The Laguna Blanca Owls football team ends its season with a record-setting year. Laguna started off the season playing four non-league opponents and outscoring them 196-26 en route to a 4-0 start. The Owls carried this momentum into their league opener at Villanova Prep for a chance at the Laguna’s first 5-0 start in over a decade, and they did just that, crushing the Wildcats 43-13 after 29 unanswered second half points.
The boys didn’t settle with just that victory because they knew their next game was yet another chance at making history as no Laguna football team has ever beaten Orcutt Academy.
The Owls started the game slow, letting the Spartans go on an 18-6 run in the first quarter and taking a 32-24 deficit into the half. An inspired and stingy Owls defense came out in the second half, shutting out the Spartans and holding them to just 19 total yards of offense.
The Owls came out firing, however, as quarterback Chandler Aubery found wide receiver Pierce O’Donnell in the end zone for both of their second touchdowns of the day, and senior running back John Puzder took a hand off straight up the middle for the two-point conversion to tie up the game.
After a three-and-out by the Orcutt offense, Laguna’s offense took over once again to put the game away. After a long, time-consuming drive, Owls’ senior running back Robert Estrada punched in a 4th and goal try from the one-yard line to give the Owls the lead with less than two minutes remaining in the game. The very first play from scrimmage cornerback Ben Rios deflected a pass over the middle into the waiting hands of middle linebacker Christian Fowler for the game-sealing interception.
After this record-setting run the Owls were going to have to complete for yet another first, beating the Thacher Toads. The Owls started off strong with a fumble recovery by Pierce O’Donnell after a big hit by defensive end Isaac Baron and a one-yard rushing touchdown by Wakelin McNeel after a 60-yard pitch and catch from Aubery to senior wide out Philip Fauntleroy.
After back-to-back stops by both defenses, Thacher responded with a touchdown of its own by wide receiver Laurence Jackson and a successful two-point try to take an 8-7 lead.
Both teams remained scoreless until three minutes left in the first half when Fauntleroy nailed a 35-yard field goal to give the Owls a 10-8 lead. The Owls defense held up, and Pierce O’Donnell got an interception on a deep passing play to end the half. The Thacher defense came out strong in the second half and blocked an Owls punt resulting in Laurence Jackson’s second touchdown of the day and a 14-10 lead. Laguna was forced to punt and Thacher scored again to extend its lead to 20-10. Two plays after the Owls received the ball Aubery, their starting quarterback, was injured. This resulted in captain Pierce O’Donnell taking over the position.
He led the Owls down the field to score a touchdown in just two plays to cut Thacher’s lead to 20-16 after a big catch and run by Anton Homeniuk and a breakout touchdown run by McNeel.
The Toads’ next drive brought them all the way down to Laguna’s five-yard line before Christian Fowler caused a fumble that was recovered by Aidan O’Donnell. The Owls had a chance at a game-winning drive, but they came up just short as the clock expired on a failed fourth down conversion around midfield.
After this very frustrating loss, the Owls know that they are going to have to prepare for a very good Cate Rams team. The Owls host the Cate Rams for senior day and the winner of this game will be crowned the Condor League Champion as both teams inevitably head into the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs in November seeded in the top 10.
The Laguna cross country hosted the first meet in program history this year less than a mile off campus at Modoc Preserve.
The Owls raced alongside visiting Condor League schools Dunn, Besant Hill, Ojai Valley, Oak Grove, Garden Street Academy, and rival Midland.
Laguna’s Mikey Hawker led the team with a 6th place overall finish with a time 18:40 as the Owls placed second in the race behind Midland. As senior Kylan Tyng, junior Luke Smilie, and underclassmen Alex Furukawa and Clay Rodgers all had solid showings.
One week later on the girls side, Isabelle Davenport, the sole female runner last season, led a team of four girls with a second place finish at Dunn School.
First-year runners Zaira Paredes, Sonya Kotler and Merith Velazquez-Jimenez aided Davenport’s effort in their first race.
The Owls have been doing incline training throughout the hills around campus to prepare themselves for the terrain of the Mt. Sac course and to increase their versatility as runners.
“Most schools we race against have relatively flat campuses. The hills in Hope Ranch really allow us to train for different courses, and give us a big advantage over our competition,” senior captain Tyng said.
The Owls will have an opportunity to showcase all their hard work as they finish the season with league meets at Besant Hill and Ojai Valley and the all-important Mt. Sac Invitational in mid-November.