Fast strikes hurt Sea Kings

LAGUNA BEACH — It was an impressive first drive for the Corona del Mar High football team Friday night against Troy.

The Sea Kings marched 79 yards, only to come up empty on a missed field goal.

Troy, by comparison, didn’t waste a lot of time with formalities.

Josh Swaney caught a 75-yard touchdown pass from his cousin, Tyler Swaney, on the Warriors’ first play from scrimmage. Two more times, the Warriors scored a touchdown on the first play of a possession in Troy’s 27-7 nonleague win at Laguna Beach High.

The final two scores came after a CdM interception and fumbled punt reception, also giving the Warriors a shorter field to work with. And they struck while the iron was hot.

“They had a couple of one-play drives, so all in all we did pretty well [on defense],” CdM Coach Dick Freeman said. “They only drove the ball on us one time and ended up punting. We just need to hang onto the football more. You can’t give them the ball that often and expect to be in the football game.”

CdM (1-2) did battle back, tying the score early in the second quarter on Kevin Rask’s one-yard touchdown run on third-and-goal.

The 54-yard drive was set up when Rask’s brother, Sea Kings linebacker Erik Rask, picked off a pass over the middle late in the first quarter.

But Troy (2-0), ranked No. 1 in the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division again responded, and again did it quickly. After getting the ball back with less than five minutes left in the half, the Warriors handed it off to senior standout Derrick Coleman.

Coleman, the reigning Freeway League MVP, stopped his run up the middle and cut right, sprinting down the sideline for a 46-yard touchdown that would eventually give the Warriors a 14-7 halftime advantage.

Coleman finished with 168 yards on 24 carries, breaking countless Sea Kings tackles.

“He just busts up the middle,” Freeman said. “He’s just a tank. I thought we did pretty well. He busted that one, but he’s going to do that.”

Eight different CdM players ran the ball in the game, and sophomore J.D. Abbott did the bulk of the damage with 51 yards rushing.

Hunter Alder had 135 yards passing but was victimized by several dropped balls from CdM receivers, including one in the end zone in the fourth quarter.

“Aw man,” Freeman said. “We’re thinking that’s some kind of record. He had six or seven [dropped passes].”

The closest CdM, ranked No. 9 in the CIF Southern Division, got to scoring in the second half was on its last possession, when the Sea Kings got to the Troy eight-yard line but couldn’t convert a fourth-and-six with 1:45 left in the game.

TROY 27, CORONA DEL MAR 7

FIRST QUARTER

T – J. Swaney 75 pass from T. Swaney (Beard kick), 5:57.

SECOND QUARTER

CdM – K. Rask 1 run (Lewis kick), 10:10.

T – Coleman 46 run (Beard kick), 4:21.

THIRD QUARTER

T – J. Swaney 7 pass from T. Swaney (Beard kick), 0:27.

FOURTH QUARTER

T – Beard 14 pass from T. Swaney (kick failed), 4:38.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

T – Coleman, 24-168, 1 TD; Wendt, 10-1; Looney, 1-0; T. Swaney, 1-minus-1.

CdM – Abbott, 10-51; Raiger, 5-20; Harmon, 6-10; Townsend, 3-5; K. Rask, 2-3, 1 TD; Lamons, 1-2; Swigert, 1-0; Alder, 3-minus-15.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

T – T. Swaney, 5-14-2, 115, 3 TDs.

CdM – Alder, 16-37-2, 135.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

T – J. Swaney, 4-101, 2 TDs; Beard, 1-14, 1 TD.

CdM – Meshkin, 6-50; Molnar, 4-40; Haase, 1-22; Harmon, 2-11; Gormly, 1-8; Hicks, 1-4; Townsend, 1-0.