Laguna faces another top-tier foe

For the second straight week, the Laguna Beach High football team will take on a highly-rated opponent in nonleague play.

Last week, the Breakers played at Westminster. Friday at Guyer Field, they’ll welcome the top-ranked team in the CIF Southern Section East Valley Division when they host St. Margaret’s.

Kickoff is 7 p.m.

Laguna (1-2) will be out to end a two-game skid against a Tartans team that has rolled to three victories to start its season.

“We’ve got a really good team coming through next week, so we have to be ready to play,” Laguna Coach Corey Brown said after his team’s Sept. 19 game against Westminster.

Laguna dropped last week’s contest to the Lions, 57-21. As they had in their previous outing against University, the Breakers fell behind early and couldn’t recover.

For the second time in two games, Westminster (2-1) used a big first half to put away an opponent.

The Lions, the No. 3-ranked team in the CIF-SS Southern Division, ran out to a comfortable first-quarter lead that led to even bigger halftime hole for the Breakers who did regroup in the second half to play the Lions on even terms. The Lions grabbed a 23-0 lead in the opening quarter and increased their advantage to 51-14 at the half.

Against rival Marina on Sept. 12, Westminster bolted to a 49-0 halftime lead on the Vikings and cruised to a 56-7 win.

Westminster used a strong run game early to gain the upper hand. Quarterback Matt Dinh directed the offense which scored on its first three possessions. The Lions also got a defensive score (safety) on Laguna’s second possession in taking their 23-0 lead. They had quick scoring drives in the first half, too, with three being of the one-play variety.

“We knew they would be good, and they were as good as advertised,” Brown said. “We knew they were going to be explosive, that they had a good running game, and we couldn’t stop them. On offense, we couldn’t get things going. We had too many three-and-outs.”

The Breakers did. They went three-and-out on their first three possessions and in six of their first seven. An interception ended their eighth possession, and they didn’t pick up their first first down of the game until late in the half which came during a 46-yard scoring drive.

That score came on a 4-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jack Simon to receiver Brett Tracy. The pair earlier hooked up on a 12-yard touchdown pass play in the first quarter for Laguna’s first score.

The short scoring drive was set up by Carter Monacell who recovered a Westminster fumbled punt at the Lions’ 12-yard line.

Laguna also had a defensive stop in the first quarter when Nick Krantz intercepted a Dinh pass at the Laguna 3.

The Breakers scored first in the second half when Simon and running back Bruce Knill teamed on a 47-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter.

“The score was pretty much out of hand by halftime and what we did in the locker room at the half, was try to re-form our goals,” Brown said. “We wanted to go out there and win the second half, to stay in the fight, run some plays and get guys playing time. I thought our guys did a good job in the second half.”

St. Margaret’s is fresh off a 44-21 drubbing of Whittier Christian. Running back Oscar Gomez ran for 271 yards and two touchdowns to lead the offense.

In three games, the Tartans have scored no fewer than 40 points. They have previous wins over Capistrano Valley Christian (40-0) and The Webb Schools (54-6).

Once the Breakers are finished with St. Margaret’s, they have less than a week to prepare for their next game. They’ll travel to Irvine High next Thursday to take on Northwood at 7 p.m. in their final nonleague game.

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Results/Schedule

Laguna Beach (1-2)

45...Bolsa Grande...12

10...University...37

21...Westminster...57

Friday: vs. St. Margaret’s, 7 p.m.

Thursday: at Northwood (Irvine High), 7 p.m.

Oct. 10: *at Costa Mesa (at Estancia High)

Oct. 17: *Saddleback (homecoming)

Oct. 24: *at Estancia

Oct. 31: *Calvary Chapel

Nov. 7: *Godinez

(*denotes league game)