High School Football Preview: Corona del Mar vs. Murrieta Mesa

Corona del Mar (9-1) vs. Murrieta Mesa (5-5)

When/where: Friday, 7 p.m. at Jim Scott Stadium

Key Sea Kings: Sr. QB Chase Garbers (182 of 256 passing for 2,882 yards, 37 TDs, three INTs); Jr. WR TaeVeon Le (56 catches for 973 yards, 18 TDs); Sr. WR Billy Shaw (37 catches for 643 yards, seven TDs); Sr. DL Bryce Clabaugh (56 tackles, team-best 9.5 sacks).

Key Rams: Jr. QB Jeff Miller (116 of 192 passing for 1,562 yards, 14 TDs, two INTs); Jr. RB/CB Kai Thompson (164 carries for 1,176 yards and 13 TDs); Jr. WR/FS Giovanni Sanders (35 catches for 509 yards, five TDs).

Breakdown: No. 3-seeded Corona del Mar begins the CIF Southern Section Division 4 playoffs at Estancia High ... The Sea Kings have won nine straight games, including last week’s 70-6 win at Irvine that clinched CdM’s fifth straight outright Pacific Coast League title ... The 70 points against Irvine was a CdM single-game record ... The CdM defense was stingy in league, allowing more than seven points just one time ... For the season, the Sea Kings are averaging 45 points per game and allowing just 14 ... Le has the CdM single-season record for receiving touchdowns at 18, surpassing Peter Bush’s mark of 15 in 2005. Le also is close to breaking the Sea Kings’ single-season marks for receptions (62 by Bush last year) and receiving yards (1,000 by Cole Collins in 2013) ... Murrieta Mesa, led by first-year head coach Darrel Turner, was an at-large selection from the Southwestern League after finishing fourth in the six-team league ... The Sea Kings have won nine straight CIF playoff opening-round games since 2004.

— Matt Szabo