Sea Kings nipped on road

MISSION VIEJO—He wasn’t Dennis-Green-crown-the-Chicago-Bears-mad, but there was no mistaking Corona del Mar High football coach Dick Freeman for a happy coach, either.

After sputtering offensively in the first half of a 20-17 nonleague loss to El Toro (1-0), the Sea Kings (1-1) had an opportunity to potentially tie or win the game with less than two minutes left in regulation.

It was the Sea Kings’ football game to lose.

But, as was characteristic of much of the game, Corona del Mar’s chances fizzled because of a costly mistake. A holding violation at the Sea Kings’ 31-yard line voided what would have been a first-down pass to Austin Raiger on CdM’s last drive of the game.

“We lost the football game,” Freeman said. “There’s no doubt about that. With everything we did wrong, we were still in it.”

Faced with a situation of first-and-26, the Sea Kings only advanced a yard before turning the ball over on downs.

“We held,” Freeman said. “We did. I saw him. That happens in football games. You’ve got to not make mistakes. That happened more than just that time … We did a series of things that weren’t helpful in the football game. You can’t pin it down to one play. We made a lot of mistakes.”

The loss marked another close setback to the Chargers. Last year, El Toro defeated CdM, 18-16.

The night also marked sophomore Mitch Sands’ debut at varsity quarterback. Sands, who played varsity defense as a freshman, started the second half. Senior Hunter Alder was the starter.

“It’s faster than JV and all the other levels,” Sands said. “Just a lot quicker. El Toro’s a good team. [The Chargers] have a really good defense. We tried. We thought we’d get a couple trick plays in but they’re pretty solid.”

The Sea Kings also started drives with lackluster field position thanks to El Toro kicker Vince D’Amato, who kicked five touchbacks and had another ball downed at the 12-yard line. D’Amato also made a 50-yard field goal in the third quarter.

“That guy kicked the ball clear around the field,” Freeman said. “You see that on Sunday. You don’t see that in high school.”