DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK:

Once Tyler Haly opens his mouth in front of his mother, he will have a lot of explaining to do.

One of Haly’s upper front teeth chipped off during football practice at Corona del Mar High.

Haly had his helmet off when it happened Wednesday. There was no hitting involved with a teammate. Just a water bottle tossed his way by Alex Swigert struck the tooth.

It wasn’t Swigert’s fault because Haly asked for water during a break.

Swigert just looked out for his fellow linebacker and said, “Here!”

“I saw it, but it was spinning and I tried to catch it,” Haly said. “The way the bottle [was coming toward] me I couldn’t catch it and it just spun off and tagged me in the mouth.”

Haly, a senior, felt no pain.

“I already had a cap there,” said Haly, showing off his chipped porcelain cap with a smile.

This isn’t the first time Haly’s had a problem with the tooth.

During middle school, Haly said the tooth cracked when he and his younger brother, Spencer, were playing around with toy airsoft guns, which fire plastic pellets.

“My brother shot me with the airsoft gun in the mouth,” Haly said. “We were fighting each other with them and I shot him and he was like, ‘Ugh!’ I started laughing and my eyes were closed. I opened them and I see him aim it at me, and he shoots.

“It hit me right in the mouth.”

The shot loosened the tooth.

But it didn’t chip it, so Haly tried his best to hide his damaged tooth from his mom, Maryann.

Until one day in the car together, Haly, sitting in the back, played with the tooth and it fell out of his mouth.

“My mom talks to me and she looks up at the mirror and she goes, ‘What happened to your tooth?’ ” Haly said. “She got all mad because I never told her. I was trying to put it back in. I have to tell her now.

“I don’t know how my girlfriend is going to like my chipped tooth.”

Haly’s teammates aren’t concerned about his new smile.

Sure they called him names for the rest of the practice. All the Sea Kings care about is Haly’s play at outside linebacker.

In a must-win game last week against Irvine at Newport Harbor, the Sea Kings congratulated Haly for his tremendous effort.

Haly intercepted his first pass of the season and also collected a crucial sack late, allowing CdM to hold on for a 14-13 victory, the program’s first in the Pacific Coast League this season.

When Haly dropped the quarterback for a seven-yard loss, it took the Vaqueros out of field-goal range midway through the fourth quarter.

Haly went a little crazy on the field after delivering a bone-crushing hit on a blitz.

He had a legit reason to celebrate. Linebacker coach Mike Conway told Haly he earned the right.

“It was the biggest play of my life,” Haly said Conway told him. “It felt good.”

Being able to contribute in his final year at CdM (6-2, 1-1 in league), ranked No. 5 in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division poll, is all Haly wants to do.

It almost came to a crashing end in the fourth game of the season in a 42-13 loss to Back Bay rival Newport Harbor.

It was CdM’s first loss of the season, but it almost lost Haly for the season.

In front of more than 5,000 fans at Davidson Field, Haly, trying to cover a punt return, got clipped, his body spun around while his right heel stayed planted in the ground.

Haly twisted his right knee. The 6-foot-3, 185-pounder stayed down for a minute.

He tried to rise, putting pressure on the knee, only to fall back down.

“It was quiet,” Haly said of the crowd. “I heard [trainer] Paul [Lacanilao] screaming, ‘Stay down! Stay down!’ I could hear the guys on our team telling me to ‘Get up! You’re all right!’ just trying to encourage me to keep going.

“I thought I was done [for the season] because it popped.”

Haly returned to the team the next week with a knee brace.

He only held during the extra point kicks in his first game back. It took him three games before contemplating whether to take the brace off.

The brace bothered Haly because it felt heavy and restricting. Gregg, his father, noticed and approached Haly.

“You’re playing a little tentative,” Haly said his dad told him. “You need to stop worrying about your knee.”

Haly blocked it out. Not wearing the brace against Irvine allowed him to play like his normal self.

The brace won’t be on Haly tonight at 7 in the Sea Kings’ league game against University (4-3, 0-1) at Irvine High.

This is a pivotal game because a win helps CdM get one step closer to reaching the postseason after missing it last season for the first time since 2003.

The following week is a bye for the Sea Kings.

“I’ve never been a really big fan of byes,” CdM Coach Jason Hitchens said. “But when you have so many guys that are playing both sides of the ball, and at this point of the season you’re starting to get a little dinged up, it would be kind of nice to have a week to recover.”

Haly plans to use the bye week to visit the dentist.

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at [email protected].