Laguna Sports Update: Week of Oct. 28

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Kayden Cohen (left) and Ella Black (right) from the Thurston Middle School Surf Team were the top finishers in the Girls Shortboard D2 event at the first meet this season held in Oceanside on Oct 8. Photo by Peter Black, courtesy of the Thurston MS Surf Team

CROSS COUNTRY

Laguna’s boys and girls’ teams will be ready for the league finals on Saturday, Oct. 29 at Central Park in Huntington Beach. The Sunset Wave League for boys includes Corona del Mar, Huntington Beach and Marina while the girl’s Sunset Wave League includes Corona del Mar, Edison and Marina.

CIF: The girls have qualified and will run in the prelims on Nov. 12 regardless of the league meet outcome. The top 16 teams in Division 4 advance to the finals on Nov. 19 at Mt. SAC. Only the top seven teams in the final advance to State on Nov. 26. The only way the boys team can keep their 22-year consecutive postseason streak alive is to finish first or second in the league meet.

Rankings: Girls XCC is #9 this week in the SSCIF D-4 polls. For more information visit www.lbxc.org for girls’ cross country and www.lagunabeachcrosscountry.com for boys. 

FOOTBALL (6-3, 2-0)

Breakers Win Showdown – Hold Off Lions 21-14

Last Friday night, Laguna Beach celebrated its seniors in the final regular season game at Guyer Field. Early in the final period, it looked like they were on the verge of a three-score lead but ended up having to step up on defense to preserve the victory over previously undefeated Westminster.

The contest opened with the Lions marching 80-yards on a 10-play drive to take a 7-0 lead and consuming nearly six minutes of the quarter. Laguna was almost as efficient, scoring in the final minute of the period on a six-play 80-yard drive of their own, ending with a Nick Rogers run. A bad snap on the extra point was quickly converted by holder Sam Garwal who sprinted to the goal line for two points and an 8-7 lead.

The Breakers were able to stop the Lions cold on their next two drives, and Laguna was successful on their third possession scoring on a great pass play from Jackson Kollock to Brock Donaldson. After the ensuing kickoff was returned only nine yards the Lions elected to let the clock run out for the intermission. 

The second half swung the momentum to Laguna as Jackson Rodriguez took the second-half opening kickoff 83 yards down the sideline for the score but shanked his extra point kick for a 21-7 Breaker lead. Westminster managed only two possessions in the third period each lasting four plays and seven net yards. Laguna’s first scrimmage try went 35 yards but stalled due to penalties. The Breakers next possession was a time-consuming 14-play drive to the Lions’ 6-yard line, but their enthusiasm took the best of them as the Breakers botched a great scoring opportunity well into the final period.

Westminster took over on their own 6-yard line, then converted a fumbled lateral pass into a 51-yard run turning a potential fourth-and-long punt situation into a scoring drive. After twenty yards in Laguna penalties, the Lions eventually scored on a 19-yard pass to swing the momentum to their corner. The on-side kickoff was perfectly executed and with four minutes remaining Westminster was 64 yards away from tying or winning the contest. Breaker defense really stepped up – four plays and two Westminster penalties – a net gain of only two yards, and the Lion comeback drive ended with a whimper. The Breakers celebrated and were able to run the clock out for the victory.

Rushing: Kanter 1-4, Kollock 9-45, Rogers 15-88

Received: Swanson 10-74, Freeman 1-1, Rodriguez 4-23, Rogers 2-23, Donaldson 2-18

Passing: Jackson Kollock 28-19-0, 139 yards, 1 touchdown

Kick-off returns: Rodriguez 1-83 TD

Up Next: #151 Laguna closes out the regular season on Friday, Oct. 28, at #309 Ocean View High School (2-7, 1-1) at the Sea Hawks stadium. The Breakers trail in the series 6-3-1 but are a 37-point favorite in this contest. Playoff Pairings will be released at 10 a.m. on Oct. 30 at wwwcifss.org, with the Breakers probably in D9 like last season. In the past 87 seasons, Laguna has qualified 20 times with a 20-19 overall playoff record.

