By Will Salem | NB Indy
The Sea Kings of Corona del Mar (11-2), having advanced to the CIF-SS Southern Division finals with a 41-14 pounding of the Breakers of Laguna Beach (10-3) last Friday, will face league rival and top overall seed Beckman (11-2) tonight at Orange Coast College.
Against Laguna Beach, in one of the more spectacular rushing performances of the year the Sea Kings ran for a total of 413 yards on 57 carries. The running game was led by senior RB Erik Fisher, who had 35 carries for 313 yards himself. He had 183 yards rushing at the half and took nearly the entire 4th quarter off.
Also fantastic in last week’s game was the Corona del Mar defense, which overwhelmed a very high-scoring offensive unit. Up until last week’s game Laguna Beach was averaging 49 points per game in the regular season and 50 points per game in the playoffs. Laguna Beach scored a touchdown in the first half but didn’t score again until the final seconds of the game.
The Breakers also struggled in the passing game because of the pressure the Corona del Mar linebackers put on QB Larry Stewart. Corona del Mar finished with 6 sacks and 1 interception.
The Beckman Patriots were in the CIF-SS Southern Division finals last year by lost by one point in a heartbreaker to Garden Grove. They are definitely motivated not to let the same thing happen again this year.
There is no doubt Beckman is worthy of the top overall seed as well. They haven’t lost a game since Sept. 23, winning 10 straight since then. In the playoffs they have been dominating teams with an average margin of victory of more than 36 points.
Beckman is led by QB Cameron Biedgoly, who had 4 touchdowns (3 passing and 1 rushing) in last week’s game against Estancia. They have two great running backs in Jeff Kim and Brian Brooks and an athletic wide receiver in James Kaprielian.
This will be a huge test for Corona del Mar. When they met in their last league game on Nov 11, the final score was Beckman 42 and Corona del Mar 37. The Sea Kings demonstrated that they can score on the Patriots, but if CdM wants to win the championship they will have to do a better job against the Patriots running game and repeat last week’s defensive gem.
The game will be Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Orange Coast College. Be sure to bring your sweaters and blankets, as the temperature is expected dip into the 40s.
