CROSS COUNTRY
Girls Second and Boys Finish Third at Wave League Meet
The Breaker Girls Cross Country squad ran a team time of 1:40.06 to finish second to Wave champion Corona del Mar in the league cross country meet held on Oct. 29 at Central Park in Huntington Beach. Laguna was led by Yolo Javier and Brighton Welch, who both earned first-team all-league honors. Kira Flores, Sydney Sydney, Karina Pitz, Hayden Joseph and Anoua Carrie all earned Second Team All-League.
On the boys’ side, Senior runner Christopher Drews ran a 16:21.0 3-mile to finish fifth and earn a first team All-League selection. Theo Drews and Enzo Casolari earned second team honors. Huntington Beach won the Boys’ meet followed by Corona Del Mar, Laguna and Marina.
CIF: The Girls are ranked #9 have qualified and will run in the prelims on Nov. 12. The top 16 teams in Division 4 advance to the finals on Nov. 19 at Mt SAC. Only the top seven teams in the finals will advance to the State on Nov. 26. Christopher Drews qualified as an individual to run the SSCIF D4 preliminaries as the only Laguna Boys representative.
For more information, visit www.lbxc.org for girls’ cross country, and www.lagunabeachcrosscountry.com for boys.
FOOTBALL (7-3, 3-0)
Breakers League Champs! – Host West Torrance In CIF
After 75 years, Laguna has finally put together back-to-back league titles capturing the Pac 4 League last Friday night with a 40-0 victory at Ocean View in Huntington Beach. Not since the days of Vern Dugger has Laguna put together a two-year league dominance, and the Breakers will be the favorites next season, with Westminster their chief obstacle. Laguna was rewarded with a home game to open the SSCIF D9 playoffs this Friday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. at Guyer Field for their 21st post-season run in 88 seasons of varsity football at the school.
Breakers will face West Torrance (5-5), the third-place team from the Pioneer League. The Warriors have wins over Santa Monica, Peninsula, South Torrance, El Segundo, and Torrance with a ranking of #151, just behind the Breakers and appear to be a very similar team to Laguna. The Breaker connection to West High goes back to Dennis Haryung, head coach for Laguna from 1974-77 and 1982-84. Dennis came to the Artists after ten seasons with the Warriors. Haryung was the P.E. instructor at Thurston.
The new CIF rating system instituted last season does the division placement after the conclusion of the regular season. The 16 schools in the assigned playoff division are all ranked in a cluster, so there are no easy contests. D9 schools are ranked between #141 and #162 of the 372 Southern Section schools playing football. Two of Laguna’s 2022 opponents were ranked higher than the Breakers – Crean Lutheran is #126 (Breakers lost 35-27) and Northwood is #130 (a 35-31 Breaker win). They are in D8, while four other opponents have also made the postseason – Capo Valley Christian and Segerstrom in D11, Dana Hills and Westminster in D10.
Who to watch on West Torrance: #8 QB Jackson Sharman, #1 receiver Kyle Cascalenda, and #4 running back Brett James.
Last Friday at Ocean View, Laguna’s defense picked off four passes and three key fumble recoveries. The Sea Hawks had their opening possession end when Sam Garwal picked off a pass for a 35-yard interception return for the initial score. The hosts next went for a net 1 yard, and Laguna responded after the punt with a 7-play 50-yard drive for the second score. Ocean View’s third try with the ball went a minus 8 yards, and that punt resulted in Laguna going nine plays for a touchdown early into the second quarter. After that, the Breakers frequently substituted, with quarterback Jackson Kollock completing passes to 11 different receivers for 343 yards – sixth best in school history. The Sea Hawks still lead the all-time series 6-4-1.
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Rogers 4-38, Kanter 1-7, Kollock 5-(41)
Passing: Team 1-0-0 o yds Kollock 47-29-1 343 yds 3 TDS (Passing yards in a game ranks 6th)
Receiving: Donaldson 5-68, Rodriguez 5-41, Rogers 4-54, Freeman 4-40, Vellmure 4-50, Landa 2-26, Tyus 1-5, Tyson 1-20, Llamas 1-10, Lynn 1-12, Mendelovich 1-6
Interceptions: Garwall 1-35 TD, Landa 1-0, Kanter 2-0
Fumbles: Golden 2-26, Garwal 1-0
Punt Returns: none
Kick-off Returns: none
Punting: Rodriguez 1-48 (inside 2
BOYS SAND VOLLEYBALL
Boys (3-3 League, 3-5 overall) lost their opening playoff match 4-3 to Santa Margarita on Oct. 26 at Main Beach. Laguna lost their final league match 6-1 to Edison on Oct. 19. The league playoffs were held this past week with Newport – Edison and Huntington Beach-Tesoro, the final four teams still alive.
In JV action, Breakers lost in the finals to Newport Harbor on Tuesday, Nov. 1 under windy conditions at the Grant Street Courts in Newport:
#1 Silas Richland/ Ben Goodwin. Lost 17-21, 12-21, #2 Leo Pardun/ Luke Singer lost 6-21, 20-22, #3 Chase Benson/ Luke Tankersley lost 17-21, 20-22, #4 James Vermilya/ Dylan Sirianni lost 15-21, 21-18, 15-6, and #5 Sam Schaffer/ Jonah Goldstein lost 21-23, 10-21.
Boys Water Polo (16-10, 0-6)
Laguna Seeded # 1 in D1 Playoffs
Laguna finished the regular season #9 overall and earned the # 1 seed in the D1 playoffs that opened on Nov. 2. The top eight teams, like last season, were placed in the “Open Division, “but only three public schools made the cut, all from the Sunset Surf League. Los Alamitos faced #1 seed J Serra and Newport had to meet Huntington in their single elimination match.
In D1 with Laguna, Corona del Mar is seeded #2, Orange Lutheran is #3, and Foothill is #4. None of the 10 Laguna losses this season were to teams outside the Open Division.
Laguna opened the single elimination playoff on Nov. 2, facing Redlands East Valley (13-13) at Citrus Valley High School. Should the Breakers advance – they will host on Saturday Nov. 5, either Servite (18-8) or Santa Barbara (25-6). No word on game site. Semi’s are slated for Nov. 9 and the championship on Nov. 12 at Irvine’s Woollett Center. 2022 is the 39th time Laguna has advanced to the playoffs, 31st consecutive playoff.
Laguna has won three titles: D3 in 2010, 2011, and 2014. Overall the program is 47-35 in post-season play.
Last week on Wednesday, Oct. 26, Laguna lost to #7 Huntington Beach 16-9 as the Oilers broke the game open in the second period. Sai Bassett scored five goals for Laguna, while Tyler Swensen had 13 saves in the cage. On Friday, Oct. 28, in a rare home game, the Breakers defeated San Juan Hills 14-8, with Sai Bassett scoring six goals against the Stallions (11-15). Eight different players scored in the Senior Day contest.
FALL SIGNING DAY CEREMONY
A number of Breaker athletes will be making their college commitments at the high school quad on Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 1 p.m. We will print the list next week.
Do you have a note on a former Breaker athlete? Please submit to Frank Aronoff at [email protected].
Looking for the 2022-23 schedules and scores?
Football, girls volleyball, and water polo scores and rosters can be found on the Max Preps website.
