Corona del Mar still too much for Laguna Beach

LAGUNA BEACH - For Laguna Beach, it must have seemed like déjà vu all over again, as for the second time this year, Corona del Mar shut out the Breakers, this time 41-0 in the second round of the CIF-SS Southern Division playoffs.

But the vitory did not come without a price. Senior Dillon Norton, who had three punt returns for 93 yards, left the field in an ambulance with 5:16 left in the game. Preliminary reports indicated that Dillon broke his leg at the end of a 30-yard punt return.

Dillon contributed to the Sea Kings'dominance in the field-position battle, one which saw Corona del Mar start five of its 11 drives in Laguna Beach territory.

"We had good field position and Dillon set us up a couple of times with nice punt returns," said head coach Jason Hitchens. "We did a good job on defense, got a short field a couple times and took advantage of them. We had a couple big plays, but I didn’t think by any stretch, offensively, we drove down the field."

While Corona del Mar did not march up and down the field at will, it did maintain a stranglehold on the clock, controlling the tempo of the game with a relentless running attack (three players saw 11 carries or more), punctuated with an as-needed passing game. The Sea Kings dominated time of possession, controlling the ball for 29:28.

Quarterback Mitch Sands  was most emblematic of the strategy, going 8 of 11 for 140 yards and two scores through the air, while rushing 13 times for 76 yards and three TDs.

The Breakers, coming off of their first playoff win in 21 years, could not stand up to the same team that beat them 37-0 on Sept. 12. QB Austin Paxson  went 8 of 21 for 75 yards with two picks and was sacked twice. Paxson was under pressure all night as the defense keyed on his favorite receiver, Chris Paul, limiting him to two catches for 13 yards.

"Some of the routes that they like, we were able to get up underneath, outside and inside and kind of bracket them a little bit," Hitchens said. "Their one receiver, Paul, we doubled him up and tried to take him out of the equation."