Sea Kings air out foe
ANAHEIM — The less-than-aptly named Western High double-wing offense was no match for a Corona del Mar offense that actually took flight on Friday night.
Senior quarterback Cayman Carter found open receivers all night against a secondary that had seldom seen an aerial attack in practice or its first two games. Carter finished with 297 passing yards, completing 19 of 27 attempts. No less than 15 of Carter’s passes produced first downs, with one — a 23-yard connection with Bo St. Geme — producing the Sea Kings’ lone passing touchdown.
Carter also ran for two scores to lift the visitors to the 34-7 nonleague triumph at Western High.
The Sea Kings (1-1), ranked No. 2 in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division, dealt the Pioneers, who had edged fellow smashmouth teams, Costa Mesa and Katella, their first defeat.
Western, which had some success on the ground, had relied on its defense as much as its throwback offensive approach. The Pioneers had allowed only two points in fact, coming in, the product of their own intentional safety against Katella.
But CdM produced a pair of 99-yard touchdown drives and amassed 457 offensive yards, while largely keeping the hosts out of the end zone.
Western, which had scored only 16 points coming in, took advantage of an unsuccessful onside kickoff attempt to collect its only score, a 52-yad run by Lafaele Masaniai that pulled Western within 10-7 midway through the second quarter.
But Carter capped a seven-play, 64-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run to make it 17-7 at halftime and the Sea Kings dominated after intermission.
CdM finalized the scoring with a 52-yard field goal by senior Grif Amies, who earlier booted a 22-yard field goal.
Masaniai finished with 234 rushing yards on 22 attempts, gashing the Sea Kings for runs of 45, 40 and 32 yards, in addition to his long scoring run.
But in addition to forcing six Western punts, CdM stopped another Western drive with an interception by junior cornerback Charlie Griffin at his own one-yard line to deny the Pioneers a chance to pull within 17-14 midway through the third quarter.
St. Geme, a sophomore receiver who quarterbacked the freshman team to an unbeaten season in 2011, finished with seven catches for 102 yards, most of those coming in the middle of the field.
Cayman, who was protected well by a line that helped the visitors forge 160 rushing yards, flinged strikes between the hashes for most of his passing yardage.
Carter also rushed for a team-best 55 yards on nine carries, adding an eight-yard keeper to end a four-play, 55-yard drive that culminated with CdM ahead, 31-7, with 11:33 left in the game.
Amies’ 52-yard field goal came after a delay-of-game penalty pushed him back. He had shown off his strong leg at halftime, when he converted from 56 yards on more than one occasion.
In addition to the interception, CdM recovered two Western fumbles, with senior end Greg Williford and senior noseguard Michael Martinez scooping up balls knocked loose from Pioneer ballcarriers.
Western, which other than Masaniai managed minus-21 yards on its other 22 rushing attempts, was ineffective through the air. The Pioneers, who had completed just two passes in their first two games, were unsuccessful on all four pass attempts against CdM.
In addition, Western senior quarterback Chris Zarate was sacked twice, once by sophomore Harrison Carter, who forced a fumble upon which Martinez pounced.
Middle linebacker Alex Moore, linebacker Robbie Hoffman, senior returning All-CIF end Tim Reinhardt, Martinez, Williford, cornerback Ryan Griffin and outside linebacker Alexi Molinari also were Sea Kings in on big plays defensively.
Senior tailback Kai Wilson, who gave CdM a 10-0 lead with a 24-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter, left the game thereafter with 48 yards on 11 rushing attempts.
The Sea Kings play Newport Harbor on Friday in the Battle of the Bay.
Twitter:@BarryFaulkner5
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Nonleague
Corona del Mar 34, Western 7
SCORE BY QUARTERS
CdM 3 – 14 – 7 – 10 — 34
Western 0 – 7 – 0 – 0 — 7
FIRST QUARTER
CdM – Amies 22 FG, 4:23.
SECOND QUARTER
CdM – Wilson 24 (Amies kick), 6:58.
West – Masaniai 52 run (Alamia kick), 6:46.
CdM – Carter 2 run (Amies kick), 0:40.
THIRD QUARTER
CdM – St. Geme 23 pass from Carter (Amies kick), 2:46.
FOURTH QUARTER
CdM – Carter 8 run (Amies kick, 11:33.
CdM – Amies 52 FG, 5:07.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
CdM – Carter, 9-55, Wilson, 11-48, 1 TD.
West – Masaniai, 22-234, 1 TD.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
CdM – Carter, 19-27-1, 297, 1 TD.
West – Zarate, 0-4-1.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
CdM – St. Geme, 7-102, 1 TD.
West – None.