Football: Sea Kings keep it going

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - Any time two evenly-matched football teams compete,

usually the team that makes the fewest mistakes will end up on top and

Friday night’s crucial Pacific Coast League matchup between Corona del

Mar High and Estancia was no exception.

The Sea Kings of Corona del Mar took advantage of four Eagles’ miscues

and pulled out a 9-0 thriller at Orange Coast College, putting CdM, in

the driver’s seat, despite losing its first five nonleague games of the

season.

“I wouldn’t say driver’s seat, but we got our learner’s permit

tonight,” Sea Kings’ Coach Dick Freeman said afterward. “It was a very

evenly played game between two great ball clubs. We took advantage of

some of their mistakes and got some lucky breaks that won us the ball

game.”

Estancia coach Dave Perkins agreed.

“Big games are won or lost on turnovers and how the special teams are

played,” he said. “We made too many mistakes and we need to seriously

work on our kicking game. Those two factors there were the ball game.”

It was a matchup of Estancia’s slash and dash running game, led by

Marshall Hendricks, versus CdM’s smashmouth brand of up-the-middle

running with Grant Estabrook and in the end, smashmouth took control.

Estabrook finished with 116 yards on 29 carries, while Hendricks had

96 yards on 22 carries.

The lone offensive thrust for the Sea Kings came late in the first

quarter.

On fourth down, after the CdM punt was muffed, Eric Snell recovered

the loose ball, giving the Sea Kings (2-6, 2-0 in the PCL) the ball on

the Eagles’ 11-yard line.

Two plays later, Senior Mike Hayes scored on a 6-yard run up the

middle.

From there, it was a battle of defenses, with both teams going at it.

“Our defense really stepped it up for us,” Freeman said. “We’ve always

been a team that’s hung in there and I was proud of our defense for

making the big plays when they needed to.”

The Eagles’ defense also stepped it up and when cornerback John

Alderete intercepted a Sea Kings’ pass, Estancia had the ball inside the

Sea Kings’ 40-yard line and a chance to tie the game midway through the

second quarter.

The Eagles (5-3, 1-1), ranked No. 9 in CIF Southern Section Division

IX, could not get any passing game together, however, to keep the Sea

Kings’ defense honest.

Estancia got as close as the 14-yard line, but back-to-back

quarterback sacks from defensive tackle Jay Bottom gave the ball back to

the Sea Kings.

Corona del Mar had a chance to pad the 7-0 lead before halftime, but

Eagles’ outside linebacker Sean Freeman came up with three defensive

plays to stop the Sea Kings short as the first half expired.

“Thank goodness our defense showed up tonight,” Perkins said. “We

would have been slaughtered if they hadn’t played so well.”

Estancia drove quickly down the field to open the second half, but a

costly fumble was recovered, once again, by Snell on the Sea Kings

25-yard line.

“We were doing a great job of moving the ball up and down the field,”

Perkins said. “But when we got deep into their territory, we would shoot

ourselves in the foot.

After cornerback Charlie Alshuler recovered another Eagles’ fumble,

Estabrook went to work on his most important stretch early in the fourth

quarter.

The senior tailback helped sustain a 12-play drive that ate up 5:45 of

the clock and after a brilliant punt from Rory McKeever, the Eagles were

pinned on their own 1-yard line with three minutes remaining.

Defensive end Travis Hackett came up with the defensive play of the

night, bursting through to take down Hendricks in the end zone for a

safety and giving CdM a two-score lead at 9-0.

Estancia got one last shot when strong safety Freddy Rodriguez

recovered a CdM fumble, but Sea Kings’ middle linebacker Brandon Johnson

came up with an interception five plays later, putting the nail in the

Eagles’ coffin.

“We’re still right in there,” Perkins said optimistically. “We’re

still in the hunt and I think Costa Mesa has a better football team than

Corona del Mar and they still have to play each other. We need to improve

our special teams and we need to cut down on the turnovers.”

Estancia takes on nonleague foe Montclair Prep at Newport Harbor,

while CdM continues PCL play against University at Uni. Both games are

Friday night at 7 p.m.