IRVINE – Corona del Mar showed Friday night why it’s still the class of the Pacific Coast League.
The Sea Kings used a dominant defensive effort and solid play at quarterback to defeat Irvine, 21-7, in the league opener at Irvine. No. 7 Corona del Mar, idle last week, had its 30-game winning streak snapped in a 28-14 loss to Tesoro on Sept. 26.
But the Sea Kings (5-1, 1-0) extended their PCL winning streak to 11 over three seasons by holding off Irvine (4-2, 0-1). CdM is shooting for its third straight league title.
“Our defense played great and I think we had a ton of yards on offense but we had some turnovers that cost us and probably could have had a little better focus finishing some of those drives,” said Sea Kings Coach Scott Meyer. “Irvine’s defense played really hard and really tough.”
Corona del Mar had three turnovers in the first half and missed three field goal attempts in the game. Peter Bush started at quarterback for Corona del Mar, passing for 100 yards. But sophomore Chase Garbers came on in the second quarter and sparked the Sea Kings, passing for 166 yards and rushing for 112 yards in the game.
Garbers put Corona del Mar ahead, 7-0, on a 1-yard TD run in the second quarter and connected with Cole Collins on a 7-yard TD pass late in the third quarter to give the Sea Kings a 21-0 lead.
“The plan was to play both of them and Peter Bush actually sprained his ankle,” Meyer said. “We don’t think it’s anything serious but we ended up sticking with Chase.”
Irvine broke the shutout when Josh Gray scored from 8 yards out with 4:08 left.
“We told our defense that they needed to play well and play physical and create turnovers and they did,” said Irvine Coach Erik Terry. “I’m really proud of the effort put forth by our kids. They didn’t back down.”
Contact the writer: tburt@ocregister.com
