Prep football: Adversity in CdM huddle

Barry Faulkner

CORONA DEL MAR - If dealing with adversity is one of the best

lessons that can be learned by participating in high school athletics,

the Corona del Mar football team should eventually graduate with honors.

Plagued all season by an onslaught of injuries and player defections,

the Sea Kings found out Friday things could get a lot worse when Hugo

Cianciulli, the father of junior tailback Mark Cianciulli, died the

morning of the Sea Kings’ Pacific Coast League clash with Laguna Beach.

“Friday was horrible,” said CdM Coach Dick Freeman, who watched a

grieving Mark Cianciulli inspire his teammates to a 33-14 victory by

rushing for 204 yards and three touchdowns on 28 carries. It was his

second straight 200-plus rushing effort, having gained 227 against

University Oct. 18.

“Myself and freshman coach Gary Almquist went over to (Cianciulli’s

house) Friday just to let he and his mom know that whatever they had to

do, they didn’t need to worry about Mark playing,” Freeman said.

“This was under the football isn’t very important heading, but they

said they thought (Hugo) would have wanted Mark to play. I told him if he

changed his mind, he didn’t even need to call us.”

Freeman said compassion and tears flowed through the CdM locker room

even before leaving or Newport Harbor High, where the game was played.

“We didn’t have a big meeting, where someone stood up and said ‘We

need to do this for Mark’s dad,’ ” Freeman said. “But everyone wanted to

do something to help. Then Mark showed up and said it was important for

him to play ... there were tears everywhere.”

Freeman said he was emotional throughout the game, but Cianciulli had

only one momentary visible concession to his sorrow.

“He told Tony (Naranjo, the Sea Kings’ running backs coach) he needed

to sit down for a while in the second quarter,” Freeman said. “But a

couple series went by and he was back in the game. It was pretty

inspirational.”

The Sea Kings used some of this inspiration, as well as a turnover on

the kicking game that changed field position, to rally from a 14-7

halftime deficit for the victory.

Freeman said the postgame mood was one of relief.

“I think everyone was just glad we got through it,” he said. “It was

like a weight was lifted.”

Freeman had not heard about funeral arrangements as of Sunday

afternoon and said he will talk to Mark before it is determined if the

team will wear any decals or patches on their uniforms to honor Hugo

Cianciulli.

Freeman said the latest tragedy, combined with a season of hardship,

has helped provide perspective on just how meaningless playing a game is.

Still, he also believes football has been a welcome sanctuary in the

lives of his players.

“To think we’ve worried about how many players we’ve been able to suit

up,” Freeman said. “We had the attacks on the World Trade Center, but

those are just pictures from something that happened far away.

(Cianciulli’s death) is something that really hits home, in our own

backyard. I think football has been a rallying point and something our

kids could hang their hat on.”

On the field, Freeman said the Laguna Beach game began ominously for

the Sea Kings.

“We were starting every drive deep in our own territory and we gave

Laguna the ball on a fumble,” Freeman said. “It was like deja vu (a 37-10

loss to University included two lost fumbles that set up short touchdown

drives).

“The field needs to be the same length for everyone, but we really

didn’t have decent field position until they fumbled a punt.”

On the aforementioned muff, in the fourth quarter, offensive guard

John Daley recovered to allow CdM to retain possession near midfield.

On the next snap, Cianciulli broke off a 46-yard run to the Laguna

Beach 5. Freeman said Cianciulli broke 11 tackles on the play, which set

up a Matt Cooper TD run from 1 yard out.

That touchdown gave CdM its first lead and it scored twice more to

close out the victory, which allowed the Sea Kings to retain their PCL

title hopes with two regular-season games remaining.

Freeman also credited some big plays on both sides of the ball by

senior receiver-cornerback Steven Ward. He caught three passes for 93

yards, including a 36-yard touchdown toss from Dylan Hendy with 6:04 left

in the game, and intercepted two passes to protect the lead.

Freeman said CdM’s defensive performance, limiting Laguna Beach to 67

rushing yards, was aided by an ankle injury to the Artists’ junior

tailback, Donelle Darling.

“He wasn’t moving real well in warmups, missed the first series, then

went down again and wasn’t much of a factor in the second half,” Freeman

said.

Darling, who came in needing 39 yards to reach the 1,000 plateau this

season, finished with 43 yards on 11 carries, including the visitors’

first TD, his 18th of the season.

Laguna’s second TD, a second-quarter pass play, broke Darling’s streak

of having scored his team’s last 14 TDs.

CdM (5-2-1, 2-1 in league), ranked No. 9 in CIF Southern Section

Division IX, battles Costa Mesa (6-2, 2-1) Friday at 7 p.m. at Newport

Harbor in a matchup that will likely determine the league’s third playoff

team, should Northwood and University, as expected, also finish in the

upper echelon of the six-team circuit.

CdM can gain at least a share of the title with victories over Costa

Mesa and Northwood (Nov. 8).