Laguna Beach can’t climb out of early hole against Yorba Linda
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Laguna Beach looked ahead to its season opener as a measuring-stick game, a chance to compete against one of the best public school football programs in Orange County.
A season kickoff against Yorba Linda, promoted to the Alpha League this fall, provided an opportunity to make a statement at home.
But before its offense could get on track, Laguna Beach found itself in a three-score hole, one that proved too deep to dig out of in a 34-21 loss on Friday at Guyer Field.
“Yorba Linda brought a tremendous amount of pressure, and we struggled with it,” Laguna Beach coach John Shanahan said after the game. “We had some success with it, but they were the more consistent football team tonight.”
The Mustangs, who last year won the Bravo League title, kept the ball on the ground to the tune of 32 running plays, averaging 4.6 yards per carry.
While Shanahan was satisfied with his team’s response in run defense, the secondary struggled to tackle, especially on balls down the field. It led to four passing plays of at least 25 yards (on 12 total attempts), including 45- and 68-yard touchdown passes from Noah Trujillo to Vince Aguilar.
“It was those plays where they would drop back and just throw it up in the air, and their kids made plays,” Shanahan said. “There were a number of times, you know, I think our guys are there to pick balls off, and we’re running into guys, right?
“I was happy with the way we fought the run and did a good job of slowing their run game down. It’s those big, long touchdown passes … that got us in a lot of trouble.”
Laguna Beach had fallen behind 21-0 after Aguilar’s 68-yard catch and run midway through the second quarter. It came on the first series after Dylan Newsom intercepted a deep Jack Hurst pass intended for top target Brady Stringham.
Back came the Breakers, authoring a 10-play drive, 65-yard drive in just over three minutes to get on the scoreboard. Hurst threaded the needle to Will Kimball for a 19-yard gain on a fourth-and-12 conversion, and Stringham scored on a shallow cross from 8 yards out.
A defensive three-and-out series, punctuated by one of Xavier Brooks’ two sacks, gave the Breakers the ball back with 1:37 left in the half. Laguna Beach capitalized, as Garrett Byerly high-pointed a contested catch near the front right pylon for a 32-yard touchdown.
The Breakers, down 21-14, received the ball after halftime, but they punted on their initial two possessions out of the locker room.
“Not the start we wanted at all,” Hurst said. “Made some bad reads, bad throws that I would have wanted back, but going to watch on film, get better. It was good to have that momentum going into half, you know, go down and score with around five minutes left, and then get a little two-minute drill going.
“Felt great going into half, thought we had enough energy coming in, but just came out a little bit flat after halftime. Needed to piece [together] another drive to tie it up.”
Aiden Gutierrez, the Mustangs’ leading rusher with 21 carries for 93 yards, scored a short-yardage touchdown, re-establishing a two-score cushion for the visitors.
Following a 13-yard scoring scamper by Laguna Beach’s Charlie Christian, Gutierrez answered with his second touchdown of the half.
Defensive lineman Landon Pearson derailed the Breakers’ ensuing drive, his second sack of the game resulting in an 8-yard loss. The pass rush then factored into Hurst’s second interception, the ball winding up in the hands of Logan Seib, a 6-foot-6 sophomore along the imposing defensive front of Yorba Linda.
Pearson said the Mustangs’ defensive line was “setting the tempo,” while also keeping an eye out for the screen in the passing game.
“That’s how Logan Seib got that interception right there, because we knew it was a screen.”
Hurst completed 21 of 34 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns. He took two sacks and was intercepted twice.
Christian accumulated 59 total yards. Kimball brought in nine catches for 53 yards.
Laguna Beach, coming off its own Foxtrot League title and a CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoff appearance, has high expectations.
“I think [the expectations] have changed drastically,” Christian said of how those program accomplishments have impacted the team’s goals. “I guess it’s always been a very high level of, like, ‘We got this,’ like, ‘We’re here, we’re able to do this.’
“Our expectations have always been through the roof. I think Coach Shanahan really, really has high expectations for every single one of us, but I think hearing Yorba Linda [was our] first game, first Alpha League [opponent], that’s just really special … I think that raised expectations even higher.”
Nonleague
Yorba Linda 34, Laguna Beach 21
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Yorba Linda 6 - 15 - 7 - 6 — 34
Laguna Beach 0 - 14 - 7 - 0 — 21
FIRST QUARTER
YL — Aguilar 45 pass from N. Trujillo (kick blocked), 6:30.
SECOND QUARTER
YL — I. Trujillo 5 run (kick), 9:14.
YL — Aguilar 68 pass from N. Trujillo (I. Trujillo run), 5:32.
LB — Stringham 8 pass from Hurst (Stringham kick), 2:18.
LB — Byerly 32 pass from Hurst (Stringham kick), 0:36.
THIRD QUARTER
YL — Gutierrez 1 run (kick), 8:08.
LB — Christian 13 run (Stringham kick), 0:29.
FOURTH QUARTER
YL — Gutierrez 2 run (kick failed), 6:59.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
YL — Gutierrez, 21-93, 2 TDs; N. Trujillo, 3-31; I. Trujillo, 7-21, 1 TD, Lagraffe, 1-1.
LB — Christian, 6-25, 1 TD; Gardner, 2-15.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
YL — N. Trujillo, 8-12-0, 217, 2 TDs.
LB — Hurst, 21-34-2, 181, 2 TDs.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
YL — Aguilar, 2-113, 2 TDs; Boyack, 2-60; Burrell, 2-29; Schroeder, 1-13; Holcomb, 1-2.
LB — Kimball, 9-53; Stringham, 5-38, 1 TD; Christian, 3-34; Byerly, 1-32, 1 TD; Bogdan, 1-15; Gardner, 2-9.
