Surging Laguna Beach football blanks Ocean View to open Pac 4 League play
Freshman Wyatt Bogdan was hot out of the gates Friday night for the Laguna Beach High football team, as it hosted Ocean View in the Pac 4 League opener for both programs.
Bogdan had two early catches from junior quarterback Jackson Kollock on offense. He also recorded two early tackles for a loss on defense.
While the Breakers have senior tight end Ryner Swanson headed off to BYU next year, they think Bogdan, who is 6-foot-2 as a freshman, might be next down the pipeline as a similar star.
“He has the chance to be as special as anybody we’ve ever had, right?” Laguna Beach coach John Shanahan said. “Ryner and him kind of play the same position on offense, and Ryner’s just who he is. He just puts his arm around the kid, mentoring him, looking after him.”
Laguna Beach won the CIF Southern Section Division 9 title last year, the first in program history. But the Breakers are trying to foster a culture of winning. There has been no regression this season.
The Breakers blitzed Ocean View at Guyer Field, earning a 64-0 homecoming game victory to begin their quest for a third straight outright league title.
Kollock, who played only the first half, had 290 passing yards and five touchdowns to five different receivers — Chase Tyson, Nick Rogers, Swanson, Merrick Vellmure and Wyatt Degner.
With Laguna Beach holding a 43-0 halftime lead, freshman quarterback Jack Hurst came in after the intermission and threw two long touchdown passes to sophomore Grant Regal and freshman Brady Stringham.
“Last year, we thought that was like an all-time Laguna team,” said Swanson, who wore a crown after the game after being named homecoming king at halftime Friday night, with Kamryn Crawford as queen. “But this year and then the year after, year after … we’re actually building something really big here. With the Pop Warner team, they’re studs. Our freshman group, they’re studs. I’m just super-stoked. This year, it will be interesting to see what happens, because we’ve never been in a division that high. It will be fun.”
Rogers added a rushing score for Laguna Beach (7-1), which has won seven straight since a season-opening overtime loss at Chino. That two-yard scamper came as the Breakers worked with a short field on their opening possession, thanks to a long kickoff return from Tyson.
The momentum carried through to the fourth quarter, when junior Redmond Chesley scored on a 95-yard touchdown run. That play tied the school record for longest rushing touchdown, matching Drake Martinez’s score against Glenn in 2012.
Regal had a second-half interception on defense for the winners, who also got consistent defensive pressure from Henry Rounaghi, Jacob Cruz and Casey Mullennix.
“I think at one point we had eight or nine freshmen in the game tonight,” Shanahan said. “It was just a great, great program win. We’re grinding to try to get better on a daily basis, and I think it’s paying off ... We’re just in a really good spot for Laguna Beach football right now, and we’re going to work as hard as we can to hold onto it for as long as possible.”
Ocean View (4-4), guided by first-year coach Daniel Hernandez, finds itself also in contention for a playoff spot a year after a 2-8 season. But Hernandez said the Seahawks were missing nine starters with various injuries Friday night, including six two-way starters.
Senior quarterback Frankie Armenta, a three-year starter, was the only returning varsity player who saw action Friday night, Hernandez said, with senior receiver/defensive back Angel Adame and senior tight end/defensive lineman Jayden Trujillo both banged up.
“I think [Laguna Beach is] solid, but I don’t think we helped ourselves tonight,” Hernandez said. “We can’t miss tackles on screen plays in the middle of the field, and they go 70 yards and score. We can’t give up deep balls in the middle of the field and let them score. I don’t necessarily think everything they did was way better than us, I just don’t think we finished plays.”
Ocean View will try to rebound as it hosts rival Westminster next Friday. The Lions began league play with a 47-13 win over Godinez.
“In rivalry games, you can put so much emphasis on it, and one teams gets so emotionally invested that they come out flat and they don’t play well,” Hernandez said. “I’m going to try to avoid that for my kids. To us, it’s another game.”
Laguna Beach hosts Godinez on Friday night.
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Pac 4 League
Laguna Beach 64, Ocean View 0
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Ocean View 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 — 0
Laguna Beach 22 - 21 - 14 - 7 — 64
FIRST QUARTER
LB — Rogers 2 run (Vidauri-Tucker run), 9:14.
LB — Tyson 19 pass from Kollock (Vidauri-Tucker kick), 6:40.
LB — Rogers 66 pass from Kollock (Vidauri-Tucker kick), 1:49.
SECOND QUARTER
LB — Swanson 58 pass from Kollock (Vidauri-Tucker kick), 11:46.
LB — Vellmure 55 pass from Kollock (Vidauri-Tucker kick), 9:05.
LB — Degner 13 pass from Kollock (Vidauri-Tucker kick), 0:31.
THIRD QUARTER
LB — Regal 39 pass from Hurst (Vidauri-Tucker kick), 8:44.
LB — Stringham 48 pass from Hurst (Vidauri-Tucker kick), 4:01.
FOURTH QUARTER
LB — Chesley 95 run (Vidauri-Tucker kick), 0:55.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
OV — Purdue, 14-53.
LB — Chesley, 1-95, 1 TD; Towe, 5-36.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
OV — Armenta, 7-17-1, 41.
LB — Kollock, 11-21-0, 290, 5 TDs; Hurst, 7-9-0, 90, 2 TDs.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
OV — Prichard, 3-24.
LB — Swanson, 3-69, 1 TD.
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