Laguna football is on the mend

After tough losses to Northwood and Tesoro, Breakers use bye week to heal, prepare for Sea Kings.A bye week never looked so good.

Having opened the 2005 Pacific Coast League race against the two teams that have dominated the league in the last five years, the Laguna Beach High football team is in the midst of a 12-day break between games.

The Breakers are far from idle, however, as they prepare for a Thursday league clash with Corona del Mar at Newport Harbor High.

Laguna also is using the time to regroup following losses to Northwood and Tesoro, the defending league and CIF-Southern Section Division IX champion.

The Breakers lost last Friday to the host Tesoro Titans, 52-7.

Laguna is now 0-2 in the league and 3-2-1 overall.

“I was proud that the boys never gave up,” Laguna coach Jimmy Nolan said of his team’s performance against Tesoro. “I was disgusted with our poor defensive play, and happy with our offense’s ability to execute against such an outstanding opponent.

“We went back to our normal offense and they did a good job. Penalties shot us in the foot whenever we got something going.”

Laguna used the wing T offense in a Sept. 30 game against Northwood, hoping to catch the Timberwolves off guard. It didn’t work, and Northwood rolled to a 38-6 victory.

Nolan took the blame for that loss, and his offense went back to its standard shotgun spread.

The Breakers played well against a staunch Tesoro defense, and finally managed to crack the scoreboard in the fourth quarter when quarterback Charley Bowman threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Jason Scott.

Bowman finished the night with 105 yards passing. Jody Stevens led the Laguna backfield, rushing for 70 yards.

As if it weren’t enough to go up against a talent-laden and experienced team like Tesoro, the Breakers went into battle without six starters, including two-way starters Garrett Preston and George Chheng.

Both Preston and Chheng suffered concussions, Preston’s happening on Oct. 6 and Chheng’s during the Northwood game.

“Two of our best players were not with us, and it really showed on defense,” Nolan said. “But I am happy they did not play, as it would have made things worse, and they might be out for the rest of the year.

“They will be back and the team should be strong. This bye will be a great healing time.”

One positive thing Nolan took note of during the Tesoro game came off the playing field.

“I want to thank the cheer team for coming to our game at Tesoro,” he said. “Those girls are great, and we are really honored they support us. My hat goes off to the cheer coach, and I thank her for being so great.”

The bye week will allow Nolan the chance to assess his team as it heads into the final four weeks of the regular season.

Laguna went 3-0-1 in nonleague play, the only blemish being a 14-14 tie with Ocean View on Sept. 16.

“We had a great preseason, then we played two giants who banged us up quite well,” he said. “If we can forget about that and get some confidence back, we’ll have a shot at making this year a good one.”

That new start begins Thursday against rival Corona del Mar.

The Sea Kings enter weekend play with an overall record of 3-3.

They will try to improve upon their 1-1 league record tonight when they travel to play Tesoro.

“What this team believes, they can achieve,” Nolan added. “CdM coming up. It doesn’t get any better. What an awesome rivalry.”