Western football edges Laguna Beach in overtime for Pac 4 League championship

Laguna Beach High faced a daunting task Friday when it hosted Western in a football matchup that would decide at least a share of the Pac 4 League title. Western’s stingy defense had blanked six of its eight opponents and had surrendered only 29 points the entire season.

After four quarters of the Pioneers’ ninth game, the scoreboard read 49-49.

The game hadn’t been tied for long, technically only five seconds remained with Western holding on to a seven-point lead. That’s when Jack Pigott hauled in a game-tying, five-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Johnson as he fell to the ground with two seconds to go in regulation.

Unfortunately, the Breakers could not engineer the same magic trailing by a touchdown in overtime. Western pulled out a wild 56-49 win, clinching at least a share of its second straight Pac 4 League title.

With one league game left in the regular season, the Pioneers (8-1, 2-0 in league) can wrap up the outright league crown with a victory at home against Godinez (1-8, 0-2) on Nov. 1. The Breakers (5-4, 1-1) are in a fight for second place on Nov. 1 when they play at Ocean View (6-3, 1-1).

A CIF Southern Section playoff berth will be on the line for both Laguna Beach and the Seahawks. A year ago, they shared the league title with Western.

Breakers coach John Shanahan tried to put the Western game in perspective.

“I know I’m supposed to say all the right stuff right now, but I wanted that thing for our kids so bad,” Shanahan said. “Western is a phenomenal team with great coaches. I’ll think back on it tomorrow and be proud of it, and think of it as a great growth point in our season.”

It was a heartbreaking and record-breaking loss for Laguna Beach.

Senior receiver Raul Villalobos broke the Laguna Beach single-game receiving yards record, finishing with 267. Johnson, a senior, threw a single-game record seven touchdowns, breaking his mark of six.

Villalobos had seven catches, four going for touchdowns. Johnson completed 19 of 26 passes for 397 yards, including an interception. Johnson and Villalobos combined for the third-longest play in Laguna Beach history on a 94-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.

“It was amazing,” said Villalobos, whose team outscored Western 28-14 in the second half to force overtime. “We fought for our senior night. I don’t take this as a loss. It feels amazing, I couldn’t do it without my quarterback. We honestly fought for this moment. There are good things coming our way.”

Caine Savage led the way for Western, ranked No. 7 in the CIF Southern Section Division 10 poll. He caught 12 passes for 169 yards and three touchdowns. Quarterback Isiah Del Toro completed 22 of 27 passes for 390 yards and five touchdowns, and he ran for a one-yard touchdown.

Western quickly compiled a 21-point lead early in the second quarter, but Laguna Beach fought back on 50- and 37-yard touchdown connections from Johnson to Villalobos.

Laguna Beach looked like it would go into halftime down a touchdown. Pigott caught a 37-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to make it 28-21 with 34 seconds remaining in the first half.

Unfortunately, Del Toro and Savage connected on two consecutive plays, the second was a 45-yard touchdown pass to stretch the Western lead to 35-21 with 15 seconds left before the break.

The drama reached its peak in the fourth quarter. The Breakers rallied to tie the game at 42-42, but then Savage caught his second touchdown, a 33-yarder that put Western ahead 49-42 with 48 seconds left.

However, Laguna Beach marched down the field using all of its timeouts. On fourth-and-goal from the Western five-yard line, Johnson found Pigott in the end zone and the Breakers tied it with the extra point.

The game would head to overtime, and on fourth-and-four, Del Toro found Savage for a go-ahead, 10-yard touchdown pass.

Western coach Dan Davidson was giddy after the win.

“My hat is off to Coach Shanahan. Amazing offense,” Davidson said. “We have some good guys who are pretty special and he ended up causing us issues. It was a great game. I was honored to be a part of it. I’m hoping this does great things for both teams.”

Pac 4 League

Western 56, Laguna Beach 49

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Western 14 – 21 – 0 – 14 – 7 — 56

Laguna Beach 0 – 21 – 7 – 21 – 0 — 49

FIRST QUARTER

W – Cas. Savage 29 pass from Del Toro (Ibanez kick), 10:42.

W – Hagan 7 INT return (Ibanez kick), 3:35.

SECOND QUARTER

W – Del Toro 1 run (Ibanez kick), 10:25.

LB – Villalobos 50 pass from Johnson (Kesler kick), 7:31.

W – Sauvao 33 pass from Del Toro (Ibanez kick), 7:00.

LB – Villalobos 37 pass from Johnson (Kesler kick), 4:21.

LB – Pigott 37 pass from Johnson (Kesler kick), 0:34.

W – Cai. Savage 45 pass from Del Toro (Ibanez kick), 0:15.

THIRD QUARTER

LB – Villalobos 47 pass from Johnson (Kesler kick), 9:28.

FOURTH QUARTER

W – Sauvao 1 run (Ibanez kick), 9:35.

LB – Pigott 16 pass from Johnson (Kesler kick), 7:06.

LB – Villalobos 94 pass from Johnson (Kesler kick), 4:45.

W – Cai. Savage 33 pass from Del Toro (Ibanez kick), 0:48.

LB – Pigott 5 pass from Johnson (Kesler kick), 0:02.

OVERTIME

W – Cai. Savage 10 pass from Del Toro (Ibanez kick).

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

W – Del Toro, 7-89, 1 TD.

LB – Fields, 11-96.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

W – Del Toro, 22-27, 390, 5 TDs.

LB – Johnson, 19-26-1, 397, 7 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

W – Cai. Savage, 12-169, 3 TDs.

LB – Villalobos, 7-267, 4 TDs.

::

Support our sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber.

For more sports stories, visit latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/sports or follow us on Twitter @DailyPilotSport.