Laguna Beach bests Dana Hills in battle of unbeatens to win Foxtrot League
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DANA POINT — Laguna Beach may be outnumbered most nights it suits up for a football game, but the Breakers have not backed down from a challenge.
In a battle of unbeatens, they only grew bolder, going deeper into the playbook and showing a willingness to risk failure to put the game away.
Jack Hurst threw for 397 yards and five touchdowns, as Laguna Beach pulled out a 49-40 win on Friday at Dana Hills to guarantee itself at least a share of its fifth consecutive league championship.
“What a game,” Hurst said. “You dream of that — 8-0 versus 8-0.”
Laguna Beach (9-0, 4-0 in the Foxtrot League) will close out the regular season against Orange (5-4, 2-2) at Fred Kelly Stadium on Halloween. A win would result in the fifth consecutive outright league championship, three of those coming with Jackson Kollock taking the snaps.
The CIF Southern Section has an enrollment of 820 students for Laguna Beach, and yet the Breakers were tracking toward competing in Division 3 or 4 at season’s end.
“We can’t control what happens after the regular season,” said Laguna Beach coach John Shanahan. “Winning league championships is a humongous deal nowadays because teams that are 10-0 or 9-1, they don’t win CIF championships anymore, right? It’s teams that are 6-4, 5-5, those are the teams that go on to win it.
“That’s not our goal. We don’t want to be a 5-5 or 6-4 football team. We want to win a league championship. We want to be 8-2, 9-1, 10-0 and have a very consistent program. Whatever they throw at us in the playoffs, we’ll go compete.”
Kollock, now at Minnesota, helped deliver the program’s first CIF title since 1946. Laguna Beach beat Diamond Bar in the Division 9 final in 2022, which was also its first championship game appearance since 1962.
Shanahan is enjoying watching his latest quarterback, especially the toughness that he has shown playing behind a young offensive line, particularly on the right side.
“He just made some throws that were just unbelievable,” said Shanahan. “It’s tough. He knows he has two 14-year-old offensive linemen in front of him. … He knows that he’s going to get pressured all night long. He hangs in there. He’s an incredible leader. He’s so stoic and just makes big throw after big throw.”
A contest that could aptly fit the description of a “barn burner” stayed within one possession until the fourth quarter. Hurst’s final touchdown pass, a 22-yard strike to Brady Stringham, gave the Breakers a 41-32 lead.
Dana Hills’ star running back Radley Geiss, who rushed for 241 yards and five touchdowns, answered with the last of his scoring runs with five minutes left. The two-point conversion from Carter Anderson to James Leicester made the score 41-40.
The Dolphins then recovered an onside kick, but the Breakers forced a punt on the first series of downs. A face-mask personal foul and three plays later, Bob Gardner cashed in with a 10-yard rushing touchdown. Then serious drama followed.
Laguna Beach went for a two-point conversion and appeared to succeed, before a 5-yard penalty set the Breakers back. They then lined up to kick, but an encroachment penalty against the Dolphins put the ball at the original spot. Again, the Breakers went for two, and this time, Hurst found Wyatt Bogdan on the right side of the formation to make it a two-possession game with just over two minutes remaining.
“Amazing, sealing the game right there, knowing it’s over,” said Gardner, who punctuated his key touchdown with an interception on the Dolphins’ next drive.
Dana Hills coach Tony Henney also identified the series of events as critical to the outcome.
“I’m so bummed we got that stupid encroachment call after they had had the two-point [conversion called back],” said Henney. “I’m going, ‘Man, this is great. There’s two minutes to go, we got three timeouts, they’re going to kick off from their own 25. … We can still run the ball a little because we have the timeouts.’
“I’m going, ‘This is going to be great. This is going to be a great finish.’ Then we’d have to go for two to tie it, right? We even squandered that. It was smart by [Shanahan]. I think I would have done the same thing. I think I would have [tried] to end the game right there.”
Shanahan, who said he did not want to go to overtime, added that the team had been holding a trump card in the deck to face Dana Hills (8-1, 3-1). It was played on the first snap of the fourth quarter.
Stringham came from the left side of the formation, received a handoff on a reverse, and fired the ball downfield toward the right pylon. Will Kimball made a diving catch on the play, lifting Laguna Beach to a 34-26 lead.
“That’s as good a catch as you’re going to see anywhere,” said Shanahan. “We practiced that play for five weeks, knowing we were going to run it tonight because we need those types of plays to beat this incredible Dana program.”
Grant Regal, back from a separated shoulder suffered in the Breakers’ first game, had five catches for 143 yards and two touchdowns. Kimball made six receptions for 124 yards and two touchdowns. Otis Boultinghouse also had a receiving touchdown.
Xavier Brooks had two sacks, Gardner added one, and Stringham secured a pair of interceptions.
“It really did take everyone,” Hurst said. “... Seeing [Grant] Regal and Otis Boultinghouse come through, both have touchdowns, just great. It was a whole team effort.”
Foxtrot League
Laguna Beach 49, Dana Hills 40
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Laguna Beach - 13 - 7 - 7 - 22 — 49
Dana Hills - 7 - 6 - 13 - 14 — 40
FIRST QUARTER
LB — Kimball 19 pass from Hurst (Stringham kick), 4:47.
DH — Geiss 47 run (Meyer Zu Drewer kick), 2:00.
LB — Regal 70 pass from Hurst (Stringham kick blocked), 1:39.
SECOND QUARTER
DH — Norman 12 pass from Anderson (Moro run failed), 7:13.
LB — Regal 8 pass from Hurst (Stringham kick), 6:43.
THIRD QUARTER
DH — Geiss 11 run (Meyer Zu Drewer kick), 9:59.
DH — Geiss 16 run (Meyer Zu Drewer kick failed), 3:33.
LB — Boultinghouse 26 pass from Hurst (Stringham kick), 1:13.
FOURTH QUARTER
LB — Kimball 27 pass from Stringham (Stringham kick), 11:51.
DH — Geiss 29 run (Anderson pass failed), 9:31.
LB — Stringham 22 pass from Hurst (Stringham kick), 9:12.
DH — Geiss 13 run (Leicester pass from Anderson), 5:01.
LB — Gardner 10 run (Bogdan pass from Hurst), 2:06.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
LB — Christian, 10-21; Gardner, 3-8, 1 TD; Hurst, 5-(-8); Team, 2-(-10).
DH — Geiss, 26-241, 5 TDs; Gallo, 1-2; Anderson, 2-(-13).
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
LB — Hurst, 22-31-1, 397, 5 TDs; Stringham, 1-1-0, 27, 1 TD.
DH — Anderson, 14-35-3, 171, 1 TD.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
LB — Regal, 5-143, 2 TDs; Kimball, 6-124, 2 TDs; Stringham, 3-88, 1 TD; Boultinghouse, 2-31, 1 TD; Gardner, 4-24; Bogdan, 3-14.
DH — Leicester, 6-97; Norman, 3-50, 1 TD; Dean, 1-18; Desormiers, 3-5; Geiss, 1-1.
