Artists Are Stopped by St. Joseph

Mark Brunell, St. Joseph High School quarterback, made all the big plays Friday night in the Knights’ 20-13 victory over Laguna Beach in the quarterfinals of the Desert-Mountain Conference.

Brunell completed 11 of 23 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown and scrambled for another 30 yards and a touchdown in front of 1,000 at Laguna Beach.

The victory moved the Knights (10-2) into the semifinals next week against Chaminade. Chaminade (10-2) advanced with a 27-20 victory over La Sierra. Laguna Beach finished 10-2 in its first season under Coach Lyman Olney.

Brunell’s 36-yard touchdown pass to flanker Ollie Ries with 7:28 remaining in the third quarter proved the difference in the evenly matched game.

Pete Schmitt, Laguna Beach defensive end, appeared to have Brunell trapped behind the line for a big loss, but the left-hander eluded Schmitt and found Ries alone on the right side of the field.

“We got beat by a great individual player,” Olney said. “Their team is their quarterback. We got a little lax on our deep coverage and he killed us.”

Brunell’s touchdown pass gave St. Joseph a 20-7 lead, and Laguna Beach never managed to catch up despite a fine passing performance by quarterback Danny Lane.

Lane completed 18 of 28 passes for 229 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown pass to Schmitt late in the third quarter that cut St. Joseph’s lead to 20-13.

Lane also had a critical fumble with 8:22 remaining that ended the Artists’ last serious scoring threat at St. Joseph’s 20-yard line.

Lane’s 42-yard pass to flanker Rob Warmington set up Laguna Beach at the St. Joseph 32, and then he threw a 12-yard pass to running back Mark Wells for another first down at the Knight 20.

But on the next play, Carl Hoffman, St. Joseph defensive end, pressured Lane in the pocket while he was attempting a pass, and teammate Shayne MacCuish recovered the fumble to virtually end Laguna Beach’s season.

“We drove down to their 20-yard line and couldn’t score,” Olney said. “Fumbles have hurt us all season and they finally ended our season. We had a great year, but we could have played a little better tonight.”

While Brunell made the big plays, it was Laguna Beach’s passing attack that nearly stole the show. Lane mixed up his passes neatly to four different receivers, with Broc Stephens leading the pack with 7 receptions for 83 yards. Schmitt caught 4 passes for 48 yards.

In the end, St. Joseph showed it could run as well as pass. The Knights ran out the clock with 10 consecutive running plays in the final 3 minutes. St. Joseph amassed 230 yards rushing to complement Brunell’s 161 yards passing. Laguna Beach was limited to a net of one yard rushing.