Homecoming Tonight

Photo by Douglas Landrum Laguna Beach's Eric Jaffe fumbles out of bounds after diving just short of the goal line at the end of one of his many productive rushes last Friday against Garden Grove. Laguna ultimately lost the game, 42-24. Garden Grove hammered the Breakers, 42-24, to remain unbeaten as their talented running back Sean Young logged over 250 yards rushing and four touchdowns in a non-league contest played at Guyer Field last Friday night. Although the game was the 22nd meeting between the two schools, it had been 54 years since they last met.

Despite the loss, the Breakers played their best game of the season against one of the better teams they'll face, scoring all 24 points in the second half.

Garden Grove controlled the ground game with a total of 385 yards rushing on 38 carries. Solid play in the secondary from Laguna's Jack Monroe and Andrew Paddon along with QB pressure from Alec Jaffe, John Snedegar, and Chris Hilleman limited them to just three completions in 15 passing attempts.

Down 21-0 at the half, Laguna finally mustered some offensive consistency as Snedegar and Jaffe showed some tough running with Jaffe's 39-yard scoring run the highlight of the evening. The passing game finally found success as Austin Paxson and Chris Paul teamed on some great passing plays. Jaffe also had a great catch in his finest offensive day for Laguna.

This Friday marks the 53rd homecoming for the Breakers. Although a homecoming game was designated during the 1934 JV season, traditional homecoming was not established at Laguna until 1956. Laguna is 19-32-1 in these games and 2-18 in the past 20 games.

This year's opponent is San Diego's top Division V school, Francis Parker. The Lancers are 3-1 with all three wins by lopsided margins. They appear to be quicker and more talented than Garden Grove and could give Laguna real trouble.

Laguna Scoring: Jaffe 39 run (run failed), Snedegar 28 FG, Paxson 1 run (Paddon pass to Paul), Paxson 1 run (Snedegar kick) Game Stats: LB GG 1st Downs 20 17 Rush/Yds 41-191 38-385 Pass Yds 143 74 C-A-I 9-24-1 3-15-0 Plays/TYG 66-334 53-459 Fumbles/Lost 0-0 1-0 Return Yds 5 -1 Punts/Ave 3-36.3 2-39.0 Penalties/Yds 2-20 7-70 Laguna Individual Statistics Rushing: Snedegar 17-98, Jaffe 11-98, Paxson 6-(14), Smith 4-12, Kaplan 2-(3). Passing: Paxson 24-9-0 143 yds, Paddon 1-0-0. Receiving: Paul 5-75, Paddon 2-27, Quirarte 1-29, Jaffe 1-12. Punt Returns: Pierce 1-5. Kick Off Returns: Paul 2-34, Paddon 2-25, Kazemian 2-25. Punting Quirarte 2-74, 36.3 avg.