Garbers’ five TD passes tie CdM record

DANA POINT — Chase Garbers didn’t even get to play the entire first half, and he still tied Corona del Mar High’s single-game record for touchdown passes.

The junior quarterback threw five touchdowns, finding a different wideout each time. Garbers carved up Dana Hills’ secondary, easily leading the Sea Kings to a 52-14 rout on the road Friday.

Garbers exited the game with 3:56 to go before halftime, seeing his final two passes fall incomplete. His night was done early, completing 16 of 22 passes for 258 yards. The performance showed off Garbers’ strong and accurate arm, as well as his ability to move out of the pocket and make plays.

Dan O’Shea, CdM’s new head coach, finally saw Garbers in action this year. O’Shea missed the Sea Kings’ opener last week because of the birth of his first child.

The Sea Kings, ranked No. 5 in the CIF Southern Section Southwest Division poll, have begun the year with two wins. Garbers has been a big reason why.

“It was great, he [moved the ball] around,” O’Shea said of Garbers, who completed passes to six receivers. “[We took out Garbers early because] these coaches with Dana Hills are doing a good job and they’ve got to rebuild. We’re going to respect [them].”

The Dolphins (0-2) had no answers for the 6-foot-3, 210-pound Garbers, suffering their second lopsided loss in as many weeks.

The scoring began early for CdM. On the first touchdown, coming almost 2½ minutes into the game, Garbers scrambled to his left to find Billy Shaw in the end zone. Shaw somehow got a foot down, hauling in the three-yard pass before he went out of bounds.

Close to three minutes later, Garbers connected with a wide-open Reece Perez over the middle for a 29-yard touchdown. The next time Garbers led the offense onto the field, his string of eight straight completions ended at the 3:16 mark.

The touchdowns kept coming for Garbers, though. His receivers continued to get open, this time it was Peter Bush who caught a 22-yard touchdown pass with 1:44 to go in the opening quarter.

The next two touchdowns by Garbers saw him go short and deep. Three minutes into the second quarter, Garbers hooked up with Jack Blower for a one-yard fade in the end zone. About three minutes later, on Garbers’ first pass since he threw his fourth touchdown, No. 3 let it fly again.

Garbers rolled to his left and then stopped to throw a strike across the field to Taeveon Le, who leaped to make the catch in traffic near Dana Hills’ 40-yard line. Le didn’t stop there, breaking away from the defensive back to complete a 79-yard touchdown.

A week after he finished with single-game bests for completions (34), attempts (43) and passing yards (268), Garbers joined Brent Lawson and Dave Terry as the only CdM quarterbacks to throw five touchdowns in a game.

“I had no idea,” Garbers said, when asked if he knew he was one touchdown pass shy of breaking CdM’s single-game record. “[When I was pulled], the offense was bummed because we always want to put points up on the [scoreboard], but we want to get our other guys some work in and help them get better.”

Garbers has been unstoppable so far. In two games, he has seven touchdown passes, four off the total he had last year, when he shared the quarterback duties.

The only thing that seemed to work against CdM in the first half was Dana Hills’ hard count. Three times the Sea Kings jumped offside in the first quarter, but the defense forced the Dolphins to punt, linemen Michael Mishow stuffed a run for a one-yard loss and linebacker Karl Donovan dropped quarterback Corey Cisowski at the line of scrimmage.

The only time CdM allowed Dana Hills on its side of the field in the first half was with 3:49 to go in the opening quarter. The Dolphins got as far as the 14, before they attempted a 31-yard field goal, which went wide right.

Everything went right for the Sea Kings. They played great special teams. In the first half, Jason Neiger had five touchbacks and he converted a 34-yard field goal late the first half, shortly after Thomas Walker recovered a fumble on Dana Hills’ kickoff return.

The CdM defense gave up only 74 rushing yards, most of it in the second half when the Sea Kings pulled their starters. Before they did, defensive back Cameron Kormos picked off a pass and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown. The Sea Kings came away with three turnovers, giving them five for the season.

O’Shea, who is also CdM’s defensive coordinator, is going to need another standout defensive effort from his team next week. The Sea Kings travel to El Toro, ranked No. 6 in the West Valley Division.

“A big game,” O’Shea said, knowing El Toro will be searching for its first win after dropping to 0-2 with a 34-28 setback to Chula Vista Eastlake on Friday. “El Toro is as competitive of a game as we play every year. They’re super athletic. I imagine it will be a tight one next week.”

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Corona del Mar 52, Dana Hills 14

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Corona del Mar 21 – 31 – 0 – 0 — 52

Dana Hills 0 – 0 – 14 – 0 — 14

FIRST QUARTER

CdM – Shaw 3 pass from Garbers (Neiger kick), 9:20.

CdM – Perez 29 pass from Garbers (Neiger kick), 6:30.

CdM – Bush 22 pass from Garbers (Neiger kick), 1:44.

SECOND QUARTER

CdM – Blower 1 pass from Garbers (Neiger kick), 8:59.

CdM – Le 79 pass from Garbers (Neiger kick), 6:10.

CdM – C. Kormos 46 INT return (Neiger kick), 4:39.

CdM – Neiger 34 FG, 3:56.

CdM – Moses 6 run (Neiger kick), :53.

THIRD QUARTER

DH – Rice 3 run (Fellenzer kick), 5:02.

DH – Z. Schuman 32 pass from Cisowski (Fellenzer kick), 2:03.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

CdM – Moses, 5-36, 1 TD.

DH – Rice, 14-60, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

CdM – Garbers, 16-22-0, 258, 5 TDs.

DH – Cisowski, 17-33-1, 210, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

CdM – Bush, 5-81, 1 TD.

DH – Z. Schuman, 3-68, 1 TD.