Harrison’s four scores help Laguna Beach hold on against Estancia

When Laguna Beach High football coach John Shanahan put together his schedule in the offseason, perhaps he played out a time-honored dilemma in his head.

His team could take the easy road, or it could do things the hard way.

The Breakers made it to the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 13 playoffs last year, but they did not make it easy for themselves to make a return trip to the postseason.

Laguna Beach played a tough nonleague schedule, forcing the team to perform well in the Orange Coast League to get back to the playoffs.

It might have been easier if Shanahan’s team could have posted a few victories in nonleague games, but it sure makes for an exciting stretch run.

In a must-win game for both teams, the Breakers defeated visiting Estancia 40-21 on Friday night.

Laguna Beach (4-5, 3-1 in league) moves into a tie with Calvary Chapel (3-6, 3-1) for second in league. The Breakers cannot finish worse than third after beating Estancia (2-7, 2-2), but a win next week against Calvary Chapel would solidify the Breakers’ standing in the Division 12 playoff picture.

“Battling through all those difficult [nonleague] games, we were going to go one way or the other,” Shanahan said after rattling off a list of opponents that included Big Bear, St. Margaret’s and Orange. “We were going to buckle and succumb to it, or we were going to fight through the adversity and become a solid football team.”

Curtis Harrison threw for 224 yards and two touchdowns, adding a pair of rushing scores. The Breakers’ senior quarterback did not take a sack.

“We had a turning point last year, and this is ours this year,” Harrison said. “This team just grew up, and I’m just proud of all the underclassmen growing up.”

For much of this season, the Breakers have been absent a running game. That changed on Friday, as Shane Lythgoe rushed 19 times for 114 yards and a touchdown.

“That just makes the game so much easier for the quarterback,” Harrison said of the performance by Lythgoe, a junior running back. “Everyone knows that. To have a rock like him to run it, it’s so much easier on me to lead this team.”

Harrison connected twice with Adam Armstrong for touchdowns. The senior wide receiver finished with six catches for 73 yards.

Sean Nolan led the Breakers’ receiving corps, reeling in 10 passes for 108 yards.

Laguna Beach looked like it was going to run away with the game in the first half. The Breakers opened the scoring on a 29-yard screen pass from Harrison to Armstrong.

Harrison surged in from three yards out on a quarterback keeper, giving Laguna Beach a 12-0 lead at the 2:10 mark of the first quarter.

A three-yard scoring run by Lythgoe and a 20-yard pick-six by Nolan on the Eagles’ next play from scrimmage gave the Breakers 26 unanswered points to start the game.

Estancia stemmed the tide, scoring twice before halftime. Hayden Pearce’s 107 receiving yards in the first half were a big boon before Trevor Pacheco got on track in the second half.

Pearce caught the Eagles’ first touchdown, a 29-yard pass from Jaycen Cash. The junior receiver came back to get the ball at the goal line.

A 78-yard drive for the Eagles prior to the half made it a game. Deshandre Kerkhoff found the end zone on a rub route from nine yards out.

Estancia would cut the deficit to 26-21 on a 24-yard rushing score by Pacheco early in the third quarter. Pacheco finished the game with 209 rushing yards (135 after halftime), but the Eagles would not score again.

Harrison scored on a quarterback sneak in the last minute of the third quarter to reestablish his team’s multi-possession advantage. In the fourth quarter, the Breakers added their final touchdown when Armstrong stretched the ball out over the goal line as he was being taken to the ground.

“I told the kids we had to win the next two games to have a chance,” Eagles coach Mike Bargas said of his team’s Division 13 playoff hopes coming into the game. “Otherwise, we would need people in front of us to lose.

“You’ve got to be the driver of your destiny, and unfortunately, we just couldn’t get it going all the way.”

*

Laguna Beach 40, Estancia 21

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Estancia 0 – 14 – 7 – 0 — 21

Laguna Beach 12 – 14 – 7 – 7 — 40

FIRST QUARTER

LB — Armstrong 32 pass from Harrison (kick failed), 7:06.

LB — Harrison 3 run (kick failed), 2:10.

SECOND QUARTER

LB — Lythgoe 3 run (Handel kick), 10:00.

LB — Nolan 20 interception return (Handel kick), 9:40.

E — Pearce 29 pass from Cash (Martinez kick), 6:47.

E — Kerkhoff 9 pass from Cash (Martinez kick), :58.

THIRD QUARTER

E — Pacheco 24 run (Martinez kick), 9:35.

LB — Harrison 1 run (Handel kick), :56.

FOURTH QUARTER

LB — Armstrong 9 pass from Harrison (Handel kick), 9:50.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

E — Pacheco, 25-209, 1 TD.

LB — Lythgoe, 19-114, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

E — Cash, 12-19-1, 149, 2 TDs.

LB — Harrison, 21-27-1, 224, 2 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

E — Pearce, 9-122, 1 TD.

LB — Nolan, 10-108.

Andrew.Turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner