Win was overdue

It was a long time coming. Twenty-one years, to be exact.

The Laguna Beach High football team exorcised a few postseason demons Nov. 20 at the Santa Ana Bowl, where the Breakers defeated the Santa Ana Saints, 39-14, in a first-round game of the CIF Southern Section Southern Division playoffs.

That playoff victory was the first for the program in postseason play since Nov. 20, 1987, when the then-Artists won at home against Elsinore, 28-21. You have to go back even further than that “” 40 years, in fact “” to find the last time Laguna won a road playoff game. It was Nov. 22, 1968, a 14-13 win over La Quinta of Westminster at Bolsa Grande High.

Tonight, Laguna will attempt to exorcise yet another gridiron demon when the Breakers host a familiar foe from down the road “” Corona del Mar “” in a second-round matchup. Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Guyer Field.

Laguna (5-6) is 4-15 all-time against Corona del Mar, which comes into tonight’s game at 9-2. The Sea Kings won their playoff opener last week, 26-15, over La Mirada.

Laguna has dropped the last 10 meetings with the Sea Kings and hasn’t won in the series since the 1985 season. Tonight’s game marks the second time this season that the schools will meet. Back on Sept. 12, the Sea Kings scored a 37-0 victory in nonleague play.

“We’re really excited about this game and it takes on added excitement, knowing that each school is just down the road from the other,” Laguna Coach Jonathan Todd said. “I think we’re a different team now than the one they saw earlier in the season.”

The Breakers are a different team. In September, they ran a lot of I-formation and sported a “full-house backfield” on offense. Now, Laguna uses more of a wide-open attack with a new quarterback and passing game that has really emerged. Defensively, the Breakers have a much better grasp on the 4-4 scheme that was implemented this year in place of last year’s 3-4 scheme.

When the Breakers and Sea Kings met back in September, senior Andrew Paddon was Laguna’s starting quarterback. Late in that game, sophomore Austin Paxson led a few offensive series and has been the starter since.

Paddon, meanwhile, has gone on to do a terrific job at receiver and strong safety.

“We have more of an identity now on both sides of the ball, compared to those first couple of weeks of the season,” Todd explained. “Back then, we really hadn’t figured out who we were yet as an offense. Defensively, we were still learning how to play our new 4-4 scheme. We’re so much better at it now.”

In their playoff opener Nov. 30, Laguna, the second-place team from the Orange Coast League, never trailed Santa Ana, the No. 2 team out of the Golden West League, and then turned it on defensively in the fourth quarter to turn a precarious 20-14 lead into a 25-point victory.

“It’s just a great, great win and I’m so proud of our kids,” Todd said. “It’s a great win for our program.”

Several school records were established in the victory:

?The 39 points were the most scored in a playoff game since a 34-14 victory in 1962 over Santa Clara.

?Paxson set a school record with four touchdown passes and the recipient of those four passes, Chris Paul, also set a new record for TD receptions in a game.

?Paul also tied Donelle Darling (2001) for most touchdowns in a game, five, which he totaled after scoring on a fumble recovery midway through the fourth quarter. He also tied Darling for most points scored in a game (30).

Paxson was 16 of 23 for 232 yards, with four TD passes and an interception.

Paul caught 10 of those passes for 150 yards and four scores and Reigel had three catches total 65 yards.