GIRLS GOLF (1-5, 3-9) Season concluded

The Breakers teams’ season concluded on Oct. 19 when the Breakers lost to Wave League champion Marina 225-288 at the Los Serranos North Golf Course in Chino. Julianna Franconi-Krychman was Laguna’s low scorer with a 46. She later earned second-team All-Wave League honors on Oct. 20 at the Wave League individual finals.

BOYS SAND VOLLEYBALL

No report from the varsity team. They were seeded #7 in the league playoffs and faced #10 Santa Margarita on Oct. 26, at Main Beach, with the winner advancing to face Tesoro on Oct. 27 on the Titan 

sand courts at the school.

The JV squad opened the league playoffs by defeating Crean Lutheran 7-0 on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at Main Beach.

#1’s Silas Richland and Ben Goodwin won 21-11, 21-10

#2’s Leo Pardun and Luke Singer won 21-11, 18-21, 15-8

#3’s James Vermilya and Dylan Siriani won 21-11. 21-16

#4’s Chase Benson and Luke Tankersley won 22-20, 21-19

# ‘5s Jonah Goldstein and Sam Schaffer won 21-19, 21-11

The four man team won 28-20.

GIRLS TENNIS (0-6, 1-15)

The team portion of the 2022 season concluded on Oct. 24 as the Breakers lost at home to Surf League champion Huntington Beach (5-1, 11-3) 12-6. 

Kendyl Beresford won two singles sets 6-2, 6-3, Izzy Lobosco won twice 6-0, 6-3 and the double team of Zoey Cutter/Sarah Wong also won twice 6-1, 6-4. Three other sets were narrowly lost. 

On Oct. 20, the Breakers traveled to Corona del Mar with only eight players and lost 6-0, playing four singles matches and two doubles in the modified format. The disappointing season faced a very challenging schedule resulting in the least successful record in the 49 seasons under CIF sponsorship.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL (16-19, 0-6) – Season completed

Season statistics can be found on the Max Preps web site.

 

Boys Water Polo (15-9, 0-5)

Breakers remained ranked #9 in Southern California, starting with a tough league loss to #8 Los Alamitos 14-6 on Oct. 19 at Newport Harbor. The Breakers trailed only 4-3 at the half but could not stop the Griffins after the intermission. Cade Anderton scored twice with single goals from Charlie Mott, Dylan Weeks, Eli Taub, and Diego Audebert.

On Oct. 21 the Breakers crushed D-2 #1 Dana Hills 18-6 at the Dolphin’s pool. Cade Anderton scored five goals, Coleman Judd and Sai Bassett had three, and Cole Curtis and Diego Audebert scored twice.

Breakers beat D1 #17 Santa Margarita 12-10 on Oct. 24 at the Eagles pool. The Breakers led 12-6 into the final period and substituted freely in the win. Cade Anderton scored another five goals, while Diego Audebert had four.

After 24 matches, Anderton leads in scoring with 66 goals, Audebert has 61, Judd 31, Taub 21 and Bassett 20.

SSCIF playoff pairings will be announced on Saturday, Oct. 29, at 9 a.m. at cifss.org. Breakers have been consistently ranked #9 in D-1, with only the top eight advancing to the Open Division. Laguna should be an at-large pick for either D-1 or the Open of the seven playoff brackets in the sport.

THURSTON MIDDLE SCHOOL

One of the oldest organized sport programs for Thurston is the surf club team, coached by Micah Byrne and assisted by David Vermilya. The co-ed squad participates in the Scholastic Surf Series, which are five meets held each month from October through March. The competition is with the Capistrano School District – (Shorecliffs, Bernice Ayre, Marco Forster, Niguel Hills). The Middle School Championships will be held May 13 and 14 in Huntington Beach.

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