Corona del Mar rolls past Huntington Beach in boys’ lacrosse playoff opener

For winning the Sunset League title, Huntington Beach High sure got the toughest draw in the opening round of the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section South Division boys’ playoffs.

As the No. 16 seed, the Oilers traveled to No. 1 Corona del Mar on Tuesday.

The South Division defending champion Sea Kings dominated from the start en route to an 11-1 win.

While the Sea Kings easily advanced to the quarterfinals, the Oilers still impressed CdM Coach G.W. Mix. There was one player in particular who stood out to Mix.

His name is Dylan MacDonald, who is missing one hand, as his right arm stops at about the elbow.

Huntington Beach Coach Ryan Kelaher called up MacDonald from the junior varsity team for the postseason. He has coached MacDonald before, when MacDonald played youth lacrosse.

“As pleased as I was with most of our effort today, I was honored and humbled to have had the opportunity to watch Dylan MacDonald play,” Mix said of the sophomore.

“[The Oilers had] a daunting task as a No. 16 seed, which one could argue that they should have been or should not have been.”

With the Sunset League coming down to the wire, Los Alamitos and Edison finishing a game back of the 6-2 Oilers, it was Huntington Beach having to play at CdM in the first round of the playoffs for the second time in three years.

The outcomes have been pretty much the same, a lot of scoring by CdM and not so much by Huntington Beach.

Ryan Meckler led the Sea Kings (16-2) with three goals, and Sachin Gokhale had two goals and an assist. Will Favreau, Eric Fries, Nick Puglia, John Bethel, Grant Spruce and Cameron Kayl each found the back of the net once for CdM.

The Sea Kings dominated possession, thanks to them winning 13 of 15 faceoffs. Puglia won all of his nine faceoffs, and Sam Hasse won four of five.

The Oilers (9-10) struggled offensively, as they only managed one shot in the first half. The one shot was how the Oilers scored with less than a minute to go in the first quarter.

By the time Michael Goodheart scored for Huntington Beach, CdM led, 4-1, and it was on its way to play No. 8 Servite (13-6) in the quarterfinals at home on Thursday at 5 p.m.

The trip to CdM will mark the Friars’ second this year. Servite lost to the Sea Kings, 12-6, on March 29.

“They’re a nice team,” Mix said of the Friars, who defeated No. 9 Yorba Linda, 16-7, in the first round on Tuesday.

Servite will try do something no other Orange County school has been able to since 2015, and that’s beat CdM. The Sea Kings rolled to their 26^th straight win against a county opponent.

Goalie Kyle Cord and the CdM defense, which includes standouts Jordan Pakzad and Brennan Greenwald, should be busier in the next round with Servite.

As for the Oilers, they haven’t been able to advance out of the first round since 2012. Seeing CdM at the start of the playoffs did not help their chances.

“Our league is arguably the most competitive league. We beat each other up all season long, and we were the clear winner,” said Kelaher, adding that he couldn’t understand how Los Alamitos, which shared second in league, earned a No. 15 seed, a higher seed than Huntington Beach.

Like the Oilers, Los Alamitos suffered a lopsided setback on the road in the first round, losing to No. 2 San Clemente.

david.carrillo@latimes.com

Twitter: @ByDCP