Finally, a win on the gridiron

After giving up 134 points in its first two games of the season, the Laguna Beach High football team needed to get a bit defensive about their defense.

Mission accomplished in Week 3 against Santa Monica, as the Breakers won the nonleague game, 42-21, at Santa Monica College.

Laguna Beach (1-2) played a dominant game, up 36-7 at one point in the third quarter. Junior quarterback Austin Paxson threw for 245 yards and four touchdown passes, matching his total from last year’s CIF playoff game against Santa Ana. Paxson, who threw for a school record five TD passes against Corona del Mar in this year’s season opener, now holds all of the top three spots on the single-game touchdown list.

Junior Chris Paul had two touchdown catches and finished with 116 yards. The two touchdown grabs gave him a Laguna Beach school record of 15 career touchdown receptions.

Senior Alec Jaffe had 130 all-purpose yards (70 rushing, 60 passing) and scored three times, twice on rushes. Junior Michael Hyden finished with 186 rushing yards on just 17 carries.

The Breakers played at Garden Grove (3-0) Thursday after press time. The Argonauts came into that game outscoring opponents, 100-30.

Laguna Beach next plays at Francis Parker of San Diego on Oct. 9. That game is their final nonleague tilt before Orange Coast League play begins Oct. 16, at Godinez.

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CROSS-COUNTRY

Another week, another big win for Laguna Beach.

The Laguna Beach boys’ cross-country team easily won the Division IV race at the prestigious Stanford Invitational Saturday, with three finishers in the top five.

Senior Blake Hofmeister finished second individually in 16 minutes, 3 seconds for the Breakers. He was followed by senior teammate Tommy Newton-Neal in 16:04.

Junior Matt Neev was fifth in 16:11, followed by senior Andrew Shapero in eighth in 16:18. Senior Jake Johnson finished in 17:10 (46th).

Daniel Milechman of Tamalpais was the individual winner in 15:46

Laguna Beach scored 59 points, while Sehome High of Washington was second with 97 points. The Breakers’ top California competitor at the meet was St. Mary’s of Berkeley, which was fifth (162 points).

On the girls’ side, Laguna Beach finished sixth out of 27 teams. McKenna Nokes was 20th in 19:57, followed by Natasha Strickland in 20:21 (27th). Gerry Artman was 41st in 20:50, and Parker Yamasaki was 66th in 21:28.

Beverly Ronses’ time of 21:35 was good for 71st and Marisa Merchant (21:46) placed 78th.