CdM football falters at finish in playoff loss to Chaminade
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Corona del Mar appeared on the verge of its first postseason football victory in three years, taking charge near the start, quickly responding to its foe’s first thrust, then taking a 10-point lead into the final five minutes of Friday night’s CIF Southern Section opener against West Hills Chaminade.
It all fell apart from there.
The Eagles, from the perennially vicious Mission League, scored touchdowns 58 seconds apart — the key blow a go-ahead pick-six — and then forced a turnover near their red zone to end all suspense in Friday night’s 20-17 Division 2 thriller at Jim Scott Stadium.
It came down to big plays, and Chaminade (8-3) had more of them, none bigger than Elijah Williams’ 20-yard, go-ahead interception return with 3:21 to play. That followed a three-pass-in-four-plays sequence covering 72 yards to trim CdM’s advantage to 17-13.
Corona del Mar (8-3), which struggled to take advantage of its opportunities, promptly marched inside the Chaminade 30-yard line — within kicker Mateo Akerman’s range for a tying field goal — before quarterback Luca DiNapoli lost hold of the ball as he was sacked at the Eagles’ 38. Game over.
“God, that’s a tough one. It’s devastating ...,” said CdM coach Kevin Hettig, whose teams have lost both of its playoff games since shifting into Orange County’s third-tier Bravo League in 2024. “We had some momentum there, a two-score game, and they did a nice job. They kept fighting. And then throwing that turnover-six is tough.
“It’s just a couple bounces here. We had a lot more opportunities to get it done and put some air between us that we didn’t take advantage of it. That’s one that definitely got away from us.”
The Sea Kings put up a good fight against Chaminade’s fearsome defensive front and found success through the air, mostly to juniors Nolan Scott and JJ Haley through junior quarterbacks John David Annett (182 yards), until injury forced him out at halftime, and DiNapoli (186 yards) after the break, but they got nothing more than two red-zone incursions from three first-half takeaways.
Scott scored both CdM touchdowns — the first on a 2-yard wildcat run eight minutes into the game, the next from a 10-yard DiNapoli throw past the left pylon to restore the seven-point edge just past the third quarter’s midpoint — and amassed 211 yards, 178 on 10 catches, all three career bests. He was key in a defense that limited the Eagles to 126 yards aside from two long Jeremy Mellalieu touchdown passes to Andrew Cordero, and the two Cordero receptions that set up the second score, and he blocked Griffin Stanley’s extra-point try to keep it at 17-13 after that touchdown.
Haley caught eight balls for 96 yards, plus a 78-yard Annett touchdown bomb struck down by a holding penalty at the end of the first quarter, and Chaminade coach David Machuca tracked him down in the postgame handshake line to offer tribute.
“He [and Scott] did a great job,“ said Machuca. Said Hettig: “Just dominant. They’re awesome.”
Cordero had a career-best 182 yards on seven catches, slipping behind the CdM secondary to haul in Mellalieu’s bomb for a 70-yard touchdown on the Eagles’ initial second-half drive, then taking a pass to the right flat and streaking up the sideline for the 35-yard, fourth-quarter score.
Corona del Mar, which had won 16 successive playoff openers before last year’s first-round Division 2 loss at Murrieta Valley, took the lead on its second drive, Scott pushing into the end zone after Trejan Nixon took an Annett screen pass 41 yards to the Chaminade 33 and Annett hit Tucker Murray for 24 yards at the 2-yard line.
The Eagles, who head to a quarterfinal at defending Division 3 champion Oxnard Pacifica, nearly pulled even midway through the second quarter, driving to the CdM 1 before a bad snap sailed past Mellalieu and rolled, with help from a couple of unsuccessful recovery tries, to the 36, where it was recovered by the Sea Kings.
Chaminade tied the score on Cordero’s 70-yard touchdown, and CdM answered with successive third-quarter scoring drives, both followed by defensive stops. Scott’s touchdown reception was set up by back-to-back catches by Haley (for 15 yards) and Scott (for 30 yards) to reach the Eagles’ 17. Akerman, whose 41-yard, end-of-first-half field-goal attempt was just wide, connected from 45 yards to make it 17-7.
Williams’ winning interception came on a third-and-11 play from the CdM 10 after a kickoff-return holding penalty, a stuffed run, and an incomplete pass that Cordero nearly picked off. The ensuing drive stayed alive on a 26-yard, fourth-down Scott reception. It was over three plays later.
“It’s tough to come up on this side of the score,” Scott said. “We came out, we battled. We didn’t want it to be our last game. And it just sucks that this is our last game with our seniors ... to not take it on the ‘dub’ and move on. Definitely going to come back more hungry next year.”
Said Haley: “It hurts a lot. I can’t even describe it. But, you know, it happens. Sometimes it doesn’t go your way. So it’s just life.”
Corona del Mar returns 16 starters next year, including every vital player who handles the ball. Haley can’t wait.
“This propels it so much,” he said. “We’re probably going to get back to lifting next week. At least that’s what I want to do, because I don’t want to lose next year. I want to win it all.”
CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs
Chaminade 20, Corona del Mar 13
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Chaminade 0 - 0 - 7 - 13 — 20
Corona del Mar 7 - 0 - 10 - 0 — 17
FIRST QUARTER
CdM — Scott 2 run (Akerman kick), 4:01.
SECOND QUARTER
None.
THIRD QUARTER
C — Cordero 70 pass from Mellalieu (Stanley kick), 7:38.
CdM — Scott 10 pass from DiNapoli (Dodge kick), 4:51.
CdM — Akerman 45 FG, 0:56.3.
FOURTH QUARTER
C — Cordero 35 pass from Mellalieu (kick failed), 4:19.
C — E. Williams 20 interception return (Stanley kick), 3:21.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
C — Jones, 15-56; Beavers, 3-10; Blackman, 2-7; Granger Narcisse, 1-4; Mellalieu, 7-(-10); Team, 1-(-35).
CdM — Nixon, 14-46; Scott, 3-23, 1 TD; Team, 1-4; DiNapoli, 5-(-1); Annett, 3-(-19).
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
C — Mellalieu, 12-19-0, 236, 2 TDs.
CdM — DiNapoli, 12-23-1, 186, 1 TD; Annett, 12-21-2, 181.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
C — Cordero, 7-182, 2 TDs; Granger Narcisse, 2-31; Ross, 1-19; Beavers, 1-4; Jones, 1-0.
CdM — Scott, 10-178, 1 TD; Haley, 8-96; Murray, 3-49; Nixon, 2-39; Kuchera, 1-0.
