Corona del Mar football falls to Orange Lutheran in Division 2 quarterfinals
Max Lane is going to Harvard University and will play baseball there.
Lane, a senior receiver for the Corona del Mar High football team, has a bright future. But it didn’t take an Ivy Leaguer to know that the Sea Kings would have to play extremely well to hang with Orange Lutheran on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs.
“We knew we were fighting uphill, but we were excited to be able to give it a shot,” Lane said. “We had nothing to lose. We were honored to be in this division and battle with all of these guys.”
Despite two touchdown passes from junior quarterback David Rasor to Lane, the Lancers ended the Sea Kings’ season with a 38-14 win at Davidson Field.
Senior quarterback Logan Gonzalez threw touchdown passes to four different receivers for Orange Lutheran (8-4), which advanced to its first CIF semifinal since 2008. The third-seeded Lancers will play at No. 2-seeded Chatsworth Sierra Canyon next week.
CdM (9-3), meanwhile, suffered its first playoff loss since the 2018 season.
“I’m so proud of our kids,” CdM coach Dan O’Shea said. “They’re (the Lancers) a really, really good football team. One of the best two or three we’ve ever played.
“They compare to the JSerra team in 2018 [another Trinity League team that beat CdM 49-7 in a nonleague season opener]. But I tell you what, there’s nothing better than coaching Corona del Mar football. It was a great season.”
Rasor’s 45-yard touchdown pass to Lane, streaking over the middle of the field, gave CdM an early edge. But the Sea Kings couldn’t score again in the first half.
Orange Lutheran tied the score on a two-yard touchdown run from Desmin Jackson, then took the lead late in the first quarter on a 25-yard touchdown pass to Hayden Faraday.
Dieter Kelly’s 36-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the half gave the visitors a 17-7 halftime lead. Orange Lutheran got the ball to begin the second half, and Gonzalez found Pierce Brown on a 19-yard touchdown pass as the Lancers started pulling away.
“We’re super-excited,” said Gonzalez, who also threw touchdown passes to Caleb Marshall and Jace Rodriguez. “All of us seniors grew up together. To grow from the ground up is pretty amazing. We’ll be ready [for the semifinals], and we’re excited.”
Jackson, a Dartmouth commit, had 12 carries for 55 yards but also led the Lancers with six catches, for 53 yards.
“He’s a dirty, dirty weapon offensively for them,” O’Shea said. “That was tough for us to defend. We have an incredible amount of respect for [Jackson] … We were real proud of the fact defensively that they couldn’t run the football, but they did such a good job playing catch in the short-to-medium distance all night. It’s just a nightmare with their athleticism in space. We had our hands full.”
CdM’s first drive of the second half was impressive. It went 16 plays and was highlighted by a few tough runs by senior Charlie Mannon.
On fourth-and-goal from the Orange Lutheran six-yard line, Rasor found Lane in the end zone, near the right sideline. CdM closed to within 24-14 late in the third quarter, but couldn’t get closer.
Manaia Ala had a late interception to help seal the game for Orange Lutheran.
Lane, who finished with eight catches for 93 yards and the two touchdowns, said his lessons learned in the CdM program went beyond football.
“This program has really shaped me as a player, obviously, but also as a man,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot of powerful life lessons through this program, ones I’ll never forget.”
That’s a goal of O’Shea, who said CdM has a 121-19-1 record since he joined the program as a defensive coordinator in 2011.
He gave credit to associate head coach/offensive coordinator Kevin Hettig and defensive coordinator Brian Pearsall “for giving us a chance against teams that are bigger, faster and stronger in many regards.”
“Over the last 11 years, it’s been a heck of a journey,” O’Shea said. “It’s been an honor to take this program from where we were, what we took on in 2011 … to get to playing teams like Orange Lutheran, Sierra Canyon and Grace Brethren. It’s a massive challenge, and we embrace it 100%.”
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CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs
Quarterfinal
Orange Lutheran 38, Corona del Mar 14
Orange Lutheran 14 – 3 – 7 – 14 — 38
Corona del Mar 7 – 0 – 7 – 0 — 14
FIRST QUARTER
CdM — Lane 45 pass from Rasor (Pene kick), 9:09.
OL — Jackson 2 run (Kelly kick), 3:29.
OL — Faraday 25 pass from Gonzalez (Kelly kick), 1:26.
SECOND QUARTER
OL — Kelly 36 FG, 0:03.
THIRD QUARTER
OL — Brown 19 pass from Gonzalez (Kelly kick), 9:09.
CdM — Lane 6 pass from Rasor (Pene kick), 1:20.
FOURTH QUARTER
OL — Marshall 6 pass from Gonzalez (Kelly kick), 9:56.
OL — Rodriguez 5 pass from Gonzalez (Kelly kick), 5:33.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
OL — Jackson, 12-55.
CdM — Mannon, 5-38.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
OL — Gonzalez, 27-36-0, 279, 4 TDs.
CdM — Rasor, 20-32-1, 174, 2 TDs.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
OL — Blackmon, 5-60.
CdM — Lane, 8-93, 2 TDs.
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