CdM keeps PCL streak alive

IRVINE — Make that 16 consecutive wins for Corona del Mar High in Pacific Coast League football play.

The latest one wasn’t a walk through for the Sea Kings, who since 2012 had been winning in league by an average of 26.2 points per game.

The Sea Kings opened their league title defense with a 28-14 win against Woodbridge at University High on Friday night.

The defense carried CdM (4-2, 1-0 in league), coming up with three turnovers, the first two off fumbles led to touchdowns in the first quarter. Safety Sutty Barbato returned the second one 30 yards for a touchdown, helping put CdM up, 14-0, midway through the opening quarter.

What kept CdM from putting away the Warriors were the 10 penalties for 100 yards they committed in the first half. The penalties allowed Woodbridge to keep two scoring drives alive and tie it at 14-14 right before halftime.

Connor McBride also had his way with CdM’s defense, pounding it 35 times for 169 yards and one touchdown. McBride mostly ran out of the Wildcat.

Woodbridge had to take the ball out of McBride’s hands when it committed its first penalty, a five-yard false start on second-and-three inside CdM’s 25-yard line midway through the third quarter. The Warriors passed, using their starting quarterback, Chase Bradley, and safety Taylor Damron picked him off near the 20.

Woodbridge (2-4, 0-1) never threatened in the red zone again, falling short of upsetting CdM, ranked the No. 3 in the CIF Southern Section Southwest Division poll.

“We hard a tough time tackling that back,” CdM Coach Dan O’Shea said of McBride, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound junior. “When we got them in a pass-down yardage [situation], we felt a little bit better. I’m not sure their quarterback, [Bradley, who completed only five of 15 passes for 37 yards and a touchdown], had the best night. We were able to [come up with a] turnover [in the third].”

The Sea Kings’ quarterback, Chase Garbers, who completed 19 of 26 passes for 220 yards, performed well in the second half. He engineered two 65-yard scoring drives, one at the start of the third quarter and the second ended early in the fourth.

The first score saw Garbers cap an eight-play drive with a five-yard touchdown run, breaking a 14-14 tie three minutes into the second half.

Garbers rushed 12 times for 80 yards, and the junior and running back Jaydin Moses, who finished with 13 carries for 61 yards and two touchdowns, led the way. Moses ran four times during CdM’s seven-play scoring drive, finishing it with a three-yard touchdown. The Sea Kings led, 28-14, with 9:51 to go in the game.

The Sea Kings blanked the Warriors in every quarter, except for the second. They got off to a great start.

A turnover by Woodbridge on the game’s opening possession gave CdM great field position. The Sea Kings began on the Warriors’ 33, thanks to defensive end Dean Ames recovering a bad toss to the left by Bradley to McBride.

The Sea Kings went to the air right away. Garbers found a wide-open Jack Blower, who barely missed recording a 33-yard touchdown catch. The play went for 32 yards, the referee ruled Blower was out of bounds on the one. A play later, Moses found the end zone.

Another fumble, this one by McBride during a run out of the Wildcat, resulted in CdM’s second score. Barbato picked up the loose ball and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown, helping the Sea Kings take a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

“Someone [else] almost recovered it, and then I saw it bounce out,” Barbato said. “Everything was in slow motion, and I just took it to the house.”

The Sea Kings’ lead didn’t hold up in the second quarter.

Penalties plagued them. A couple of the calls, a five-yard offside and 15-yard pass interference, aided the Warriors’ first scoring drive. Woodbridge went 80 yards in 17 plays, watching McBride account for more than half of the yards. McBride ran 10 times for 43 yards during the almost 7½-minute drive. McBride’s final carry went for a four-yard touchdown, cutting the Warriors’ deficit in half a couple of minutes into the second quarter.

The Sea Kings appeared on their way to adding to their lead, reaching the opponent’s 31. A play later, Garbers’ pass bounced off wideout Peter Bush near the 20-yard line and senior linebacker Brian Busch picked off the ball with 7:18 left before halftime.

The Warriors would even things up late in the first half. They put together another impressive long drive, using 12 plays to cover 77 yards. Two third-down penalties on CdM, one for defensive holding and the other for jumping offside, contributed to Woodbridge moving the chains.

After running McBride seven straight times for 27 yards, the offense dialed up a pass. Bradley rolled to his right and found Jack Martine at the 30-yard line and the tight end rumbled to the two for a 33-yard gain. The Warriors went back to McBride and CdM stopped him at the one. With the Sea Kings anticipated another McBride run, Bradley faked the handoff and rolled to the left, hooking up with a wide-open Jared Kaleikini for a one-yard touchdown. The extra-point kick made it 14-14 with 29 seconds to go in the first half.

But the Warriors would never score again. The Sea Kings, who have gone undefeated in their last three title runs in league, remained perfect in their last 16 league contests.

“We made the adjustment at [halftime] and I think we were good after that,” said O’Shea, whose team plays host to Beckman (2-4, 0-1) next week at Jim Scott Stadium.

—

Corona del Mar 28, Woodbridge 14

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Corona del Mar 14 – 0 – 7 – 7 — 28

Woodbridge 0 – 14 – 0 – 0 — 14

FIRST QUARTER

CdM – Moses 1 run (Neiger kick), 10:05.

CdM – Barbato 30 fumble return (Neiger kick), 5:36.

SECOND QUARTER

WB – McBride 4 run (Phillips kick), 9:56.

WB – Kaleikini 1 pass from Bradley (Phillips kick), :29.

THIRD QUARTER

CdM – Garbers 5 run (Neiger kick), 9:06.

FOURTH QUARTER

CdM – Moses 3 run (Neiger kick), 9:51.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

CdM – Garbers, 12-80, 1 TD.

WB – McBride, 35-169, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

CdM – Garbers, 19-26-1, 220.

WB – Bradley, 5-15-1, 37, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

CdM – Blower, 3-68.

WB – Kaleikini, 3-4, 1 TD.