Football (10-2)
Breakers Football Miscues At Claremont – Breakers lose 38-7
Early jitters on their center snaps dug a big hole for the Breakers in their CIF Division 9 showdown at Claremont last Friday night. The fourth play of the game was an interception thrown by Will Bingham after a less than perfect center snap caused him to rush a throw resulting in a gift to the host Wolfpack for a quick six points. After the ensuing kickoff, the next play was a wild snap from center that Claremont recovered on the Laguna eleven yard-line. Four minutes into the contest and Breakers were down 14-0.
Laguna seemed to regain their composure but on their first possession of the second quarter, Breakers were nearing the Claremont red-zone inside the Wolfpack 30-yard line when a good hit on a pass reception to Luke Degner knocked the ball back nine-yards in the air. Once on the ground, Claremont defenders scooped up the bounding ball finally advancing to the Laguna 37-yard line—a 35-yard loss. Breakers held and on their next possession went to the Claremont 35 but turned the ball over on downs after an unforced dropped pass that would have given Laguna a big first down very deep in Claremont territory.
So that was the tough luck Laguna experienced and with Claremont’s ground game – the clock went fast every quarter. Although the Breakers will lose some very talented seniors they do return a core of skilled players so the 2022 edition will be worth seeing and Laguna will be in the league title mix.
SEASON RECORDS SET:
Will Bingham: Total offense, pass yards, touchdown passes, yards per game, passing rating
Luke Degner: Catches, catches per game, yards receiving, touchdown catches
Sophomore Records:
Jacob Diver: touchdown catches
Ryan Swanson: catches
Team: 10-2 record ranks tied for sixth in 88 seasons
Cross Country
Breakers Advance to Section Finals
The Boys and Girls cross country squads both qualified in the CIF prelims last weekend to advance to the Southern Section CIF Finals to be held this Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. The top five teams in each of the three heats along with the next fastest finish advance to this week’s finals with 38 teams competing in the enrollment-based Boys Division 4 and 42 teams running in the Girls Division 4. Only 16 teams advance to the finals and for the Breakers, the Boys have now made the cut for the 22nd consecutive year and the Girls for the 18th straight time.
Scoring for the Boys who finished fourth in their heat were Mael Metis, Chris Drews, Alex Boyd, Luke Anderton, and Theodore Drews. The Girls were third in their heat led by Coco Reed, Tess Smialowitz, Anoua Carrie, Sydney Sydney, and Morgan Zecnik.
At the section finals this weekend, only the top seven teams will advance to the State Meet which will be held on Nov. 27 at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Laguna’s Southern Section CIF Section History (no meet in 2020)
Boys: Made the first finals in 1962 with titles in 2009 and 2019. They have finished second five times—2004, 2006, 2008, 2013, and 2017.
Girls: Made the finals initially in 1978, no titles but second four times – 1980, 1992, 2004, and 2019.
Laguna’s State History
Meet has been held since 1987 (no meet in 2020)
Boys: Have qualified 13 times with four titles (1989, 2004, 2009, 2018). First one in 1989 the team upset McFarland for the crown. Eight runners have earned all-state honors
Girls: 14 trips to the finals, finished second in 2013, third in 1992. Two runners have earned All-State honors.
Girls Tennis (12-5, 6-0)
Laguna ties La Cañada – loses on tie-breaker
Breakers almost pulled off a trip to Claremont for 14th appearance in a section finals but the squad lost to a talented team from La Cañada on games (73-83) as the schools were tied in sets 9-9. The very even final four for Division 1 Girls Tennis had Huntington Beach (16-3) also losing on games to San Marino who went on to edge La Cañada 10-8 for the title.
Scoring for Laguna were Singles: Sarah MacCallum went 1-6, 1-6, 6-4; Jessica MacCallum went 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; Katelyn Smith went 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. Doubles: Kendyl and Ainsley Beresford went 7-5, 1-6, 6-0; Chloe Gagne and Laea Chesley went 7-6, 0-6-6-2.
WINTER SPORTS
Boys Basketball
Back for his 27th season (430-276) Bret Fleming’s squad earned a co-championship last season with perennial Sunset League champion Los Alamitos. Laguna will need to stay focused this year to earn another post-season run. First game was this past Thursday with Aliso Niguel with the team facing Crenshaw (LACIF) on Nov. 27 at Edison before competing in the Irvine tournament during the first week of December.
Girls Basketball
Matt Tietz (41-88) is in his sixth season for Laguna and the Breakers have become more competitive in the Sunset Wave League with a win last season over Marina. The 2022 season opened this past Tuesday with Capistrano Valley Christian, Wednesday with Santa Ana and they play with Bellflower on Friday. The squad is then off until after the holiday with games at Costa Mesa and St Margaret’s to close out November.
Boys Soccer
Andy Thomas returns for his 11th overall season (102-94-25) and are expected to make some noise in Division 2. The season opens Friday at Dana Hills. The squad also plays at Portola on Nov. 22 and at Sage Hill on Nov. 23. First home match is Nov. 30 with Northwood. 6:30 p.m. start at Guyer Field.
Girls Soccer
Breakers have finished second the past three seasons in the Sunset Wave League and Ben Helm is hoping the squad can challenge for the Wave League title. Season does not start until Dec. 9 at Tesoro.
Girls Water Polo (25th Season)
The last pre-season event was last weekend in Santa Barbara where the team defeated Santa Barbara 15-3, San Marcos 10-8, Dos Pueblos 19-1 and Foothill 11-6. The regular season opens on Dec. 1 with Murrieta Valley at the Laguna Community Pool.
Players to watch include Lauren Schneider in the cage plus field players Hannah Carver, Cleo Washer, Charlotte Riches, Lela McCarroll, Ava Knepper, Ava Houlehan and Myah Pinto. Also expected to contribute are Lexi Parness, Isabel Foley, Lauren Short. New incoming players are Kara Carver and Presley Jones who played on the winning 14’s team at the Junior Olympics.
Ethan Damato is in his 14th year has head coach (334-49) and Laguna will be facing a very talented group of opponents looking to dethrone the defending CIF champions. Expect Newport Harbor and Los Alamitos to really challenge Laguna’s league win streak (16 years – last loss was in 2006) and Orange Lutheran, Santa Margarita Foothill and San Marcos to join the three Sunset Surf teams for top national honors in Girls Water Polo.
Wrestling
Laguna continues to lack the numbers to really challenge in the Sunset League. The limited season opens with Huntington Beach on Dec. 15.
Signing Day 2021
Laguna Beach had the fall signing ceremony on Nov. 10 for the Class of 2022 commitments. Here’s the full list of athletes who signed:
London Boyd, Water Polo, Loyola Marymount University
Isabel Foley, Water Polo, Villanova
Riley Gapp, Volleyball, Concordia
Natalia Hagopian, Volleyball, Northeastern University
Ava Houlahan, Water Polo, Princeton
William Kelly, Water Polo, University of California, Berkely
Lela McCarroll, Water Polo, Marist
Lexi Parness, Water Polo, University of Indiana
Sophie Reavis, Volleyball, University of California, Santa Barbara
Holden Seybold, Water Polo, Naval Academy
Lauren Smith, Water Polo, Pomona Pitzer
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!
