Sea View League : Estancia Edges Sloppy Corona del Mar, 21-16

Estancia High School scored 21 first-half points Friday night, then made it stand up to win its first Sea View League game of the year with a 21-16 victory over Corona del Mar at Davidson Field in front of 3,000.

The Sea Kings (2-2, 3-4) had three chances to score the go-ahead touchdown, but fumbled each time deep inside Estancia territory.

The second half turned sloppy for both teams, but more so for Corona del Mar, which commited five turnovers. Late in the third quarter, Corona del Mar was on the Estancia two-yard line, but running back Sean Tunner fumbled the ball into the end zone and defensive back Sean Kinkade recovered.

After the ball came out to the 20, Estancia also found it difficult to hold on to, and fumbled it away on the first play. But the Sea Kings wasted another opportunity to score when they fumbled it away only three plays later. And it was Kinkade again who was in the right place to make the recovery.

But Corona del Mar was not done giving away chances.

After Estancia (1-3, 3-4) was stopped because of a fumble, Corona del Mar was unable to hold on for very long, and punted. But the Sea Kings got it back when Larry Braden recovered an Estancia fumble on the Eagle 28 yard line.

Two plays later, the drive was halted on the Eagle 10 when running back Chris Warner fumbled.

Estancia, with the help of an offsides penalty against the Sea Kings, managed to kill most of the 3:02 that was left.

The Eagles ran the ball out of their own end zone with 11 seconds to play for a safety, then had a free kick. On the first play, Corona del Mar quarterback Mitch Melbon was sacked as time ran out.

The Eagles scored quickly in the game. On the second play after the opening kick off, wide receiver Eric Dorn took a reverse 69 yards around end for a touchdown. He carried the ball on the same play two other times and had 87 yards rushing in the victory.

It became 14-0 Estancia later in the first quarter on a three-yard run by Craig Conte. The score was set up by a pass interference penalty on the Sea Kings on the goal line. The drive also featured a 36-yard run on a draw-play by back Brian Sherrard who had 68 yards on 6 carries. Conte was the game’s leading rusher with 77 yards on 24 carries.

Just two minutes into the second quarter, the Sea Kings managed to avoid any mistakes and drove the ball 80 yards on 11 plays for a score. The touchdown came on a five-yard pass from Melbon to Tunner.

The Eagles made it 21-14 at the half on a pass play covering 10 yards from Mike Rosellini to Conte.

In the second half the drive the Sea Kings put together without a mistake resulted in a touchdown. Warner hurdled two Estancia defenders on his was to a 19-yard run which made the score 21-14. Warner had 74 yards on 12 carries.

In the first half the Sea Kings could not get any part of their offense going, as they totaled only 77 yards.

In other league action:

Newport Harbor 68, Laguna Beach 27--Quarterback Shane Foley completed 20 of 35 pass attempts for 350 yards and 3 touchdowns and ran for another to lead the Sailors to the lopsided win at Guyer Field.

Foley threw scoring passes of 29, 44 and 52 yards and ran for 1-yard touchdown as the Sailors remained atop the Sea View League standings with a 4-0 record and are 6-1 overall. Laguna Beach fell to 1-3 in league play and 1-6 overall.

Newport Harbor had three receivers--Kevin McClelland, Andy Sheppard and Mark Craig--all with over 100 yards in receptions. Sheppard caught 5 passes for 122 yards and 2 touchdowns, McClelland caught 8 passes for 109 yards and Craig caught 7 passes for 104 yards and a touchdown.