Breakers advance in playoffs

It’s been a long time coming.

Twenty-one years, to be exact.

The Laguna Beach High football team exorcised a few postseason demons Thursday night at Santa Ana Bowl when the Breakers defeated the Santa Ana Saints, 39-14, in a first-round game of the CIF Southern Section Southern Division playoffs.

The playoff victory was the first for the program since Nov. 20, 1987, when the then-Artists won at home against Elsinore, 28-21.

You have to go back even farther than that - 40 years, in fact - to find the last time Laguna won a road playoff game. It was Nov. 22, 1968, a 14-13 win over La Quinta of Westminster at Bolsa Grande High.

On Thursday night, Laguna, the second-place team from the Orange Coast League, never trailed the No. 2 representative from the Golden West League and then turned it on defensively in the fourth quarter to turn a precarious, 20-14 lead, into a 25-point victory.

“It’s just a great, great win and I’m so proud of our kids,” Laguna Coach Jonathan Todd said. “The kids made a lot of plays and took care of business the way they needed to. It’s a great win for our program and gives up another week to play football.”

School single-game records also came into the future Thursday:

-The 39 points were the most scored in a playoff game since a 34-14 victory in 1962 over Santa Clara.

-Quarterback Austin Paxson set a school record with four touchdown passes and the recipient of those four passes, Chris Paul, also established a new record for TD receptions in a game.

-Chris Paul tied Donelle Darling (2001) for most touchdowns in a game, five, which he totaled after scoring on a fumble recover midway through the fourth quarter.

-Chris Paul also tied Darling for most points scored in a game (30).

In addition, the 25-point margin of victory is only surpassed by a 26-0 victory in 1964 over Bloomington.

“Our quarterback (Paxson) had a great game, as did all of our kids,” Todd said. “He’s a sophomore, throwing to another sophomore (Paul), and when they doubled-up on Chris Paul, our freshman receiver, Derek Reigel, stepped up big time to make some big catches for us, including a fourth-down catch.

“Our defense basically shut them down in the second half and John Snedegar had a great game with two picks one of which he returned for a touchdown.”

Paxson and Paul combined on scoring pass plays covering 40 and 38 yards to give Laguna a 14-7 lead in the second quarter. After the Saints tied the score (14-14), Paul took in a nine-yard TD pass from Paxson to give the Breakers a 20-14 lead at the half.

The game still was up for grabs heading into the fourth quarter, with Laguna still clinging to a precarious, 20-14 advantage. But the Breakers came up big on the second play of the fourth quarter when they foiled a fake punt by Santa Ana to take over at the Saints 38 yard line. The offense then used 10 plays to cover those 38 yards and capped the long drive over a short field with a five-yard scoring pass from Paxson to Paul. A two-point conversion attempt failed but the Breakers had a 26-14 lead with 7:13 left to play.

On Santa Ana’s ensuing possession, Snedegar came up with his second interception of the game and returned this one 38 yards for a touchdown. He then kicked the extra point and Laguna was closer to getting its first postseason road victory since 1968 by extending its lead to 33-14 midway through the quarter.

Snedegar’s ensuing kickoff went for a touchback and on the Saints’ first play from scrimmage, Paul scooped up a fumble and raced 29 yards to the end zone to put the game away with 5:50 remaining.

Paxson was 16 of 23 for 232 yards with his four TD passes and an interception. Paul caught 10 of those passes for 150 yards and four scores and Reigel had three catches total 65 yards.

Zach Smith, who last week rambled for 309 yards against Costa Mesa, led the Laguna ground attack with 90 yards on 20 carries.

The Breakers will know the identity of their second-round opponent late Friday after Corona del Mar and La Mirada meet at Newport Harbor High in a first-round game.

A Corona del Mar win would give Laguna a home game on Nov. 28. Should La Mirada defeat CdM, a coin flip would determine if Laguna or La Mirada will host the second-round game next Friday.