NEWPORT BEACH — Corona del Mar upset San Juan Hills with a lopsided 33-10 win Friday at Newport Harbor High to take pole position in the race for the Bravo League title.
San Juan Hills is ranked No. 8 this week in the Register’s Top 25 poll and Corona del Mar is ranked No. 15.
Corona del Mar (6-0, 1-0) is 6-0 for the first time since 2019 when the Sea Kings went 16-0 and won CIF-SS and CIF State championships.
“That’s up there for us for sure,” Corona del Mar coach Kevin Hettig said when asked where Friday’s win ranks during his tenure at the school. “We knew we were underdogs coming into this thing…This is a big win for us, but there’s so much more to do. We played really well tonight but I hope we didn’t play our best game.”
Corona del Mar’s defense was dominant and forced turnovers to put its offense in favorable field position. Will Chavez and Cash Pearsall had interceptions for the Sea Kings and Damian Zeno-Herrera forced a safety.
“It’s just about how hard they play and they’ve totally sold out for each other,” Hettig said of the defense. “We had three turnovers in the first half and that was one of our keys this week. We had to win the turnover battle.”
Sea Kings quarterback Brady Annett completed 18 of 23 passes for 272 yards with four touchdowns. He has 22 touchdown passes this season through six games.
“It’s time to recognize that the kid is pretty good,” Hettig said of Annett. “He made three or four plays tonight that I don’t know how many quarterbacks in Orange County can make.”
San Juan Hills (4-2, 0-1) had 95 yards of penalties and struggled to move the ball for much of the game. Timmy Herr threw for 160 yards and ran for 95 with a touchdown.
Corona del Mar jumped to a 17-0 lead in the first half. Defensive lineman Arshan Habibi recovered a San Juan Hills fumble and two plays later Annett threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to JJ Haley to give Corona del Mar an early 7-0 lead.
Haley led Corona del Mar in receiving with 110 yards on five receptions.
Early in the second quarter, Chavez intercepted a San Juan Hills pass at Corona del Mar’s 2-yard line. Corona del Mar subsequently went on a 98-yard scoring drive capped by a 12-yard touchdown pass from Annett to Garrett James.
On the next San Juan Hills possession, Corona del Mar safety Pearsall intercepted a pass and returned it 37-yards deep into San Juan Hills’ territory. Joseph Dibella made a 31-yard field goal to extend Corona del Mar’s lead to 17-0.
San Juan Hills drove to the 6-yard line just before the half, but penalties pushed the Stallions back 20 yards. Kyle Donahue made a 41-yard field goal for the Stallions to make the score 17-3 at halftime.
Corona del Mar opened the second half with a five-minute scoring drive that ended with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Annett to Dorsett Stecker.
Late in the third quarter, San Juan Hills took possession at its own 1-yard line after an interception by Tyler Adams. On the next play, Zeno-Herrera tackled a San Juan Hills ball carrier in the endzone for a safety.
Annett threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to James in the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 33-3. James had 84 yards with two touchdowns for the Sea Kings and Stecker added 80 yards on eight catches with a touchdown.
Corona del Mar plays crosstown rival Newport Harbor on Saturday, Oct. 11 in the Battle of the Bay at Orange Coast College. Newport Harbor lost its Bravo League opener to Tesoro Friday.
“No matter what the teams’ records are and no matter how many college commits are on either side, that game is always going to be 50/50,” Annett said. “Whoever plays harder is going to win the game.”
San Juan Hills hosts Yorba Linda on Friday, Oct. 10.