Orange County Prep Saturday : Laguna Beach Rallies to Beat San Clemente

Laguna Beach High School held San Clemente to two first downs in the second half en route to a 29-18 victory Friday at Laguna Beach High School.

The Artists improved to 4-1 while San Clemente fell to 2-3 in the final nonleague game of the season for both teams.

San Clemente gained only 30 yards in the second half as Laguna Beach played tough defense after falling behind, 11-0, in the first quarter.

The game began to unravel for San Clemente late in the first half when the Tritons were trying to build on their 18-8 lead. Laguna Beach cornerback Ted Savage made a one-handed interception and returned it 50 yards for a touchdown with 33 seconds left. A two-point conversion pass from Danny Lane to Broc Stephens cut San Clemente’s lead to 18-16.

The Artists then made life miserable for San Clemente quarterback Doug Dill, who entered the game third in Orange County in passing yardage. Dill threw for 134 yards in the first half, but completed just 2 of 13 passes for 13 yards in the second half, throwing 11 straight incompletions at one point.

Laguna Beach put the game away when tight end Pete Schmitt ran over two tacklers to score on a 47-yard pass play from Lane. That gave the Artists a 22-18 lead with 4:58 in the third period.

A fumble recovery on the San Clemente 24-yard line by Jason Crabbe set up Laguna Beach’s final score, a one-yard run by Mark Wells with 9:03 remaining in the game.