Corona del Mar Makes Quick Work of University, 49-21; Beckman Up Next

Corona del Mar held up its end of the “Showdown of the South” by jumping on University early and routing the Trojans, 49-21, Thursday night at Irvine High.

Now it is up to Beckman, which plays Irvine at Tustin High tonight.

A victory by the Patriots would set up a much-anticipated showdown between the top two teams in the CIF-Southern Section's Southern Division for the outright Pacific Coast League championship and, most likely, the No. 1 seed when the division playoffs begin in two weeks.

Corona del Mar (8-1 overall, 4-0 in league), the defending league champion, has won five games in a row. Second-ranked Beckman (6-2, 3-0 heading into tonight's game) is also riding a five-game winning streak.

The biggest game of the season for both teams will be Friday, Nov. 11, at Newport Harbor High. Kickoff is 7 p.m.

“It’s going to be huge,” Sea Kings coach Scott Meyer said. “Beckman is a very good football team. They’re physical. They played in the [division] championship game last year. They have a lot of guys back and they’re experienced.

“Everybody knows about that game coming up, but it was great to see our guys focus in on University.”

Corona del Mar showed how focused it was against the Trojans (3-6, 1-3) by scoring 21 points in each of the first two quarters to take a 42-14 lead at halftime. The Sea Kings' offense scored six of the seven times it had possession, and the one time it didn't, was because of Keyvan Aminzadeh's interception that he returned 45 yards to get University of the board.

The Sea Kings scored on their fifth play of the game when quarterback Brent Lawson threw a screen pass to Josh Giger, who went 51 yards untouched for a 7-0 lead. Three minutes later, they got the ball back and went 65 yards in seven plays, capped by Giger's seven-yard touchdown run.

On its ensuing possession, University (3-6, 1-4) went three-and-out. Corona del Mar started its next drive at its own 29. Lawson guided the team downfield with pinpoint passes to the Trojans' five-yard line. From there Erik Fisher scored the first of his two touchdowns in the game and the Sea Kings led, 21-0.

Trojans quarterback Zach Christy then put together his team's best drive of the game, taking University 79 yards in eight plays, the key one being a 25-yard pass to the Sea Kings' one-yard line. Christy then threw to Tyler Stanek for the touchdown to cut Corona del Mar’s lead in half, 28-14, with 6:59 left in the second quarter.

Meyer, however, said he wasn’t concerned.

“We were pretty comfortable that we could maintain that lead,” he said. “Our offense was moving the ball so well all night. From start to finish, that’s the best our offense has looked. We have a lot of weapons on offense.”

One of those is Chris Johnstone, who completed an 80-yard, nine-play drive after University had scored, with a 10-yard touchdown catch. Johnstone finished with five catches for 101 yards. Giger had eight catches for 119 yards.

Lawson completed an impressive 18 of 24 passes for 274 yards -- he was 17 of 23 in the first half for 260 yards.

University took possession at its 41 with 2:31 left in the half and appeared headed for another touchdown. But on first down at the Sea Kings' eight, Christy was hit as he threw a shovel pass that went right to Corona del Mar cornerback Frasier Anderson, who took it 98 yards for a touchdown to break the hearts and upset hopes of the Trojans.

Each team scored a touchdown early in the third quarter — a nine-yard run by Giger and a three-yard catch by Stanek — to complete the scoring. By the fourth quarter, the Sea Kings were already looking ahead to their showdown with Beckman.

“We thought we would be there [playing for the league championship] and we counted on Beckman being where they are,” Meyer said. “It’s going to be a heck of a game.”


GAME STATISTICS
 

                               1       2     3     4   --   T

Corona del Mar     21     21     7     0   --  49

University                0     14     7     0   --  21

                              CdM         Uni

First Downs                13           8

Rushing Yards          147          70

Passing Yards           284        165

Total Net Yards         431        235

Turnovers                     1           2

Penalties-Yards        7-58        5-35

SCORING

1st Quarter

CdM – Giger 51 pass from Lawson (Garrett kick), 11:11

CdM – Gardner 7 run (Garrett kick), 6:51

CdM – Fisher 5 run (Garrett kick), 1:34

2nd Quarter

Uni – Aminzadeh 46 interception return (Stanek kick), 11:36

CdM – Fisher 4 run (Garrett kick), 10:07

Uni – Stanek 1 pass from Christy (Stanek kick), 6:58                                                                                                                                      

CdM – Johnstone 10 pass from Lawson (Garrett kick), 2:40                                                                                            

CdM – Anderson 98 interception return (Garrett kick), 0:24

3rd Quarter

CdM – Giger 9 run (Garrett kick), 5:49

Uni – Stanek 3 pass from Christy (Stanek kick), 2:00