Laguna Hills suffered a loss to Orange last week in a five-overtime game where it had plenty of chances to win.
That could be a huge setback emotionally for a lot of teams, but the Hawks are focused on the positives from the game.
The Hawks trailed by three in the final minutes of regulation and Nathaniel Mammen made a game-tying field goal to send the game to overtime. Mammen made two more field goals in overtime.
“We are a young team who battled against a very good Orange team,” Laguna Hills coach John Lester said. “I really liked the fact that we continued to fight to get the game tied up at the end of regulation.”
One of the young players who stepped up was sophomore quarterback Jaxson Vanderbeek. He is averaging 158 yards passing per game with four touchdowns and zero interceptions. Vanderbeek has also rushed for 81 yards per game with two touchdowns.
“His big contribution has been running the football. It has been a difference maker,” Lester said of Vanderbeek. “He had a great offseason preparing to lead the offense and has risen to the occasion.”
Laguna Hills plays Capistrano Valley Christian this week.
CVC is coming off a dominant win over University. Running back Luke Vincent ran for 235 yards with three touchdowns in that win and had three interceptions on defense in Week 0.
“He is an incredibly gifted player with a high football IQ who truly loves the game,” CVC coach Brandon Camarillo said. “What’s even more impressive is that this is his first year playing running back. He has quickly developed a strong understanding of the position.”
CVC’s defense has been very good and held University to 160 yards of total offense and just 15 rushing yards. The Eagles have multiple three-year starters on their defense. Their defensive coordinator is former Capistrano Valley head coach Chi Chi Biehn.
Lester and Camarillo are familiar with each other and that’s a big reason the two teams are playing Friday. They were assistant coaches together at San Clemente.
HOUSEWARMING PARTY
Cypress christened its new on-campus stadium last week with a 21-20 win over a Brea Olinda team that hadn’t lost a regular-season game since 2023.
Xavier Guerrero threw a touchdown pass to Matt Rodriguez with 32 seconds left in the game to lift the Centurions to 2-0.
Cypress previously played its home games at Western High, a stadium it shared with two other schools.
“The atmosphere was completely different,” Cypress coach Rich Feldman said of the game last week.
Cypress lost the last seven games of the season in 2024 and had a 2-9 record. Feldman credits the team’s defense for its early success this season.
“The biggest key to our start this season has to be that our defense, behind coordinator Jeff Crooks, has been completely dialed in,” Feldman said. “They made a huge stop on fourth down near the end of the game last week to get the ball back for us and we eventually scored.”
Tynoa Allen leads the team with six tackles for a loss and he returned a fumble 70 yards in Cypress’ Week 0 win over Cerritos. Alijah Ashcraft has 18 tackles in two games with a forced fumble and Noah Spalding has five tackles for a loss.
Cypress has a favorable matchup against Eisenhower this week and could get off to a 3-0 start to the season.
FROM KICKER TO QUARTERBACK
Sunny Hills quarterback Mikael Khan did not throw a pass for San Clemente last season.
He was the kicker for the Tritons and made 36 PATs and four field goals.
Since transferring to Sunny Hills, he has been a key part of the team’s 2-0 start. Khan has completed 77 percent of his passes for 514 yards with seven touchdowns and ran for a TD.
“Mikael is doing a great job, definitely has risen to the occasion,” Sunny Hills coach Fred Gambrell said. “We’re definitely a team that is way more consistent this year and sound with what we do.”
The Lancers have already matched their win total from last season. They have a tough matchup this week against a team that is 2-0 this season against Orange County teams. Wilson of Long Beach has had convincing wins over Portola and Marina thus far.
“They have a really good quarterback and receiving corps,” Gambrell said of Wilson. “On the defensive side, their line is really good and aggressive. We have to eliminate the big plays. Wilson’s quarterback likes to air it out and throw the ball deep down the field.”
Sunny Hills lost to Wilson 34-7 last season but Khan and the rest of the Lancers are much better than they were a year ago.