Breakers clinch OCL’s No. 2 seed
LAGUNA BEACH — Friday’s season finale couldn’t be characterized as pretty.
It didn’t have to be for Laguna Beach High and its fans.
The Breakers forced seven turnovers en route to a 39-14 victory over Calvary Chapel in a critical Orange Coast League game at Laguna Beach High.
With the win, the Breakers (6-4, 4-1) clinched the league’s No. 2 seed.
“Everyone was just so pumped because they haven’t been to the playoffs,” Breakers defensive back Sean Nolan said. “They were just practicing hard to try to get into the playoffs, and then that’s what we did. Everyone is just so happy.”
Godinez won the Orange Coast League title after finishing league play undefeated by beating Estancia, 42-6, in its final game.
There were a lot of points scored, but make no mistake, this game belonged to the Laguna Beach defense.
The Breakers’ secondary made the season finale a living nightmare for Calvary Chapel quarterback Sam Lak.
Coming off a game in which he threw for 303 yards and five touchdowns, the Breakers flipped the script with six interceptions on defense.
Nolan recorded three interceptions. Adam Armstrong had two, and Matt Hayes added another. Henry Syvertsen recovered a fumble.
That gave the Laguna Beach offense ample opportunity to score, and it converted for 12 points off of turnovers.
“Amazing,” Breakers Coach John Shanahan said of his team creating seven turnovers. “We were fairly certain that we were going to get a lot of interceptions with the way that they like to throw it up. We started to sit our corners and play our backside safeties over the top for deep routes.”
Although four of the interceptions came in the first half, Laguna Beach started out slowly. The Breakers managed just two field goals from Nolan off those four possessions.
A screen pass from Curtis Harrison to Bruce Knill went for a 37-yard score, sending the Breakers into halftime with a 20-8 lead.
Laguna Beach extended its lead coming out of the break. It started with a short field after Calvary Chapel attempted an onsides kick to start the second half.
Harrison made the Eagles (3-7, 3-2) pay, finding John Langton for a 31-yard touchdown on a 4th-and-22 play.
After Syvertsen recovered the fumble on Calvary Chapel’s first drive of the third quarter, the Breakers capitalized. Harrison found Nolan to his right, and the sophomore walked in from 10 yards out to make it 33-8.
“For whatever reason, we don’t start games real well,” Shanahan said. “Five or six weeks ago, we wouldn’t have bounced back from that early adversity. It’s just a great commentary on how gritty our kids have become over the last five or six weeks.”
Harrison finished the game with 168 passing yards for three touchdowns. He added 53 yards on the ground with a rushing score.
Hayes rounded out the scoring with a 24-yard rushing touchdown.
Laguna Beach won the game, but it has some issues to deal with before the playoffs begin.
Harrison was sacked seven times in the game, three of them by Eagles’ outside linebacker Bryce Debernarde.
A skirmish at the 8:46 mark of the second quarter saw multiple players get ejected. Among them was Ryan Blaser, Laguna Beach’s leading wide receiver.
As one might imagine, the news was not well received by the Breakers’ sideline. The coaching staff voiced its displeasure with the officiating crew.
Blaser ripped off his helmet behind his teammates, scowling in the direction of the field as he walked off to the locker room.
“He didn’t throw a punch, but he did get a hand up inside the face mask,” Shanahan said. “Supposedly, that’s what started the melee over there.”
“It’s disappointing, but those are great refs. I’ve been around those guys for 15 years.”
CIF rules dictate that a player who is ejected from a contest will receive a minimum of a one-game suspension, meaning that all players ejected in Friday’s season finale would miss a potential first-round playoff game.
Noah Mireles also received an ejection for Calvary Chapel.
Orange Coast League
Laguna Beach 39, Calvary Chapel 14
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Calvary Chapel 6-2-6-0 – 14
Laguna Beach 13-7-13-6 – 39
FIRST QUARTER
CC – Carnevale 76 pass from Lak (Koth kick failed), 9:05.
LB – Harrison 5 run (Nolan kick), 5:37.
LB – Nolan 32 FG, 3:55.
LB – Nolan 33 FG, 0:34.
SECOND QUARTER
CC – Safety (Offensive Penalty in End Zone), 6:30.
LB – Knill 37 pass from Harrison (Nolan kick), 1:15.
THIRD QUARTER
LB – Langton 31 pass from Harrison (Nolan kick), 9:09.
LB – Nolan 10 pass from Harrison (Nolan run failed), 8:11.
CC – Ka. Headington 31 pass from Lak (Lak pass failed), 6:13.
FOURTH QUARTER
LB – Hayes 24 run (Nolan kick failed), 6:11.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
CC – Lak, 11-80.
LB – Hayes, 6-58, 1 TD.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
CC – Lak, 17-43-6, 264, 2 TDs.
LB – Harrison, 13-25-1, 3 TDs.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
CC – Carnevale, 5-115, 1 TD.
LB – Armstrong, 6-56.
