Breakers continue stunning season

Through two playoff games, the Laguna Beach High football team has shown it can withstand the best its opponents have to offer.

And when it comes down to a test of mettle, the Breakers have come out on top both times.

In a CIF Southern Section Division 13 quarterfinal Friday, the Breakers played host to a Boron team that was led by a pair of bruising running backs who combined for nearly 3,000 yards coming into the contest.

The Bobcats’ ground game excelled as expected, but the Breakers made huge plays in critical situations and came away with a 21-14 victory.

Laguna Beach (8-4) plays No. 1 seed Santa Ana in a semifinal next Friday.

Santa Ana defeated Azusa, 41-0, in its quarterfinal game Friday.

“Those kids were warriors over on their side,” Laguna Coach John Shanahan said of the Bobcats. “But our kids had tremendous guts just to fight back and go and go and go.”

The fourth-seeded Bobcats were led by running back Emilio Gutierrez, who rushed for 176 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries, and Laron Cherry, who carried 40 times for 168 yards and a touchdown.

With the scored tied at 14 in the fourth quarter and the Bobcats facing a fourth-and-1 from the Laguna Beach 42, Cherry was tackled for a loss.

The Breakers took over and needed just four plays to go 59 yards capping the drive on a three-yard scoring run from quarterback Curtis Harrison, who scored all three touchdowns for Laguna Beach.

Boron started the ensuing drive on its own 25 with 7:22 remaining.

With Cherry and Gutierrez running on nearly every play, the Bobcats drove 74 yards on 15 plays and with 1:32 remaining, the game came down to a fourth-and-goal from the 1.

Gutierrez got the handoff and ran left, but was gang-tackled a half-yard short of the end zone by Harrison, Matt Hayes, Sean Nolan, Adam Armstrong.

Laguna Beach took over and ran out the clock thanks to an offside penalty and a pair big runs from Hayes.

“We gave up those long runs, but when it came to crunch time, we were able to stop them,” Hayes said. “Our team rallies to the ball. That is just our mentality.”

Cherry’s 19-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter was the only score in the firsts half.

The Breakers came out in the third quarter and scored twice within 90 seconds.

Harrison ran straight up the middle for a 34-yard touchdown to give the Breakers a 7-6 lead.

On the ensuing drive, the Breakers Sean Nolan intercepted a pass and returned it 43 yards to the Boron 15-yard line.

Two plays later, Harrison scored on one-yard run to put Laguna Beach ahead 14-6.

Boron came back and scored on a 15-yard run from Gutierrez.

Gutierrez ran in the two-point conversion to tie the score, setting the stage for Harrison’s third touchdown run and the big stop by the Breakers’ defense.

After losing four in a row earlier this season, the Breakers are riding a six-game winning streak.

CIF SS Division 13 Quarterfinal playoff

Laguna Beach 21, Boron 14

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Boron 0 6 8 0 - 14

Laguna Beach 0 0 14 7 - 21

SECOND QUARTER

Bor – Cherry 19 run, (kick failed), 1:23.

THIRD QUARTER

LB – Harrison 34 run, (Nolan kick), 9:23.

LB – Harrison 1 run, (Nolan kick), 8:29.

Bor – Gutierrez 15 run, (Gutierrez run), 5:27.

FOURTH QUARTER

LB – Harrison 3 run, (Nolan kick), 7:29.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

Bor – Cherry 40-168, TD.

LB – Hayes 12-108.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

Bor – Davis 2-5-1-20.

LB – Harrison 10-20-0-219.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

Bor – Robertson 2-20.

LB – Knill 3-83.