COSTA MESA – Corona del Mar’s offense has Chase Garbers’ great arm, an outstanding group of receivers and a heck of an offensive line.
Those three components came together Friday for Corona del Mar in a 42-13 win over El Toro in a nonleague game at Estancia High.
Garbers threw for 344 yards and four touchdowns. Garbers, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound senior who committed to Cal, also ran for two touchdowns. Junior receiver Tae Le had nine receptions for 234 yards and three touchdowns, including a short sideline pass he turned into an 88-yard scoring sprint.
Corona del Mar, ranked No. 14 in Orange County and No. 6 in CIF-Southern Section Division 4, is 2-1. The Sea Kings lost their season opener at Palos Verdes, 42-20, then got a 31-13 win last week at Los Gatos.
El Toro is 0-3. The Chargers, No. 20 in the Orange County top 25, lost earlier to La Habra and at Eastlake of Chula Vista.
Garbers and Sea Kings coach Dan O’Shea credited the offensive line of Colston Chacon, Arwin Rahmatpanah, Sean Owens, Bryan Samudo and Denham King for helping all of that scoring happen.
“Tae and Chase look great,” O’Shea said. “But it all starts up front.”
Corona del Mar scored 14 points in the first, second and third quarters. The Sea Kings had a 28-0 lead in the second quarter and took a 42-6 lead into the fourth.
They scored their first touchdown on their second possession. Garbers connected with Le on a 68-yard touchdown pass. Le caught the ball near midfield, skipped over the fallen defensive back who vied with him for the ball then ran the rest of the way for the six points.
The Sea Kings recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff at El Toro’s 22-yard line and quickly converted. Garbers, rolling right, tossed 12 yards to Le who made a leaping catch and just managed to get a foot in the end zone. That made it 14-0.
Corona del Mar pushed the lead to 21-0 early in the second quarter when Garbers scored on a 5-yard run. Later in the quarter, Garbers dropped back before taking off on a 15-yard touchdown run on which he did a tuck-and-roll, high-jump move to get into the end zone for a 28-0 lead.
El Toro scored with 37 seconds left in the second quarter on quarterback Cooper Jones’ 18-yard pass to Noah Aguilar.
The Sea Kings’ two third-quarter TDs were on an 11-yard pass from Garbers to Reese Perez and Le’s 88-yard score.
El Toro got a late touchdown on a 70-yard run by Marcus Blevins.
Corona del Mar’s next game is against Newport Harbor at Orange Coast College on Friday – the Battle of the Bay. Newport Harbor has a 38-16 lead in the series, although Corona del Mar won the game last year, 24-3, and has defeated Newport Harbor three years in a row.
El Toro plays at home against Tesoro next Friday.
Contact the writer: sfryer@scng.com