Annual Laguna Beach High School Football banquet held on Dec. 14 at the Neighborhood Congregational Church. Photo by Frank Aronoff
WINTER SPORTS
Boys Basketball (7-4)
Hot shooting Dana Hills jumped out to a 37-19 half-time lead and went on to bury the Breakers 65-46 in a non-league contest played at the Dolphins gym. Kanoa Panganiban led the Laguna with 18 points and Jackson Sirianni added 15. Dana (11-3) now leads the all-time series 27-20. Laguna met San Juan Hills (12-2) on Tuesday in the North/South Challenge at Tesoro.
Laguna will compete in the Tustin Holiday Classic opening with Beckman on Dec. 27.
Scoring statistics are posted on the Laguna Boys Basketball page at Max Preps.
Girls Basketball (13-3)
Laguna, ranked No. 3 in D5AA continued to roll through their non-league competition with a trio of recent wins but ran into a tough Dana squad on Monday.
Dec. 14: Laguna d. El Modena 47-34
Breakers surprised the Vanguards (10-3) in a non-league game played at Dugger Gym with Sophie Marriner scoring 18 points and Kate Cheng (Fr) chipping in 13 points. El Mo is ranked No. 8 in D4A.
Dec. 16: Laguna d. Century 49-24
Sophie Mariner had 25 points and 13 rebounds to led Laguna in the win. Kate Cheng added 13 points and Kenna Rudolph had 10 rebounds in the home victory.
Dec. 17: Laguna d. Golden Valley 44-32
Breakers traveled to the Santa Clarita school and handed the Grizzlies the loss with Marriner scoring 14 points and gathering 11 rebounds while Kate Cheng scored 11 and had 12 rebounds.
Monday Dec 21: Dana Hills 49, Laguna 28
The Dolphins, ranked No. 2 in D4A, easily ran past the Breakers at the Dana gym on Monday. The hosts defended Sophie Marriner from her usual output but Anna Cheng stepped up scoring 16 points and Kate Cheng had 11 rebounds in the effort.
The team played Mission Viejo on Dec. 21 then were off until Jan. 4 when they travel to Fountain Valley for a crossover non-league contest with Fountain Valley (8-3)
Thirteen season wins already ranks seventh best for the Laguna girls program in the past 48 seasons under SSCIF play. Scoring statistics are posted on the Laguna Girls Basketball page at Max Preps. Breakers are currently ranked No. 4 in D5AA.
Boys Soccer (4-4)
Breakers only had one contest last week a disappointing 3-0 upset loss to Westminster on Dec. 17 at Guyer Field. The planned contest with Tarbut V’Torah has been moved to Feb. 3 as the final regular season contest.
Varsity is off until Jan. 5 but the JV and Frosh-Soph are competing in the Laguna Hills Hawk Classic this past week. The JV opened their tournament play on Monday beating Laguna Hills 3-1 and Orange Lutheran 1-0 while the Frosh team defeated the Santa Margarita 2 team 1-0 and tied Beckman. Finals results will be in the next report.
Girls Soccer (2-2-2)
Ben Helm’s squad defeated St. Margaret’s 1-0 on Dec. 16 at Guyer Field in a non-league game then completed their Best of the West Tournament play when they traveled to Yorba Linda on Saturday to defeat the Mustangs 1-0 with a goal by Alea Dillow. In the final tournament contest Laguna tied Esperanza 0-0 in a contest also played at Yorba Linda on Saturday. Laguna returns to play on Jan. 4 with a non-league contest at Edison.
Girls Water Polo (7-0)
Lela McCarroll tossed in two fourth quarter goals from Ava Houlahan and the Breakers overcame the somewhat uneven officiating to edge Mater Dei 7-6 on Dec. 17 in a “home” game played at the full-size Capistrano Valley High School Pool. Mater Dei scored on their first possession on a goal by UCLA bound Genoa Rossi from Laguna but the Breakers quickly countered with scores by Hannah Carver and two by Charlotte Riches. Laguna held a 5-2 lead at the intermission but lost the advantage in the final moments of the third quarter after a deflected field block at the 1:47 mark provided a score followed by a five-meter penalty shot awarded on an unusual call as a Breaker player exited the play field after an exclusion call. The tie score didn’t last as McCarroll took shots on Laguna first four possessions of the quarter connecting on two. Lauren Schneider had eight saves in the goal for another outstanding game. Breakers and the Monarchs have now met 20 times with Laguna holding a 19-1 edge.
On Dec. 15, Laguna celebrated Senior Day with a 13-3 win over No. 12 ML King (Riverside) at Laguna Community Pool. Princeton bound Ava Houlahan scored four goals, dished out three assists and had three steals for the Breakers.
UP NEXT:
This past week Laguna was at No. 7 Foothill on Tuesday and hosted No. 15 Harvard Westlake on Wednesday. Next week the Breakers are in the 25th Bill Barnett Holiday Cup on Dec. 29 and 30. The top five team in CIF are entered in the 16-team tournament that includes 11 of the top 15 Southern Section schools in an event named for the late legendary Newport Harbor coach and Laguna Beach resident.
Laguna opens play at 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 29 against Edison at the Corona del Mar pool. If the seeding hold – Laguna would see Corona del Mar in the second game. Edison and Orange Lutheran are expecting to have recent transfers eligible for the tournament and either one could be a second day opponent. Laguna has won the last seven Holiday Cups.
Statistical leaders after seven games:
Goals: 24 – Houlahan, 17 – Riches Assists: 10- McCarroll, 8 – H Carver, Houlahan Steals: 16 – Houlahan, Drawn Exclusions: 9 – Riches. Saves: 40 – L. Schneider, 11 – Denny
Wrestling (0-1)
Laguna under coach Bobby Morales won six of nine matches they competed in all by pins but narrowly fell to Huntington Beach 42-36 in a Sunset Wave League match.
Looking for the latest Laguna scores, rosters, and schedules?
Go to the department website at lbhs.lbusd.org/athletics/teams for the updated schedules and where the scores get posted first for all levels!
Shout out to Laguna Beach Wrestling Team! While the team lost in points – due to the fact that HB has a much larger team than LBHS and won by forfeits – our team won every match except two against HB. The team is an amazing group of young men who really support each other and the coach is dedicated to the sport and had our boys ready for this match with a short amount of training time. Hopefully the Indy will pay a little more attention to the team and their successes.