Laguna Beach Football blasts Jags 40-0 in 86th varsity season opener

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Fall/Winter Sports:

Tyler Fields of Laguna Beach runs the ball in the delayed season opener against Jurupa Valley. Photo by Lisa Fields

Football Blasts Jags 40-0 in 86th Varsity Season Opener

Senior Will Bingham threw four touchdown passes and senior Jackson Golden ran for 151 yards to help propel Laguna to the season opening win after a six-month delay of California high school sports. Meanwhile, most of the country had enjoyed a traditional high school season complete with playoffs. The Breakers will be limited to just five games this year including league play but the vibe at Jurupa Valley seemed as if it was a traditional fall game with Laguna playing like the delay had never happened.

After the two initial possessions had ended in fumbles lost, Breakers were able to stall the Jaguars after six plays forcing a punt. From their own 30 yard line, Laguna marched 70 yards on 10 plays to score on Golden’s 13-yard run to take a lead. Gavin Richards provided the extra point.

Breakers scored again on their next possession marching 63 yards in seven plays before a short run by Tyler Fields extended the lead. The point after was wide.

Neither team could move the ball after that and Laguna led 13-0 at the break. In the second half, Laguna took the kickoff and marched 87 yards on nine plays scoring on a pass to David Dworakowski followed by a Richards kick and it was now 20-0. Again little happened until the final possession of the quarter when Jackson Golden had two good runs followed by a 49-yard pass play to Jack Arntz early into the final period that set up the fourth touchdown, a short pass to Evan Louch.

On the ensuing kickoff, Jurupa fumbled with Dave Dworakowski recovering the ball. Five plays later it was 33-0.

Jurupa’s luck really ran out as Louch intercepted their pass attempt on the next scrimmage try setting up a short four-play drive for the final Laguna score. From there the Jags struggled as time expired.

With the opening kickoff last Friday night in Jurupa Valley against their local high school Laguna Football belatedly was able to join the rest of the USA with a varsity football season. Breakers won 40‐0 for their first shutout since 2013. Photo by Frank Aronoff
Senior Will Bingham threw for 184 yards and four touchdowns in the season opener.
Photo by Lisa Fields

Next Game: March 25 at 7 p.m. versus Marina. The game will be played at Westminster High School. This is the third meeting with the Vikings with the series tied 1-1.

Remaining schedule (series history):

April 2 Ocean View (2-5-1) #

April 9 at Estancia (17-14-0)

April 16 at Westminster (0-2-0) #

# Pac 4 Game (Godinez is not playing football)

Cross Country – Boys rank second, Girls third at Sunset Surf League Finals

Mateo Bianchi ran a 15:59.6 3-mile run to capture the 2020-21 Sunset Surf League title easily defeating the 28 runners in the field. Also scoring for Laguna was Christopher Drews, William Goodwin, Luke Anderton and Theodore Drews. The Breakers finished 1-8-9-15-16 to trail Edison with their runners coming in 3-4-5-10-11 for the low score. Newport was third and Los Alamitos was fourth.

In the Girls race, Melanie Falkowski was second with an 18:22.8 time as the Breakers finished third. Fountain Valley won the team title followed by Los Alamitos. Newport was fourth.

Boys Sand Volleyball (1-1)

The season concluded with a loss to league champion Newport Harbor on March 17 on the Grant Street courts in Newport. Laguna was unable to win any match points in the contest losing 7-0.

Girls Indoor Volleyball (6-0) Are Sunset League Champions

Standing with Coach Shawn Patchell (from left) are Mikayla Smith, Luisa LoFranco, Ella Tyus, Sophie Black, and Alessandra Nitoglia. Laguna defeated Marina, Corona del Mar, Huntington Beach, Edison, Los Alamitos, and Newport Harbor for the title.

Laguna wrapped up the league title with a 25-16, 25-15, 21-25 win over previously undefeated Newport Harbor on Friday March 19 at Main Beach. The Breakers easily won the first two sets in the best of three set format and led 21-14 in the third mandatory set before clearing the bench. With the victory already in-hand, the hosts letdown allowed Newport to earn a set victory without affecting the match outcome.

The COVID-affected sports calendar for CIF required the “indoor” sport season to conclude last week.

# 24 Ella Tyus was the offensive weapon for the Breakers this season. Officiating the contest held on Main Beach last Friday was  Laguna legend “Diamond Dave” Sorrells ’64 (on the left). Photo by Frank Aronoff

Boys Water Polo (2-4, 4-4)

On defense in white caps (left to right) # 12 Nic Hoff, # 1 Frank Laptin (GK), # 13 Holden Seybold, # 9 Keller Kramer, # 14 Cade Anderton.  Breakers defeated the Sea Kings 9‐6 to complete their season sweep. Photo by Frank Aronoff

Laguna closed out the 2020-21 season with a tough 13-8 loss to Newport Harbor (6-2) on March 17 then on the following day defeated Corona del Mar 9-6 at the Sea Kings’ pool to finish third in the Surf League.

