CdM O-line paves way to first-round win over Trabuco Hills

The guys in the trenches may not always get a lot of love, but Corona del Mar High football coach Dan O’Shea made sure that wasn’t the case following the Sea Kings’ 42-17 victory over Trabuco Hills on Friday night at Jim Scott Stadium in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Southwest Division playoffs.

O’Shea highlighted the Sea Kings’ starting offensive line of Mitch Dean, Garrett Cleary, Arwin Rahmatpanah, Bryan Samudro and Connor Reid. Rightly so, after the Sea Kings tallied 350 rushing yards in the game, allowing them to avenge last year’s loss to the Mustangs in the Southwest Division quarterfinals.

Trabuco Hills went on to win CIF last season. Now it’s No. 3-seeded CdM (9-2) that has title aspirations and is going for its fourth CIF title in five seasons.

“We controlled the line of scrimmage all night, which we struggled with mightily last year against them,” O’Shea said. “This game was all about our offensive line. They answered the bell against an extremely good Trabuco Hills football team … If our offensive line plays that well, we’re pretty good on offense.”

Jaydin Moses rushed for 198 yards and quarterback Chase Garbers had a season-high 108 yards rushing as well for the Sea Kings, who lost the pre-coin flip and will play at Buena Park in the quarterfinals next Friday night. Buena Park beat Yorba Linda, 49-7, in another first-round game.

Garbers also threw for four touchdown passes, two to Peter Bush, one to Reece Perez and one to Billy Shaw. He also threw his first interception in six weeks, and third of the season overall, in the first half. With the Sea Kings up, 14-3, late in the first quarter, Garbers and his receiver weren’t on the same page and Trabuco Hills’ Eddie Ricci easily intercepted the pass near midfield.

But the Sea Kings created a turnover of their own as Trabuco Hills (3-8) got into the red zone. CdM senior Sutty Barbato intercepted a pass on his own two-yard line.

“They lined up in this formation that we didn’t see on film, so we kind of were confused,” Barbato said. “We lined up in man coverage and I just saw an open receiver, ran to him and just got to the ball, made a play.”

From there, the Sea Kings added two more touchdowns in the second quarter, one on a 57-yard scamper by Moses and one on a 20-yard reception by Perez with just 20 seconds remaining in the half. They took a 28-10 halftime lead.

Trabuco Hills cut into it early in the third quarter on a 58-yard screen pass to Chad Crosbie that went for a touchdown. But the Mustangs couldn’t get closer. CdM was on its way to its sixth straight victory and improved to 16-1 in playoff games since 2011.

Garbers provided the game’s final score with a 44-yard run midway through the fourth quarter.

Cleary, the left guard, said he knew the offensive line had to step up. The Sea Kings were without sophomore Jake Berkey and junior Denham King, two linemen who were both out with knee injuries. But they did not allow a sack in the game.

“Getting close to the end of the season, we’ve been kind of picking it up more,” Cleary said. “[Trabuco Hills senior defensive tackle and co-captain Austin Fine] was a key factor in our loss last year. Tonight, we took as much precaution as possible and just watched a lot of film and handled him.”

O’Shea said that CdM does still have things to work on. He wasn’t particularly pleased with his team’s defense. And Buena Park, which finished second in the Freeway League, is a team that came into Friday night’s action averaging more than 40 points per game.

“I’m not sure we played very good defense tonight, I’ll be honest with you,” O’Shea said. “We’ve got some work to do on defense. We couldn’t get off the field on third down … but we’ll fix it. We’ll get better this week.”

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Corona del Mar 42, Trabuco Hills 17

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Trabuco 3 – 7 – 7 – 0 — 17

CdM 14 – 14 – 7 – 7 — 42

FIRST QUARTER

CdM – Shaw 8 pass from Garbers (Neiger kick), 8:28.

TH – Velazquez 41 FG, 5:56.

CdM – Bush 8 pass from Garbers (Neiger kick), 3:22.

SECOND QUARTER

CdM – Moses 57 run (Neiger kick), 5:48

TH – Conway 11 pass from Uhl (Velazquez kick), 1:13.

CdM – Perez 20 pass from Garbers (Neiger kick), 0:20.

THIRD QUARTER

TH – Crosbie 58 pass from Uhl (Velazquez kick), 9:26.

CdM – Bush 22 pass from Garbers (Neiger kick), 6:26.

FOURTH QUARTER

CdM – Garbers 44 run (Neiger kick), 7:01.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

TH – Crosbie, 17-81.

CdM – Moses, 19-198, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

TH – Uhl, 13-26-1, 238, 2 TDs.

CdM – Garbers, 21-30-1, 254, 4 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

TH – Conway, 6-99, 1 TD.

CdM – Bush, 6-84, 1 TD.