ORANGE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL / PREP EXTRA : Pardoe, Laguna Hills Pass First League Test

For once, Laguna Hills’ quarterback Cory Pardoe was more than a middleman.

Pardoe, whose duties are usually limited to handing the ball to running back Mike Jones, got to live it up Friday night. He threw two touchdown passes--matching his season total--and rushed for two in the Hawks’ 35-16 Pacific Coast League victory over Aliso Niguel at Aliso Niguel High School.

It was a lot of production from an unlikely source.

Jones normally carries the Hawks (5-1, 1-0), pack-mule style. He had a typical game Friday, gaining 216 yards. But Pardoe did some damage as well.

He completed only two passes, but both were to Jeff Gahagan for touchdowns.

Pardoe, a junior, faked to Jones, then hit a streaking Gahagan for a 77-yard touchdown on the Hawks’ second play. The two worked the same play in the second quarter, this time for a 48-yard touchdown pass for a 28-7 lead.

“We knew their safeties would bite on fakes,” Pardoe said. “When you run 20 straight dive plays, and running over them like we were, they are going bite.”

Pardoe’s slight of hand burned the Aliso Niguel defense again in the fourth quarter. He faked to Jones, then sprinted around left end for a 29-yard touchdown run.

Pardoe finished with 60 yards rushing. He also had a one-yard touchdown run.

“You hope that your quarterback can make big plays,” Coach Steve Bresnahan said. “If he can’t, you’re going to be limited in what you can do.”

But as limited offensive schemes go, Jones wasn’t too bad.

He carried 34 times, one a three-yard touchdown. Jones, a sophomore, has 1,044 yards in six games, second most in Orange County.

Pardoe and Jones accounted for 401 of the Hawks’ 417 yards.

Such offensive production had the Wolverines (4-2, 0-1) backpedaling almost from the start. They entered the game hoping to prove they were legitimate contenders for the league title, but left with a lot of questions.

Their offense seemed hurried and, at times, improvised. At one point, the Wolverines had three illegal procedure penalties in the span of five plays.

Quarterback Scott Nemeth passed for 177 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 48 yards. But he was forced to ad-lib on several occasions by the Hawks’ pass rush. Laguna Hills had four sacks by four players.

Nemeth completed 11 of 31 passes and had two intercepted. He had thrown only 59 passes through five games. But the Wolverines never got a chance to settle into their more conservative style.

The Hawks led, 14-0, before DeAngelo Gossett scored on a 40-yard run to cut the Laguna Hills’ lead in half. But, by midway through the second quarter, the Hawks had a 28-7 lead and Pardoe had done his damage.