Against Newport, Breakers were outscored 5-1 in the second period which gave the Tars control of the tempo. Will Kelly scored five goals including two big first period scores. Nic Hoff, Aiden Mcdennon, and Holden Seybold each added a goal.

On Thursday, another stellar performance by Frankie Laptin in the cage (13 saves) helped the Breakers hold off CdM is the final contest of the season. Will Kelly scored six goals, Nic Hoff a pair along with a score by Keller Kramer. The abbreviated season cut short what could have been one of the squad’s best seasons. With Keller and Laptin returning for 2021, the future is bright for the polo squad.

The junior was top scorer for the Boys team. This season with 39 goals in just 8 games in the abbreviated season. Photo Courtesy of Laguna Beach Athletics

Girls Water Polo (8-0)  Sunset Surf League Champions

The UCLA bound senior scored 21 goals in the 8‐game season to lead the 2021 squad. Molly was also the scoring co‐champ as a sophomore and finished her career with 164 goals in 102 games. Photo Courtesy of Laguna Beach Athletics

Breakers rolled to finish the season undefeated defeating Newport Harbor 10-4, Corona del Mar 16-5 and ML King (Riverside) 24-7 to extend their current win streak to 30, eighth longest in Southern Section CIF history. Laguna is 217-10 over the past eight seasons and has captured 15 straight league titles.

All three victories were team efforts as always with the outcome never in doubt. It is very unfortunate the most talented senior class was not able to compete for a third straight CIF D-1 title. The 11 seniors had an incredible run at Laguna going 98-6 with two D-1 titles and two state Regional CIF titles.  The squad also won six of eight major tournaments they entered.

2021 Season Statistical Champions:

Goals: 21 – Molly Renner; Assists:17 – Jessie Rose; Steals:15 – Molly Renner; Ejections drawn:18 – Nicole Struss

Saves: 63 – Lauren Schnieder

Senior signings – all D-I

Nicole Struss – UCLA, Emma Lineback – UCLA, Molly Renner – UCLA,  Emma Singer – California,

Jessie Rose – California, Imani Clemons – UCSB,  Kenedy Corlett – UCSB,  Skylar Kidd – Indiana

Mikayla Lopez – Loyola-Marymount, Ella Baumgarten – Marist, and Rachael Carver – Princeton

Spring Sports:

Baseball

The 2021 squad coached by Jeff Sears now in his ninth season went 8-1 in the COVID shorten 2020 season and will open the school’s 83rd season on March 27 when they host Aliso Niguel as part of the Ryan Lemmon Tournament. The Breakers will play Calvary Chapel on March 29 and San Juan Hills on March 30.

Boys Basketball

The 87th season of basketball opens on Saturday with San Clemente for a 5 p.m. contest at Laguna. Bret Fleming is entering his 26th season with a 414-272 record with the Breakers as head coach. Bret has 12 league titles including last season’s Wave League crown. West Point bound Nolan Naess returns for his senior season to lead the team.

Girls Basketball (0-2)

Laguna lost at Pacifica Christian/OC 64-20 on March 18 and to St Margaret’s 37-35 this past Monday. No additional details were provided.

Boys Soccer (1-2)

The 2021 squad coached by Andy Thomas (second season since returning, 10th overall with Laguna) started on March 12 with a 4-0 loss at Tesoro followed by another 4-0 loss to San Clemente at home on March 18. This past Monday, Charlie McBean and Griffin Kristensen each scored to lift Laguna to a 2-1 victory over Crean Lutheran at the Guyer Field pitch. The Breakers host Dana Hills on March 26 at 7 p.m..

Girls Soccer (0-0)

The 40th season of Girls Soccer at Laguna opens on March 30 with Fountain Valley. Last week Laguna scrimmaged Dana Hills and won 4-2 with Baylor Lund, Acacia Edwards, Cadance Peery and Rylee Goode scoring for the Breakers. The squad is coached by coached by Ben Helm now 23-27-13 in three seasons at Laguna.

Boys Tennis (4-1)

After a crushing 17-1 loss on March 17 to Corona del Mar, Laguna bounced back on March 22 to defeat Mater Dei 14-4 at Los Caballeros courts in Fountain Valley. The doubles teams of Casey Boehm and Matt Berk won their matches 6-4, 6-0, 6-0 while Jeff and Chris Herkins did the same 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 for the top performances of the day. Taro Sakai won two of three singles matches 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 and Brad Ayreh did the same 5-7, 6-0, 6-0. Breakers faced St Margaret’s this past Wednesday and will meet Fountain Valley on Monday in Laguna.

Girls Tennis (3-1)

Girls hosted Newport Harbor this past Tuesday and will host Aliso Niguel on March 26. Next week’s matches are at Huntington Beach on Tuesday and Corona del Mar on Thursday.

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