Garden Grove

Coach Jonathan Todd said the Breakers missed their senior middle linebacker Ethan Quirarte (elbow) in the game, but the Laguna Beach defense was doing a good job stopping a potent Garden Grove offense on Oct. 1 at Garden Grove. Then, with the Breakers down, 7-6, late in the first half of the nonleague game, misfortune hit. ?I thought we were doing well,? Todd said. ?We were running and passing and mixing it up. Then, we had a touchdown called back and we didn?t make it on fourth down.

With a small team numbers wise, injuries don?t help the Laguna Beach High football team. And facing a San Diego Section powerhouse with three key players out due to concussion made it hard to play defense Friday night. Coronado poured it on early in a 69-20 rout of the Breakers on Sept. 18 at Laguna Beach High. ?It was two things,? Laguna Beach Coach Jonathan Todd said. ?We were down quite a few starters on defense and we just didn?t have a good game. We weren?t tackling.

There could be another mad rush tonight at Guyer Field. For the second consecutive week, the Laguna Beach football team will try to slow a team known for its potent rushing attack when the Breakers host Francis Parker of the CIF San Diego Section. Laguna?s homecoming game begins at 7 p.m. Francis Parker runs what Breakers Coach Jonathan Todd calls the ?Utah triple option,? and the Lancers have been great at putting that offense into motion. Last week, Laguna had to contend with a run-oriented Garden Grove team that ended up producing close to 370 yards on the ground, and it resulted in a 42-24 nonleague victory for the Argonauts.

As victories go, this one wasn?t half bad. The Laguna Beach football team picked up its first win of the season last Friday by defeating visiting St. Monica, 37-7, at Guyer Field. Tonight, the Breakers will try to build on momentum gained from that triumph when they host undefeated Garden Grove. Kickoff is 7 p.m. Against St. Monica, Laguna (1-3) raced to a 31-0 halftime lead in just the second meeting between the schools. The teams? only other meeting came in the 1953 season.

Laguna Beach?s girls? basketball team earned a seventh-place finish at the Garden Grove Tournament by defeating Santa Ana, 49-40, in their tournament finale Saturday. In the seventh-place game, the Breakers led by as many as 19 points in the fourth quarter to coast to the win. Three Breakers scored in double figures with Emily LaRose getting 15 points, Tess Grogan 14 and Lauren Kelly 12. Emily Writer and Samantha Garner each scored four points and Garner also hauled in 19 rebounds.

Laguna Beach hung tough with host St. Margaret?s throughout most of Tuesday night?s nonleague girls? basketball contest, but the Breakers couldn?t get over the hump and eventually lost to the Tartans, 58-45. Laguna trailed by two points at the half and was down four entering the fourth quarter. ?We actually tied (the score) with five minutes to play but didn?t have enough in the end,? Laguna Coach Jon Hendrickson said. ?Tess Grogan was huge for us. She scored 25 points and played superb defense on their best player the whole game.

It was the start to the new week, but Bret Fleming didn?t see much crispness in his boys? basketball team Monday. The Breakers? head coach said his team did just enough to win on the road against Sage Hill, which they did in a 55-48 nonleague game. Laguna led throughout the first half, but Sage Hill came back to briefly take the lead in the third quarter. The Breakers outscored the Lightning, 18-10, in the fourth quarter to get the win and improve to 7-3 heading into the winter break.

It's always gratifying for a father when his son follows him into the family business, but in the case of the Foxworths, whose family business is the theater, it means they don't get to connect all that often. Robert Foxworth — the veteran actor who'll be remembered for TV's "Falcon Crest" — and his son Bo each perform on stage for a living. And this month, they're working just a few miles apart — Robert enacting the malevolent king, Claudius, in South Coast Repertory's "Hamlet" and Bo tearing up the stage at the Laguna Playhouse in the world premiere of "The Verdi Girls."

The Laguna Beach High boys' basketball team opened play Monday in the Garden Grove Tournament and posted a 60-44 victory over Sunny Hills. Guard Cheyne Martin poured in a game-high 33 points and Brian Delino scored 12 for the Breakers, who won for the sixth time in their first seven games of the season. "We didn't play real crisp, but we hope to play well tonight against Garden Grove," Laguna Coach Bret Fleming said. The Breakers then took on host Garden Grove on Wednesday, posting another easy win, 68-34.

The Laguna Beach High football team will be looking to get back into the win column tonight when it travels to Santa Ana to take on Segerstrom. Kickoff for the nonleague game is 7 p.m. Laguna suffered its second loss of the season when the Breakers fell to visiting Santiago of Garden Grove last week, 33-6. The Breakers' two losses — to Corona del Mar and Santiago — have come against teams ranked in the Southern Division top 10 poll. Against Santiago, Laguna fell behind, 33-0, after three quarters before senior Marshall Thomas took in a 13-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Andrew Paddon to put the Breakers on the scoreboard.