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Laguna Beach players celebrate after Saturday’s win in the CIF finals. (Photos: OC Sports Zone, Tom Connolly).
As the saying goes, ‘good things come to those who wait.’
And after 66 years, the Laguna Beach High School football team will live by those words following Saturday night’s 36-28 victory over Diamond Bar in the CIF Division 9 championship game at Diamond Bar.
Saturday’s win marked the Breakers first CIF football championship since 1946. Laguna Beach (11-3) won its final nine games of the season to pull off its historic title run.
“People told me when I took this job that I’ll never win a championship at Laguna Beach,” said Breakers Coach John Shanahan. “But we have an incredible group of kids and this championship means everything to us.”
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
Diamond Bar last won a CIF football championship in 1999.
Leading 10-7 at halftime, Laguna Beach’s defense, special teams and offense capitalized on three Diamond Bar turnovers and blocked a punt in the third-quarter to turn the tide of the game and build a 30-14 lead after three periods.
Early in the third quarter, and three plays after following Marcus Heins’ interception, quarterback Jackson Kollock threw a 26-yard TD pass to Nick Rogers and Laguna Beach led 17-7.
“I’m so full of emotion I can’t put it in words, it’s surreal,” said Kollock, a transfer from Santa Margarita, who threw three TD passes in the game.
Later in the third-quarter, Chase Tyson blocked a Diamond Bar punt and Micah Chavez scooped it up and raced 15 yards for a touchdown, giving the Breakers a 23-7 lead.
“When I got into the end zone I just couldn’t believe the ball was in my hands and that this was really happening to me,” said Chavez, who had two of the Breakers six sacks in the game.
Still in the third-quarter, Breakers linebacker Jeremy Kanter then picked off a Brahmas’ pass to set up a one-yard TD run by Nick Rogers, upping Laguna Beach’s lead to 30-7. After Diamond Bar (12-2) added a touchdown, the Breakers stormed back and Simpson caught a pass from Kollock and barreled 49-yards for a TD on the first play of the fourth-quarter for a Laguna Beach 36-14 lead.
“This is one of the top five things of my life; I am on top of the world,” said Simpson, who also recorded two sacks, aside from catching five passes.
The Breakers forced four turnovers and blocked two punts in the game. Nico Cambruzzie, along with teammates James Golden and Sam Garwal, had outstanding defensive games for Laguna Beach.
“I’m the luckiest guy in the world to have special teams coaches like Jim Hartigan and Scott McKnight; these guys are geniuses,” Shanahan said.
Diamond Bar added two more touchdowns in the final seven minutes, but Chavez sealed the game when he recovered an onside kick for the Breakers with 1:05 to play.
The Breakers took the opening kickoff and Nico Vidaurri Tucker kicked a 27-yard field goal to give Laguna Beach a 3-0 lead. Diamond Bar marched 57-yards in nine-plays to take the lead in the second quarter, when Ryan Lewis tossed a 17-yard TD pass to Maddox Bernardino, giving Diamond Bar a 7-3 lead.
In the final minute of the half, Kollock tossed a seven-yard TD pass to Aidan Mulkay surging the Breakers to a 10-7 lead at intermission.
Isaiah Young led the Brahmas with 159 yards rushing and a touchdown.
“You can’t commit the turnovers we did tonight in the third-quarter and expect to win,” said Diamond Bar Coach Matthew Castaneda. “Our special teams failed us, but give Laguna Beach a lot of credit. They are a solid football team.”
Breakers reserve running back Bella Rasmussen, who earlier this season became the first female to score two touchdown in a varsity football game in the state of California, said this season has been a lifetime memory.
“When I have children I will be able to tell them that anything is possible,” said Rasmussen. “All of our team leaders and key components came together and this has been an amazing run.”
—Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone
