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Breakers continue to build

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The growing season has been in full swing these past few months for the Laguna Beach High football program which, for the third time in three years, entered its spring and summer sessions under the direction of a new head coach.

Their growth spurt continued Tuesday at Foothill High, where the Breakers squared off against the Knights in a passing game and lineman competition.

First-year head Coach John Shanahan said the Breakers are getting accustomed to big changes across the board.

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“It’s been a great learning experience for us,” Shanahan said after his Breakers took another step Tuesday in its summer season and under the direction of a new coaching staff. “We played well against Foothill, but we also saw things we need to work on, like getting back to some fundamentals. We have a lot of kids out who have never played football before but on the whole, things went really, really well.”

Junior-to-be Curtis Harrison, whom Shanahan said is “very athletic and gifted quarterback,” called signals for Laguna at the Foothill passing event. He threw touchdown passes to seniors-to-be Karam Jones and Ryan Blaser.

“Curtis did a really nice job,” Shanahan said. “Karam [Jones], one of our kids who is new to football, did a very good job at receiver. Ryan [Blaser] was great, too, and so were Adam Armstrong and Johnny Langton. I thought our receivers played well.”

Laguna’s linemen competed against the Knights and Shanahan said his group “held its own.” One of the key front men for the Breakers this year will be two-way lineman Zach Fields whom Shanahan said “really shined” at Foothill, adding that the junior-to-be is heading to a pair of football camps next week at Ivy League schools Columbia and Princeton.

“Zach’s a real force on the line for us,” Shanahan said. “He’s rock-solid.”

The arrival of spring and summer ball has seen the Breakers take part in workouts five days a week with passing and lineman competitions mixed into the schedule. Shanahan said that “just under 80 kids” — a solid turnout for the program, have come out for football.

The summer session completed its third week this week. Prior to Tuesday’s competition at Foothill, the Breakers had had only one other passing tournament and that was against Dana Hills in late-spring.

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This summer is Shanahan’s first as a head coach, but he’s been through the process before: he previously was the head coach of freshman football at JSerra.

“I think everyone is very excited around here,” he said. “We have a very hard-working group of kids and their work ethic has been outstanding. These kids are extremely smart, as well. They are focused, and have been asking all the right questions.

“We have a brand new installment on offense, defense and special teams. That’s a lot for a team to take in, but these guys are eager to learn and grow. And, we have some legit players on this team.”

The Breakers faced Capistrano Valley Christian in a passing competition Thursday. Results weren’t available at press time.

Shanahan said the Breakers will go up against El Toro and Trabuco Hills in a passing tournament Tuesday, and that he is working on getting one more passing event in before the end of the summer session.

Laguna opens its 2016 season schedule Aug. 26 at Bolsa Grande.

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