COSTA MESA — Corona del Mar’s football team had a two-score lead against Chaminade with under six minutes remaining in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 opening-round playoff game Friday at Estancia High School.
But then a series of consequential plays ensued, all favoring the Eagles: a fourth-down stop, a quick touchdown, a pick-6 seconds later and a forced fumble.
When it was over, Chaminade had come away with a 20-17 victory over the Sea Kings.
The Eagles (8-3) will play Pacifica of Oxnard in the second round. Pacifica defeated Bishop Amat, 56-43, in another first-round game Friday.
“It was just an unbelievable effort by our guys tonight,” Chaminade coach David Machuca said. “We’ve been in so many situations this year where we have been down late in games, and so many times this year we’ve made plays and been relentless and just kept playing.”
Corona del Mar (8-3) took a 14-7 third-quarter lead on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Luca Di Napoli to Nolan Scott.
Di Napoli entered the game in the second half, replacing starter John Annett, who played the entire first half.
The Sea Kings then took a 10-point lead on Mateo Akerman’s 44-yard field goal.
After forcing the Eagles to punt, the Sea Kings took possession with 10 minutes, 41 seconds remaining in the game and were in a position to run several minutes off the clock with a long drive.
Chaminade forced the Sea Kings to punt and took possession at the Corona del Mar 32 with just over five minutes remaining.
The Eagles scored on a 35-yard pass from Jeremy Mellalieu to Andrew Cordero.
Corona del Mar was called for holding on the ensuing kickoff and had to start its drive on the 10.
On third-and-11, Elijah Williams intercepted Di Napoli’s pass and ran it in for a 15-yard touchdown, giving the Eagles their first lead of the game.
The Sea Kings got the ball back with three minutes, 42 seconds remaining and drove to the Chaminade 29, within field-goal range of Akerman, who had kicked one from 44 yards in the third quarter.
But on third-and-7, Hudson Manning delivered a blind-side hit on Di Napoli, forcing a fumble, which was recovered by Chaminade’s Thomas Rhoads.
From there, the Eagles ran out the clock.
“That is one that definitely got away from us,” Corona del Mar coach Kevin Hettig said. “We had problems with their front line all night. They’re physical up there. They are a very physical team.”
The only score in the first half came on a 2-yard touchdown run from Nolan Scott, capping an 80-yard drive for the Sea Kings.
The low score was attributable to sacks, interceptions, penalties and mistakes proving costly for both teams.
Annett was sacked three times, twice by Hudson Manning.
With less than a minute left in the half, Corona del Mar faced a third-and-4 from the Chaminade 16 when Annett was sacked by Manning for a 10-yard loss.
Corona del Mar missed a 41-yard field-goal attempt on the next play.
Annett was also intercepted earlier in the second quarter by Bryan Narcisse on a third-and-17 from the Chaminade 29.
Chaminade also fell victim to its own miscues.
On a third-and-goal from the 1, the center snap sailed past Mellalieu and rolled 35 yards before being recovered by the Sea Kings.
Troy Merriman, Max Brengel and Trejan Nixon recorded sacks for the Sea Kings.