Price Is a Smash in Debut as Corona del Mar Quarterback

Corona del Mar High School defeated Huntington Beach, 7-0, Friday, despite an offense that most of the night was its worst enemy.

Senior quarterback Ty Price, making his debut at the helm of the Sea King offense, scrambled and scurried and threw bullets all over Newport Harbor’s Davidson Field. It was a nice start. Price passed for 135 yards and a touchdown against a swarming, veteran Huntington Beach secondary.

However, Price’s teammates were penalized 13 times for 120 yards.

Predictably, Corona del Mar didn’t muster much offense against the Oilers under the shelling of whistles and yellow flags. But somehow, the defending Sea View League champions did earn the victory, with the only score coming--predictably--on a 30-yard pass from Price to junior flanker Warren Johnson.

Corona del Mar Coach Dave Holland wasn’t ecstatic after watching his team slip and slide its way to a 1-0 record. But he was happy with the way that Price, a converted free safety, conducted himself against the Oilers’ tight coverages.

“Price did a perfect job,” Holland said. “But we made a lot of mistakes up on our offensive line. I thought that holding penalties were a thing of the past, but I guess I was wrong.”

Corona del Mar’s front linemen, when they weren’t getting caught with their mitts on an Oiler jersey, did a superb job of giving their quarterback plenty of time to pick out his receivers. Price completed 12 of 24 passes, several through dense traffic. Johnson, who caught 6 of Price’s throws for 89 yards, was his favorite target.

“I was real nervous when the game started,” Price said. “But after the first snap everything was all right. After that everything clicked, and Warren just happened to get open a lot.”

Price was on target in the first half. He completed 10 of 14 and would have been nearly perfect but for a couple of dropped passes.

He would have had his first touchdown pass in the first quarter but diving Bill Rauth narrowly missed a deflected pass in the end zone. In the second quarter, however, Price hooked up with an outstretched Johnson from 30 yards out, over Oiler defensive backs Tash Febo and Kevin Dickey, for the game’s only score.

However, Corona del Mar’s defense, with four sacks, was as stingy as its offense was generous. Huntington Beach (0-1) gained only five total yards on the ground, and Oiler quarterbacks Chris Will and Eric Pettinato were a combined 9 for 25 passing.