Daily Pilot High School Football Player of the Week: Nolan does it all for Laguna Beach
One of the first questions Sean Nolan got when he moved to Laguna Beach this summer was, “Where did you come from?”
When the 15-year-old replied that he was from Ireland, they did not believe Nolan.
“People are always asking why I don’t have” an accent, Nolan said. “It kind of just left.”
Nolan has been living in Orange County since he was 10. A year after his family left Waterford, Ireland, because his father’s work brought him to the U.S., Nolan said he lost his Irish accent.
“They would make fun of it,” Nolan said of the accent. “It’d be cool to still have it.”
Nolan began to sound more American, and in elementary school, he picked up one of the country’s most popular sports. The second person Nolan befriended in the U.S. was Kai Ball, and it was Ball who introduced him to football.
Nolan and Ball are not only friends to this day, but they’re also teammates on the Laguna Beach High football team. Nolan said he and Ball moved to Laguna Beach before their sophomore season, and Nolan has helped the Breakers reach the CIF Southern Section playoffs for the first time in four years.
Nolan practically did it all for Laguna Beach in the Orange Coast League battle for second place against Calvary Chapel last week. He played strong safety, wide receiver, kicker and punter, contributing in many facets during the Breakers’ 39-14 win at home.
Nolan accounted for 15 of Laguna Beach’s points. He caught a 10-yard touchdown pass and converted 33- and 32-yard field goals and three extra-point kicks, and punted once for 37 yards. Nolan also intercepted three passes, two in the end zone to deny defending league champion Calvary Chapel.
The Breakers secured a Division 13 playoff berth in Coach John Shanahan’s debut season. While this is Nolan’s first year at Laguna Beach, this isn’t the first time he has suited up for Shanahan.
Nolan played for Shanahan on a youth all-star football team as a seventh-grader. Two years later at JSerra, Nolan was a member of the freshman team Shanahan coached.
Nolan also kicked PATs on JSerra’s varsity team last year, but at Laguna Beach, he has been able to play a variety of roles. Shanahan said getting another all-around effort out of Nolan might be difficult this Friday, when the Breakers (6-4) open the postseason at Duarte (7-3) at 7:30 p.m.
On Monday, Nolan suffered a shin contusion during a seven-on-seven drill in practice. Shanahan jokingly said that “another Irish kid” collided with Nolan while the two went out for passes.
“One of them ran the wrong direction. I won’t tell you which one because it’s not important,” Shanahan said with a smile. “Sean actually took the brunt of it. We were really scared at first that he might have broken his leg. He’s such a tough kid. They took him home, propped up his leg, iced it, and took him to the doctor the next day just to make sure it was not broken. They found out there’s no fracture. As long as he can handle the pain, he’s going to go Friday night. We’ll play him where we need him.”
The kicking duties will most likely be off limits for Nolan. The contusion is on his right kicking leg, and Nolan said it makes it too painful to strike the ball.
The next man up for the Breakers is Noah Handel, a sophomore kicker from the lower-level program. Nolan and Shanahan are confident Handel can rise to the occasion.
Seeing others step in and play well for injured key players has been a reason behind the Breakers’ success in the second half of the regular season. Injuries to left tackle Rob Luecke (knee) and receiver Karam Jones (leg) in the season opener, and lineman Dylan Soloff before the league opener hurt Laguna Beach, which went 2-3 during nonleague play. The Breakers also lost center Jack Houlahan and linebacker Brandon Marquez to knee injuries before the season.
“We learned that if we work hard and stick together we’ll be able to overcome the injuries,” Nolan said.
The Breakers finished 4-1 in league, quite a turnaround from a year ago, when they went 0-5. In one year under Shanahan, Laguna Beach surpassed its league win total from the previous three years.
“Our kids didn’t think we could make the playoffs at the start. They didn’t believe in themselves at all at the start,” Shanahan said. “The major piece that we had to get fixed was the confidence. If they could just find a way to believe in themselves, we can be pretty good.”
The Breakers are rolling into the playoffs, having won four in a row in league. The last time Laguna Beach won four straight league games was in 2012, when it went on to advance to the semifinals of the Southern Division playoffs.
Back then, Nolan was a couple of years into his new life in the U.S. When Shanahan first met Nolan three years ago, Nolan didn’t know much about football.
“He was raw because he was more of a rugby player,” Shanahan said of Nolan, who still plays rugby and considers it his favorite sport. “He understands the game really well for a kid that didn’t really grow up with [football]. He can do anything on the field.”
Sean Nolan
Born: Dec. 11, 2000
Hometown: Waterford, Ireland
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 175 pounds
Sport: Football
Year: Sophomore
Coach: John Shanahan
Favorite food: Hamburger
Favorite movie: “The Fast and the Furious”
Favorite athletic moment: “Playing rugby in Canada. I was on the [U.S.] high school All-American team.”
Week in review: Nolan intercepted three passes, caught a 10-yard touchdown pass, and converted two field goals and three extra-point kicks, helping Laguna Beach secure second place in the Orange Coast League with a 39-14 win against Calvary Chapel.
