Daily Pilot High School Football Player of the Week: CdM’s Garbers is a winner
Chase Garbers hasn’t lost many football games during his three years as Corona del Mar High’s starting quarterback. He can count the losses on his right throwing hand.
The setback that still eats at Garbers to this day was the one to Trabuco Hills two years ago. He was a sophomore back then, starting his fifth game for the Sea Kings, the second in the CIF Southern Section Southwest Division playoffs.
After that quarterfinal game, Garbers noticed something most would not at his young age. The Mustangs’ upset of the top-seeded Sea Kings not only ended CdM’s run at a fourth consecutive section title, but also the careers of 21 seniors.
“Just losing and seeing all those seniors at the end. It was a bad and sad loss,” Garbers said. “Going into [the Pacific Coast League], those seniors were preaching how this is their last PCL run, how this is going to be their last everything. It definitely went by way too fast. Now this is our last PCL run and our last shot at the playoffs.”
Garbers is in his senior year, and right before CdM kicked off league play with Woodbridge on Thursday, it faced Trabuco Hills. He looked forward to seeing the Mustangs again.
For the third straight year, Garbers faced the Mustangs. He has gotten the better of Trabuco Hills in the past two meetings, last year in the opening round of the postseason and last week during nonleague play.
In the first half last week, Garbers, a Cal commit, threw for 315 yards and five touchdowns. The host Sea Kings didn’t need his services in the second half of a 55-14 rout at Jim Scott Stadium.
“We definitely hold that grudge as seniors of what they did to us our sophomore year,” Garbers said of the Mustangs. “It gave us a little fire in our bellies. We kind of took it to them.”
Everyone seemed to score against Trabuco Hills, even Garbers’ center, Arwin Rahmatpanah.
Right after Garbers’ fifth touchdown pass with 9:16 left in the second quarter, Rahmatpanah stayed on the field for the extra-point kick.
“I thought he was going to go snap the ball,” Garbers said. “When I saw him line up at kicker, I was like, ‘This is going to be interesting.’”
With his knee braces on, Rahmatpanah converted the PAT, giving CdM a 41-0 lead. The talk all week at CdM has been about that kick by a 255-pound lineman.
“You got to give the linemen love,” CdM Coach Dan O’Shea said with a smile. “They block better when they’re happy.”
The offensive line is a huge reason why Garbers said he has been successful. Through six games, he has thrown for 1,650 yards and 18 touchdowns, with zero interceptions, and rushed for four touchdowns.
It’s hard to get to Garbers because of the protection. A week ago, Rahmatpanah, left tackle Bryan Aceves, filling in for a sick Colston Chacon, left guard Sean Owens, right guard Bryan Samudro and right tackle Denham King, prevented Trabuco Hills from sacking Garbers.
Garbers had plenty of time to complete 19 of 25 passes. Four of those completions resulted in touchdowns to wide receiver TaeVeon Le, for 49, 25, 11 and four yards. The longest touchdown went to receiver Cameron Kormos, for 73 yards.
Seeing Kormos on offense is something Garbers said he was happy about since Kormos starts on the other side of the ball for CdM as a cornerback.
“We always tell him that he’s going to play offense, and then it just ends up never happening,” Garbers said. “He worked a lot of slot with us [in the summer] and then he had to go play defense. I’d like him at receiver. He’s a special skill set. He’s 5-10 and he has the ability to go get vertical balls.
“I think this group [of receivers] right now is definitely the most versatile [I’ve had]. This is the first time I’ve ever been able to throw it vertically and [let them] go get the ball because we have exceptional speed and height on the outside with [Le, who is 6-foot-4] and Billy [Shaw, who is 6-3], and then Reese [Perez] is one shifty dude.”
With the talented options at his disposal, Garbers has completed 71% of his passes. Rarely does he make mistakes, as only five of his 653 career attempts have been picked off.
Sixty-two of his career passes have gone for touchdowns. The number ranks No.9 in the Orange County record book. Garbers could have more touchdowns, if not for CdM pulling him at halftime against Trabuco Hills. Last year, he stopped playing after the first half of four games, and two years ago, he shared the signal caller duties for the first part of the year.
The wins are more important to Garbers. He has led CdM (5-1, 1-0 in league), ranked No. 4 in the CIF Southern Section Division 4 poll, to five straight victories since it opened the season with a 42-20 loss at Palos Verdes.
“[We] came out a little soft, a little flat, and that’s what got us,” Garbers said of the Aug.26 game that kicked off at 3p.m. “It was a wake-up call. I think it is [good that we lost]. Definitely better Week 1 than Week 12 or Week 13.”
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Chase Garbers
Born: June 6, 1999
Hometown: Newport Beach
Height: 6-foot-3
Weight: 215 pounds
Sport: Football
Year: Senior
Coach: Dan O’Shea
Favorite food: Swordfish
Favorite movie: “Lone Survivor”
Favorite athletic moment: “[Winning] Battle of the Bay [against rival Newport Harbor] this year.”
Week in review: Garbers completed 19 of 25 passes for 315 yards and five touchdowns in the Sea Kings’ 55-14 win against Trabuco Hills at Jim Scott Stadium.
