Ethan Garbers’ six passing touchdowns send CdM football over Cajon in CIF Division 3 quarterfinal
Football players, in general, get excited when the kicker makes a play outside of their kicking duties.
Corona del Mar High’s Dane Voorhees received a high honor at the end of Saturday night’s game. The junior kicker was asked to break the huddle after Sea Kings coach Dan O’Shea’s postgame talk.
Voorhees recovered his own kickoff when it ricocheted off one of the blockers on the return team. It was just one of the many things that went right for top-seeded CdM in a 42-14 victory over San Bernardino Cajon in a CIF Southern Section Division 3 quarterfinal at Davidson Field.
“It was super awesome to feel kind of like a leader on the team and be able to break us out,” Voorhees said. “We’ve got another 48 minutes.”
CdM (12-0) will go on the road to face No. 4 Mission Hills Alemany (9-3) in the semifinals on Friday. The Warriors beat visiting Tesoro 47-28 in the quarterfinals on Friday night.
“We love road trips,” O’Shea said. “That’s what it’s all about, going to a foreign place and conquering.”
Washington-committed quarterback Ethan Garbers threw for 335 yards and six touchdowns for CdM, which is attempting to reach the CIF finals for the third time in four seasons.
While the offense clicked yet again, Garbers said that the Sea Kings have yet to play their best football of the season.
“We’ve still got work to do,” Garbers said. “We’ve still got more things to get better at, and we’re just continuing to get better every week, and we’re looking forward to that championship game.”
CdM has lost twice in the Division 4 final over the past three seasons — to Chatsworth Sierra Canyon in 2016 and to Simi Valley Grace Brethren last season. The Sea Kings hope that the third time is the charm.
Good things came in threes for CdM against Cajon (9-3).
Stanford-bound wide receiver John Humphreys had six catches for 191 yards and three touchdowns.
The Sea Kings also scored on the third play of a drive on three occasions, which resulted in their first three touchdowns.
Garbers engineered a 50-yard scoring drive on CdM’s first possession. His first pass went for 19 yards to Mark Redman, and he connected with Bradley Schlom for a 23-yard touchdown to cap the drive.
After the quick strike from the Sea Kings, Cajon attempted to keep the ball away from CdM. The Cowboys kept the ball for 17 plays, but they came away empty-handed when Amir Brown was stopped short of first-down yardage on a fourth-and-two play at the CdM 17.
“That was a big turning point,” O’Shea said of the defensive stand. “They wanted to pound the offense and keep our offense off the field. Our defense responded on the long drive.
“The one thing that we wanted to do defensively is not give them a cheap, quick play. We did a really good job.”
Thomas Bouda had two sacks to lead the CdM defense, while Carter Duss also had two tackles for a loss. Chandler Fincher also made an interception.
“It was a big accomplishment,” Bouda said of his team allowing 14 points through two playoff games. “We wanted to put a zero on the scoreboard, but we did our best. We just have to keep getting better.
“I felt like we played really well today, and we’ll keep getting better from here.”
Freddy Fletcher had a game-high 82 rushing yards for Cajon. Jonathan Calderon threw for 152 yards and a touchdown, which was a 19-yard pass to BJ Phillips in the third quarter to cut CdM’s lead to 28-14.
Riley Binnquist caught the last of Garbers’ six touchdown passes.
Humphreys now has 27 receiving touchdowns this season, one off his total as a junior.
Schlom turned his two catches into 71 yards and two touchdowns. He joined Humphreys as the team’s second player to surpass 1,000 receiving yards this year.
“It’s awesome, but I’m more focused on getting that CIF championship ring,” Schlom said of the milestone. “Whatever I can do to help the team get there, so if that means getting more yards, then I’m all for it.”
CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs
Quarterfinal
Corona del Mar 42, Cajon 14
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Cajon 0 – 8 – 6 – 0 — 14
Corona del Mar 14 – 7 – 14 – 7 — 42
FIRST QUARTER
CdM – Schlom 23 pass from Garbers (Voorhees kick), 8:29.
CdM – Humphreys 62 pass from Garbers (Voorhees kick), 0:42.
SECOND QUARTER
C – Brown 1 run (Brown pass from Calderon), 4:26.
CdM – Schlom 48 pass from Garbers (Voorhees kick), 3:08.
THIRD QUARTER
CdM – Humphreys 64 pass from Garbers (Voorhees kick), 11:40.
C – Phillips 19 pass from Calderon (Fletcher pass failed), 4:40.
CdM – Humphreys 12 pass from Garbers (Voorhees kick), 1:33.
FOURTH QUARTER
CdM – Binnquist 2 pass from Garbers (Voorhees kick), 11:18.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
C – Fletcher, 21-82.
CdM – Binnquist, 12-72.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
C – Calderon, 12-20-1, 152, 1 TD.
CdM – Garbers, 15-21-0, 335, 6 TDs.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
C – Phillips, 6-65, 1 TD.
CdM – Humphreys, 6-191, 3 TDs.
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