CdM has Breakers’ number

Hillgren collects four interceptions, Mohler helps stuff the run as Sea Kings blank Laguna Beach for league victory.NEWPORT BEACH -- No. 7 if by land and No. 2 if by air turned out to be the primary defensive mode of attack for the Corona del Mar High football team against visiting Laguna Beach on Thursday night.

Senior inside linebacker Shaun Mohler -- wearing No. 7 -- made several tackles to help hold the Breakers to minus-24 yards on 21 rushing attempts.

Corona del Mar junior cornerback Steve Hillgren -- wearing No. 2 -- intercepted four passes, returning one for a touchdown, to help lead the hosts to a 27-0 Pacific Coast League victory at Newport Harbor High.

The win improved the Sea Kings, ranked No. 10 in CIF Southern Section Division IX, to 3-5, 1-3 in league. That record also includes a forfeit to Santa Ana Calvary Chapel, which Coach Dick Freeman confirmed had become official.

The Calvary Chapel verdict, a 40-0 margin of victory on the field Sept. 30, becomes a 2-0 defeat. It also erases the Sea Kings only previous shutout.

But with Mohler and Hillgren -- who now has nine interceptions this season, three of which he has returned for touchdowns -- leading the way, the Sea Kings thoroughly shut down the Breakers.

The deepest penetration by Laguna Beach (3-3-1, 0-3) was the Corona del Mar 17-yard line, after recovering a Sea King fumble at the hosts’ 40.

But Hillgren, who also had an interception return for a touchdown nullified by a pass-interference penalty, ended Laguna Beach’s best scoring chance by intercepting in his own end zone for a touchback early in the second quarter.

“Hillgren is a great athlete who does great things for us,” Freeman said of the 5-foot-10, 170-pounder.

Hillgren is also the Sea Kings’ leading receiver (16 catches for 268 yards after one reception Thursday). He also returned a punt 25 yards to the Laguna Beach 18-yard line to set up CdM’s first touchdown and finished with 82 return yards on punts and interceptions.

“The coaches put me in the right place,” Hillgren said with a smile.

Mohler, who said he had his face mask bent when a Breakers player punched him repeatedly after pinning his arms in a pile in last year’s win at Laguna Beach, said his strong defensive effort was sweet revenge.

“This is really a great feeling after last year,” said Mohler, who was in on two of the Sea Kings’ six sacks and also made four other tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage. “That was payback.”

The Sea Kings had several other defensive standouts, including end John Fairbanks, and linebackers Ford Noe and Erik Rask, among others.

Offensively, the hosts supplied just enough to extend their winning streak over Laguna Beach to 11 games, extending back to 1966.

Junior tailback Dio Johnson, who continues to emerge after playing sparingly the first six games, had 79 rushing yards on 20 carries. Included in that effort was a two-yard scoring lunge up the middle to help put CdM on top, 14-0, with 4:44 left in the third quarter.

Mohler, who had 47 rushing yards on five carries, opened the scoring with a 23-yard end around. He ran through a pair of tacklers near the sideline on the play, which preceded Charlie Albright’s conversion kick with 1:41 left in the first quarter.