Corona del Mar football can’t stop La Serna in Division 4 title game
A La Serna offense firing on all cylinders proved a tough challenge for the Corona del Mar High football team on Friday night.
The Lancers rushed to judgment in the CIF Southern Section Division 4 title game, earning their third CIF crown in program history.
A huge effort from senior running back Owen Long helped lift host La Serna to a 49-29 victory at California High, denying CdM its seventh section title.
Long had 174 yards rushing and four touchdowns for No. 2-seeded La Serna (11-3), which won its ninth straight game and has scored at least 42 points in every game in that run.
In the four-game playoff sprint to the Division 4 title, coach Andy George’s Lancers averaged more than 49 points per game and won each game by at least 20 points.
“The speed of that offense, the speed of that front, it’s just really hard to acclimate to it,” CdM coach Kevin Hettig said. “You can’t replicate it in practice. But it wasn’t for a lack of effort, or a lack of intensity. They got after us. They played really well.”
No. 4-seeded Corona del Mar (8-6) couldn’t cash in on chances early after La Serna took a 7-0 lead on Long’s 15-yard touchdown run. The Sea Kings drove the ball to the 2-yard line on a long completion from Kaleb Annett to Russell Weir.
But CdM senior running back Owen Sanders was shaken up on a 2-yard loss, then a sack by La Serna’s Adrian Castro backed the Sea Kings up even more. They had to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Colin Pene.
A big play on defense gave CdM a chance for the lead. Dillon Lane tipped a pass that was intercepted by Cameron Benion, who returned the ball to the La Serna 10-yard line.
It ended up being another first-and-goal opportunity missed. Another key sack by La Serna linebacker Eli Perez backed CdM up, and a subsequent field goal try was no good early in the second quarter.
“We’re got to score on those,” Hettig said. “In a game like this, you can’t play average.”
CdM earned its lone first-half touchdown on a 92-yard kickoff return by senior Jaden Mwendepole. Meanwhile, La Serna went on to score 28 points in the second quarter — including two more rushing touchdowns by Long — to take a commanding 35-9 halftime lead.
The Lancers’ Kaimana Tufaga and Lazlo Haas intercepted Annett on back-to-back throws late in the half, the latter on a play where the Boise State-bound senior was simply trying to get rid of the ball out of bounds. And for the game, La Serna recorded five quarterback sacks, two each by Perez and Castro, while consistently getting Annett out of the pocket.
Annett rallied the Sea Kings in the second half, throwing three touchdown passes to Weir. But a 44-yard touchdown run on a keeper by La Serna senior quarterback CJ Ceron all but iced the game, giving the Lancers a 44-22 lead midway through the fourth quarter.
La Serna rushed for more than 300 yards in the game. Long, an Idaho commit, held the CIF championship plaque high in the air after the game, before jumping into a crowd of teammates.
“He’s a dog, he always has been,” Perez said. “All of the running backs are dogs. We feel like we can run the ball whenever we want to.”
It was still a memorable run to the CIF title game for the Sea Kings, appearing in their seventh championship game since 2011.
“They left their mark on this program,” said Hettig, a longtime offensive coordinator who concluded his first year as head coach. “This is a special group of kids that battled a lot this year and hung together through it. Obviously, you want to take advantage of an opportunity when you get to this game, but this last five weeks have been some of the best five weeks I’ve ever had coaching. It’s been so much fun to coach this group the last five weeks.”
Pene, a senior linebacker and team captain, knelt on the ground in reflection for a moment after the game, before getting up and offering hugs to his teammates. A three-sport athlete at CdM who has also played soccer and baseball, this was his first CIF title game in any of them.
“It doesn’t matter what division, where we are, this is a special moment either way,” Pene said. “Even though it’s really tough, I appreciate the last bit of heart everyone gave on my team. It shows how much of a brother they are to me, every one of them.
“We got the best of the best [playing against La Serna]. Just seeing how much they score every game, I was really thinking that we could rise to the challenge. They gave their all, and I’m glad everyone on our team gave our all. We definitely could have played better, though.”
CIF Southern Section Division 4 playoffs
Championship game
La Serna 49, Corona del Mar 29
Corona del Mar 3 - 6 - 7 - 13 — 29
La Serna 7 - 28 - 0 - 14 — 49
FIRST QUARTER
LS — Long 15 run (Miranda kick), 6:35.
CdM — Pene 31 FG, 2:07.
SECOND QUARTER
LS — Long 55 run (Miranda kick), 11:23.
CdM — Mwendepole 92 kickoff return (kick blocked), 11:08.
LS — Ramos 22 pass from Ceron (Miranda kick), 6:41.
LS — Long 9 run (Miranda kick), 1:44.
LS — Long 4 run (Miranda kick), 0:39.
THIRD QUARTER
CdM — Weir 6 pass from Annett (Pene kick), 2:22.
FOURTH QUARTER
CdM — Weir 2 pass from Annett (Pene kick), 9:38.
LS — Ceron 44 run (Miranda kick), 7:43.
LS — Castro 3 run (Miranda kick), 2:18.
CdM — Weir 37 pass from Annett (Pene kick), 1:32.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
CdM — Lucas, 7-9.
LS — Long, 19-172, 4 TDs.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
CdM — Annett, 21-39-2, 292, 3 TDs.
LS — Ceron, 5-10-1, 55, 1 TD.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
CdM — Weir, 8-126, 3 TDs; Stecker, 6-100.
LS — Northrup, 3-28.
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