Nine would be fine with Sea Kings

CORONA DEL MAR — Dick Freeman is having an episode of what he calls Alzheimer’s, so don’t laugh.

But it’s Freeman letting out a big chuckle. At 58, he jokes that he’s losing his memory as Corona del Mar High’s football coach.

It takes the veteran time to turn back the clock, something he has been trying to avoid all week. Tonight’s season opener at Laguna Beach at 7 has taken most of his time and he doesn’t live in the past.

But the Breakers are a team the Sea Kings have dominated the last eight years, winning by an average of 21 points. The disparity has been so wide that rumors have come out about the Breakers having never beaten CdM in football since 1962.

Nineteen wins for CdM.

Zero wins for Laguna Beach.

Those numbers are not even close to the truth. Freeman would tell you they are as accurate as his recollections. Still, Freeman hears them, prompting him to respond with an “Are you sure?”

One thing he is certain of is the year he began his career at CdM: 1976. Back then he was an assistant and he remembers the game Laguna Beach beat CdM, 7-0. If not for having an ineligible player in the game, Freeman said the game would’ve gone down as a Laguna Beach victory and the fourth against CdM.

“Laguna Beach had to forfeit,” he said before learning CdM leads the series, 13-4, and Laguna Beach’s last win came in 1985. “But [it] had a quarterback that ended up getting a scholarship to play at Utah. I don’t remember his name. All I remember was that he was good.”

The Breakers might have a quarterback this year just as talented. Charley Bowman is his name.

The senior has been on Freeman’s mind for weeks — even though the 12th-year head coach has been trying to figure out which quarterback to start tonight.

Freeman said he’s going with senior Hunter Alder, last year’s backup to Newport-Mesa Offensive Player of the Year Taylor Hughes, over junior Mitch Sands. Alder’s experience, 2-0 as a starter when Hughes sat out with a shoulder problem, won out.

Only three offensive starters return and Freeman said both Alder and Sands will see action in hopes to get the offense in sync.

But the quarterback to watch out for is Bowman.

The 6-foot, 175-pounder can pass, posing more of a threat with his ability to take off from the pocket. Eight times he rushed for touchdowns, totaling 373 yards for the year, before leading Laguna Beach to two firsts — a league crown and playoff home game — since 1987.

There’s one area Freeman is expecting his stout defense to exploit to slow down the reigning Orange Coast League MVP.

“I don’t think they have the line to protect him,” he said of the Breakers’ small line, with a player’s average size is around 5-feet-10 and 190 pounds. “What they did last year was run a spread offense, where the quarterback could run or pass. We don’t care what they do.”

That’s because CdM’s defense is stacked with eight returning starters off a 7-5 team. Plenty of familiar faces. The one face Freeman doesn’t want to see fully is that of Erik Rask, an inside linebacker.

A helmet will take care of that for Freeman. The 6-2, 210-pound senior returns to the field after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee last October. He missed the last two regular-season games and two CIF Southern Section Southern Division playoff games.

Rask is the leader of the three-five-three defense, boasting returnees in nose guard Dan DiChiro and ends Ben Noe and Stephen Deverian, which might be able to shut out the Breakers.

The Sea Kings almost pulled off the feat against Laguna Beach in last year’s 34-7 season-opening victory before giving up a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

“He’s at full speed,” Freeman said of Rask, who amassed a team-best 109 tackles before getting hurt. “His stamina is not up to where he’s usually at and we just have to get some confidence in him and that will come with playing.

“We’re ready to roll. I’m sure Laguna Beach is, too, with a new coach [Jonathan Todd] and everything. I believe he played at that school [he was a star running back]. I might have even coached against him. Who knows that kind of stuff? I don’t.”

The only thing Freeman wants to remember is that the scoreboard shows CdM, ranked No. 5 in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division, ahead at the end of the night. The previous six season openers for Freeman have turned out that way. It’s a memory Freeman said lasts a couple of days before preparing for next week’s game.

He doesn’t blame it on a memory lapse. Just a long football season.