No cakewalk this week

A good week of practice paid big dividends for the Laguna Beach High football team against John Glenn.

The Breakers were at it again this week, Coach Mike Churchill said, stringing together several days of solid preparation in an effort to be at their best for a key nonleague game Friday.

Laguna hosts St. Margaret's in a 7 p.m. nonleague clash at Guyer Field. The Breakers (2-0-1) enter the game ranked fifth in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division. The Tartans (3-0) are No. 5 in the East Valley Division.

"I saw them play last Friday night, and they're a very good football team," Churchill said of the Tartans. "They are very quick, have an excellent quarterback and have smart players. As good as they are on offense, they do quite a few really good things on defense, too."

St. Margaret's picked up its third win last week by defeating Whittier Christian, 35-7. Quarterback Josh Davis threw for 150 yards, with touchdown passes to Andrew Torok and Scott McGowan. Chase McClure rushed for a score, Oscar Gomez racked up a game-high 132 rushing yards and the Tartans' special teams scored when Winston Robinson returned a fumble for a touchdown and Torok had a punt return for a TD.

In three games, the Tartans' defense has allowed only three touchdowns. Their offense is averaging 34 points a game.

Like St. Margaret's, Laguna is coming off quite a week of its own.

Laguna continued to rewrite the school record book in last week's 74-19 win over John Glenn. The Breakers set single-game marks for points and longest run from scrimmage (95 yards, Drake Martinez). They also tied the record for first-half points scored (55), touchdowns in a game (11), and conversion kicks (eight).

The game used a running clock in the second half. It's the second time in three games for the Breakers where a running clock was used after halftime. The first instance came in their Aug. 31 opener at Bolsa Grande, a 62-14 victory.

"We scored five different ways without taking a snap," Churchill said. "The kids have stepped things up since the (University) game (a 36-36 tie Sept. 7). They gave some things away at the end of that game and felt they should have won the game. They worked hard in practice last week and have had some real good practices this week, as well.