High School Football: Breakers can’t keep up with Lions

WESTMINSTER — For the second straight week, Laguna Beach High fell behind early and couldn’t recover.

For the second time in two games, Westminster used a big first half to put away an opponent.

Laguna traveled Friday to face the No. 3-ranked team in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division and left Boswell Field with a 57-21 nonleague defeat that sent the Breakers to 1-2 on the season. A big, first-quarter deficit led to an even bigger halftime hole for the Breakers who did regroup in the second half to play the Lions on even terms.

Last week, the Lions jumped on rival Marina in the opening half and led 49-0 at the break en route to a 56-7 win. Against Laguna, they pounced immediately, grabbed a 23-0 lead and were in control by the half leading, 51-14.

The Breakers found themselves trailing University 14-0 early and 21-3 at the half, a week ago in a 37-10 loss.

Friday, they couldn’t contain a strong Westminster run game and a Lions’ offense directed by quarterback Matt Dinh. The Lions (2-1) scored on their first three offensive possessions and got a defensive score on Laguna’s second possession. They had quick scoring drives in the first half, too, with three being of the one-play variety.

In the first quarter alone, Humberto Maciel (125 yards) ran for two touchdowns and Dinh threw a pair of TD passes. Maciel started the game with a 26-yard run on the first play from scrimmage, and capped the game’s opening drive with a three-yard scoring run. On the Lions next possession, he found the end zone from 12 yards out.

The Westminster defense was awarded a safety which took the lead to 16-0 when Laguna quarterback Jack Simon threw the ball away from his own end zone in an effort to avoid a heavy rush. The Lions scored one play after taking Laguna’s free kick, Dinh finding receiver Andrew Dotson behind the Laguna secondary and the two combining on a 58-yard scoring pass for a 23-0 lead.

Laguna’s first score came after Carter Monacell recovered a muffed punt by Westminster at the Lions’ nine yard line. On first-and-goal, Simon found receiver Brett Tracy in the middle of the end zone. With under a minute left in the quarter, Dinh threw a 26-yard scoring pass to Danny Tran to make it 30-7.

Dinh, who threw for 244 yards and rushed for 100 in the Lions’ win last week over Marina, passed for 183 against the Breakers and was replaced late in the second quarter by backup quarterback Joe Avila.

“We knew they would be good, and they were as good as advertised,” Laguna Coach Corey Brown said. “We knew they were going to be explosive, that they had a good running game, and we couldn’t stop them. On offense, we couldn’t get things going. We had too many three-and-outs.”

The Breakers did. They went three-and-out on their first three possessions and in six of their first seven. An interception ended their eighth possession, and they didn’t pick up their first first-down of the game until late in the half which came during a 46-yard scoring drive.

A one-yard touchdown run by Raimond Sosene-Feagai followed by scoring runs of 17 and 44 yards by Ken Nguyen, all coming within the first nine minutes of the second quarter, put the Westminster lead at 51-7. Laguna made it 51-14 with 41 seconds left in the half when Simon lobbed a pass toward Tracy who made a falling catch just inside the top-left corner of the end zone.

“The score was pretty much out of hand by halftime and what we did in the locker room at the half, was try to reform our goals,” Brown said. “We wanted to go out there and win the second half, to stay in the fight, run some plays and get guys playing time. I thought our guys did a good job in the second half.”

Laguna struck first in the second half with Simon and Bruce Knill connecting on a 43-yard scoring pass with 7:09 left in the third quarter. Late in the quarter, Avila scored with 21 seconds left on a two-yard run to complete the scoring.

The game went to a running clock in the fourth quarter.

Laguna faces another tough test next week when the Breakers host St. Margaret’s, the top-ranked team in the CIF-SS East Valley Division, at 7 p.m. Sept. 26 at Guyer Field.

The Tartans scored a 44-21 win Friday over Whittier Christian.

“We’ve got a really good team coming through next week, so we have to be ready to play,” Brown said.

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Results/Schedule

Laguna Beach (1-2)

45...Bolsa Grande...12

10...University...37

21...Westminster...57

Sept. 26: St. Margaret’s

Oct. 2: at Northwood

Oct. 10: *at Costa Mesa (at Estancia High)

Oct. 17: *Saddleback (homecoming)

Oct. 24: *at Estancia

Oct. 31: *Calvary Chapel

Nov. 7: *Godinez

(*denotes league game)