-5, slithered and bounced off tackles on a five-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Then, after an Estancia three-and-out, he caught up to a long pass from quarterback Tim Belman for a 42-yard score to give Laguna Hills the three-score advantage.

Estancia, which had two first downs on its opening drive, wasn’t able to get another one until the fourth quarter. But the Eagles took advantage of an opportunity presented when Laguna Hills muffed a punt reception. Eagles sophomore Ozzy Magana recovered the miscue and two plays later, senior Sean Davis found the end zone from 29 yards out to get Estancia on the board with 7:38 left in the game.

The play was the only one of the night for Estancia that went for more than 11 yards.

“We couldn’t get to the second level,” Bargas said. “We’d get a first down and stalemate. We knew what they were going to run, we were just a little outgunned.”

Estancia senior Alek Kirshner did a gutsy job at quarterback, avoiding the Laguna Hills pass rush — and potential sacks — all game long.

Laguna Hills moves on to play Segerstrom, which defeated Mayfair in overtime in another first-round game Friday night.

Laguna Hills 34, Estancia 7

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Estancia 0-0-0-7--7

Laguna Hills 14-6-7-7--34

FIRST QUARTER

LH – Miranda 15 run (Burke kick), 9:47.

LH – Salara 5 run (Burke kick), 0:05.

SECOND QUARTER

LH – Salara 42 pass from Belman (kick failed), 6:22.

THIRD QUARTER

LH – Blocked punt recovered by McCullough in end zone (Burke kick), 10:05.

FOURTH QUARTER

LH – Vorsheck 7 run (Burke kick), 11:55.

Est – Davis 29 run (Kirchberg kick), 7:38. 

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

Est – Davis, 11-52, 1 TD; Kirshner, 6-25; Abalos, 4-5; Treiger, 1-4; Carlyle, 1-3; Abernathy, 1-2.

LH – Miranda, 15-117, 1 TD; Bonutto, 5-63; Vorsheck, 7-39, 1 TD; Salara, 4-25, 1 TD; Belman, 2-19; Lambert, 3-7; Camarce, 2-7; Brock, 1-7; Winston, 1-0. 

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

Est – Kirshner, 4-8-1, 26.

LH – Belman, 5-9-0, 85, 1 TD. 

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

Est – Calabrese, 2-14; Carlyle, 1-11; Abernathy, 1-1.

LH – Salara, 2-50, 1 TD; Martindale, 2-21; Helmuth, 1-14.