Corona del Mar Comes Alive in Second Half to Beat Estancia

Corona del Mar High School rediscovered its offense just in time Friday, making possible a 15-9 comeback victory over Estancia at Newport Harbor.

After a dismal first half in which Corona del Mar and Estancia lethargically traded punts, turnovers and incomplete passes, the Sea Kings righted themselves in time to score two touchdowns. The final touchdown, a three-yard run by Kevin Murphy with 1 minute 11 seconds remaining in the game, overcame a two-point deficit and gave the Sea Kings the victory.

Murphy’s touchdown put the final touch on a 71-yard drive.

Todd Kehrli completed passes of 17, 20 and 13 yards in the final drive, and scored the two-point conversion on an improvised bootleg after fumbling the snap.

It was the first long drive of the season for Corona del Mar (1-2), and it came at just the right time for the two-time Southern Section Division VI defending champions. Five all-Division players graduated from the Sea Kings’ team of last season, and the team has traditionally started seasons slowly.

But Corona del Mar Coach Dave Holland said he was angrier at the half than he has been in two to three years. The Sea Kings hadn’t made a first down by the intermission.

“We were a lot better than what we were doing,” Holland said.

In the second half, Kehrli and the rest of the Sea Kings did better.

“We kept on saying that we start out slow,” said Kehrli. “We felt as a team we were using that as an excuse.”

Despite a first half in which he had two completions in seven attempts for 17 yards, Kehrli needn’t make any excuse for his play Friday.

His 65-yard touchdown pass to Steve Bacon in the third quarter gave the Sea Kings a 7-0 lead and their first first down. Bacon got past the Estancia secondary and caught a perfectly thrown pass from Kehrli at about the 30 and ran into the end zone.

Estancia (1-2), which has lost two consecutive games after winning its opener with a last-minute victory over Los Amigos, rallied, but fell short.

David Hong scored on a five-yard run with 10:53 remaining in the fourth quarter after Bill Sandro’s 53-yard run up the middle. When Amr Hegazi’s extra point try failed, Estancia trailed, 7-6.

On Corona del Mar’s next drive, Kehrli threw into traffic and Peter Baniaga picked the ball off at the Sea King 35 after it was tipped. Hegazi then kicked a 22-yard field goal with 4:12 remaining to put Estancia ahead, 9-7, setting the stage for Corona del Mar’s final drive.

Estancia’s Sandro gained 109 yards in 15 carries.