CdM ready for football season
HUNTINGTON BEACH — The night before Dan O’Shea led Corona del Mar High as its head coach for the first time this season against another football team, he kept checking his cellphone. His wife, Elizabeth, was three days overdue with their first child.
O’Shea made it to the Sea Kings’ scrimmage at Huntington Beach on Friday night. His wife didn’t go into labor.
While he and his wife have to wait to welcome a baby boy to their family, O’Shea’s boys on the field impressed at times. The Sea Kings are a week away from kicking off the season and they appear ready.
All of the Sea Kings’ games this year will be outside of Newport Beach and each will be on turf. They looked right at home on Huntington Beach’s field.
The scrimmage was a tune-up for CdM before it plays host to Palos Verdes at Jim Scott Stadium next Friday at 7 p.m. Officials will be keeping score in that contest.
Palos Verdes, the defending CIF Southern Section Western Division champion, is a serious threat to hand CdM its first season-opening loss during O’Shea’s time with the program. O’Shea came to CdM four years ago, joining Scott Meyer’s staff as the defensive coordinator.
After four successful years, a three-peat in the Pacific Coast League and a three-peat in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division, as well as winning a CIF State Division III crown, Meyer left CdM in February to take over at Servite. Two months later, O’Shea became the CdM coach.
A lot has happened since then for O’Shea. He landed a job last month to teach U.S. History at CdM and he’s going to be a dad soon. The 45-year-old will surely have his hands full this fall.
One less thing O’Shea has to worry about is who will be CdM’s quarterback.
O’Shea said junior Chase Garbers is the team’s signal caller, and Peter Bush, the player Garbers competed with in the spring and summer for the job, is slated to be Garbers’ top receiving threat. O’Shea wasn’t kidding.
Garbers and Bush hooked up right away during the scrimmage against Huntington Beach, which finished fourth in the Sunset League and failed to qualify for the CIF Southern Section West Valley Division playoffs last year.
The first six completions by Garbers went to Bush for 77 yards. Half of the catches recorded first downs.
When Bush came up a yard short of moving the chains inside the Oilers’ five-yard line, CdM decided to go for it on fourth down. Five plays earlier, Garbers missed paydirt when he sprinted down the CdM sideline, but the referees blew the play dead when a defender touched the quarterback on the 22, resulting in a 20-yard gain.
With another shot, Garbers showed his dual-threat ability again. This time, he found the end zone, rushing for a three-yard touchdown to answer Huntington Beach’s earlier score.
Defensively, CdM gave up two big plays on the Oilers’ opening drive. Running back Hunter Simmons ripped off a 30-yard run to the right, and two plays later, quarterback Kobee Lagarde, a transfer from Cerritos Gahr, found receiver Jake Adams over the middle for a 21-yard touchdown pass. Adams somehow came up with the ball in the end zone, even though defensive back Cameron Kormos leaped to make a play on the ball, only to see it go through his hands and into Adams’ gloves.
The CdM defense, with no returning starters, eventually settled down. The Sea Kings did allow the Oilers to rush for three touchdowns during offensive situations inside CdM’s 10-yard line.
When play began on CdM’s 40-yard line, linebacker Jaydin Moses intercepted a pass and returned it 14 yards, near midfield. Three plays later, the junior almost picked off another pass.
Moses, who missed the second half of last year with a Lisfranc foot injury, also saw time at running back against the Oilers. He caught a three-yard touchdown pass from Garbers.
The next touchdown Garbers threw was a 40-yarder to a wide-open Bush. Garbers completed nine of 16 passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns.
Bush, who finished with eight receptions for 133 yards and one touchdown, also saw time at quarterback. The senior, who has a preferred walk-on spot at the University of Notre Dame, threw a 40-yard touchdown on the final play of the scrimmage, hitting receiver Billy Shaw.
“Could you imagine if [Bush] was sitting on the sideline, or he was at quarterback and Garbers was sitting on the sideline?” said O’Shea, applauding Bush’s unselfish move to receiver to help the offense, which lost two standout wideouts, Bo St. Geme and Cole Collins, to graduation. “We’re a better football team with those two guys on the field.”
O’Shea hopes he can be there next week to see the Garbers-to-Bush connection. Only the birth of his son could deny that.
“She’s almost there,” O’Shea said of his wife. “[We have] a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday. If the baby hasn’t come, we may have to end up inducing sometime next week. If I had to guess, it’ll probably be on game day [against] Palos Verdes.
“The coaching staff … is already set [if I’m not at the season opener]. [Offensive coordinator Kevin] Hettig will be the head coach. [Defensive line coach] Joel [Wittenberg] will call the defense. The game plan is already ready for Palos Verdes.”
