Laguna Hills Tunes Up for Showdown, Routs Laguna Beach

If nothing else, Laguna Hills showed that it’s ready for a showdown with Century in its final regular-season game Thursday night. The Hawks scored quickly and hammered Laguna Beach, 49-13, in a Pacific Coast League game Friday at Mission Viejo High.

The victory means Laguna Hills (8-1, 3-1 in league) will play Century, also 3-1 in the PCL, for at least a share of the league title. Trabuco Hills is also 3-1 in league play.

“It’s always nice when you’re in charge of your own destiny,” Laguna Hills Coach Steve Bresnahan said.

Friday, Laguna Hills was pretty much in control. Four of the Hawks’ six scoring drives took less than 2 minutes 10 seconds. The other two took a little more than three minutes each.

Laguna Hills set the tone early when Ryan Geyer scored on a 52-yard pass play from Justin Vedder 2:09 into the game. The Hawks led, 14-0, when James Lawson returned an interception 48 yards on a fake punt attempt midway through the first quarter.

A one-yard scoring run pushed the Laguna Hills lead to 20-0. Laguna Beach (1-8, 0-4) then put together a 16-play drive, scoring on a five-yard pass from Patrick Wood to tight end Luke Matjas.

With 1:08 remaining in the half, Laguna Hills scored in just 48 seconds, with Vedder hitting Chris Braedeker for an 11-yard pass. The pair also connected on the two-point conversion, and the Hawks led, 28-7.

Laguna Beach cut the lead to 28-13, scoring on a 41-yard pass play from Wood to Chris Faubert on the first drive of the second half.

But Laguna Beach could not overcome its one-dimensional offense. With virtually no running game, Wood completed 20 of 45 passes for 235 yards but had four interceptions.

Vedder completed just seven passes for Laguna Hills, but three were for touchdowns of 52, 12 and 30 yards.