Breakers coming home

Mike Sciacca

Ah, home sweet home.

It’s been more than a month since the Laguna High football team

has played within the familiar confines of Guyer Field but tonight at

7 p.m., the Breakers will celebrate their return home in a special

way.

It’s homecoming on campus, and Laguna will host Tesoro in a

Pacific Coast League clash.

The Titans come into the ballgame as the top-ranked team in

Division IX.

Tesoro (4-2 overall) opened Pacific Coast League play last week by

ripping University, 62-6.

Laguna, meanwhile, slipped to 4-2 overall and 0-1 in league

following a 35-0 loss to defending league champion, Northwood.

“I believe Tesoro is the best team in division nine,” Laguna coach

Jimmy Nolan said. “They are solid across the board. They have great

size, speed and lots of depth.

“Watching Tesoro might remind you of watching a Division I

program. They have a very large squad, a huge coaching staff and

their school has more than four times as many students as Laguna

Beach. The community has a great Pop Warner feeder program into the

high school. These guys can match up favorably against the majority

of the top football schools in Orange County. Why they’re in division

nine is confusing, but who cares? Let’s go fight on Friday night.”

Laguna will be looking to recapture the fight it had in building a

four-game winning streak, a streak that came to a crashing halt

against Northwood.

Nolan, however, says he’s been pleased with his players’ ability

to rebound during practice this week.

“The kids are positive,” he said. “After reviewing the films, they

saw how many opportunities we had to score, which was five times, and

three easy touchdowns on wide open trick plays we failed to execute.

“We had more than enough opportunities to put points on the board,

but did not execute when given the chance. Against a team like

Northwood, we better take advantage of any chance we get. Instead, we

turned the ball over, had many bad snaps, fumbles and such. We were

our own worst enemy. We had the chances, we just didn’t get it done.”

Defensively, Laguna played perhaps its poorest game against

Northwood, Nolan said.

“We blew assignments and missed more tackles than we had all year

combined,” he said. “We need to stop playing timid, nervous and

scared to lose. No one expects us to win against teams like Northwood

and Tesoro. Now we’ve seen the films and realize we can play with

these teams. We’ve just got to go out there and have fun, fly around,

do what were very capable of and believe in ourselves.

“Mental mistakes and turnovers killed us last week. If we can

limit our mental errors, we expect a much better showing against

Tesoro.”

Laguna will attempt to challenge Tesoro a bit short-handed.

Garrett Preston, who has been strong at quarterback, was lost to a

knee injury he suffered last week.

Nolan said Laguna’s “best player,” Adam Kennaday, had knee surgery

Tuesday. Brad Wolf, whom Nolan calls the team’s “toughest player,” is

still out with a broken leg. Jodie Stevens, Laguna’s “fastest player

and big play maker,” is out with a pulled hamstring.

Starting center, John Huerta, missed the Northwood game due to a

bad shoulder and is playing injured. Starting Shaughnessy McDermott,

whom Nolan says has been “dominant,” is out due to a hyper-extended

elbow.

If that wasn’t enough, starting running back/linebacker, Greg

Arrellano, has a sever case of the flu.

“But, bottom line, if we prepare ourselves to be in the best

mental and physical shape possible before we play this powerhouse

team, the only problem that can happen Friday night is me getting

out-coached,” Nolan said. “Our boys are 6-0. I am 4-2. I’m sure

they’ll win again this Friday night. I pray I can too.”