In Friday night’s South Division 3 football playoff opener against Laguna Beach, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame brought in a “bell ringer” assistant coach this week to make its appearance tougher.
Former UCLA coach Deshaun Foster was in attendance to teach lessons, especially to his sophomore stepson, Noel Washington.
“He helped a lot,” Washington said. “His presence here means a lot. He makes us train harder.”
What was the impact? Washington had touchdown runs of 35, two and 32 yards to help Notre Dame (6-5) earn a 44-28 win and advance to a home game next week against Chino Hills. He finished with 83 yards on 11 carries.
Safety Tahj Skinner of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame is happy after getting his sixth interception of the season.
(Craig Weston)
Junior quarterback Jack Hurst of Laguna Beach and West Virginia-bound senior quarterback Wyatt Brown of Notre Dame continued to make plays throughout the night. Hurst completed 32 of 51 passes for 417 yards and four touchdowns. Brown completed 16 of 31 passes for 232 yards and one touchdown. He ran for 61 yards and one touchdown.
Brown’s most significant accomplishment came with 7:38 remaining on third-and-17 with Notre Dame clinging to a 34-28 lead. He found sophomore Emmanuel Pullins for a 19-yard completion. Bullens then made a 31-yard catch. It set up a 21-yard field goal by Nico Marliani for a 37-28 lead with 2:22 remaining.
“Huge,” Notre Dame coach Evan Yabo said of the third-down reception.
“I just saw him face to face without any security coverage,” Brown said.
“I’m prepared for those situations,” Bullens said. “Before the game, I made a promise to myself that I would go to the ball.”
It became a wild game in the second half because Laguna Beach (9-2) refused to go down without a fight. After Andre Gamboa picked up a fumble on a high snap from Laguna Beach to score a touchdown to start the third quarter, Notre Dame looked poised to pull away with a 28-14 lead.
Hurst responded with a four-yard touchdown pass to Grant Regal. Brown ran 10 yards for a touchdown and a 34-21 Notre Dame lead. Hurst, who fired a 40-yard touchdown pass to Otis Boultinghouse, returned.
“We knew it was going to be easy,” Brown said. “They throw a punch and we punch back.”
In defeat, Laguna Beach made it clear that they will be a team to reckon with next season. Two freshmen, lineman Luke Bogdan and running back Charlie Christian, continued to make plays like they would be future stars. The receiving group made up mostly of juniors continued to catch Hurst, who finished the season with 45 touchdown passes. The Breakers had two fumbles and an interception.
“It was a fun game,” Washington said. “They are tough and play hard.”
A mistake by Brown late in the first half helped Laguna Beach get back into the game. Brown had a pass intercepted by Will Kimball with 1:01 remaining in a struggle with Notre Dame leading 21-7. Hurst led the team to score on a four-yard reception by Kimball with four seconds left in the first half to make it 21-14 at halftime.
Two touchdown runs by Washington and a 25-yard touchdown reception by Luke Weaver accounted for the first half scores for the Knights.
Notre Dame’s Tahj Skinner had his sixth interception of the season. Notre Dame will lose its standout nose tackle, Chris Colon, for next week’s game after being ejected for two personal foul penalties from 15 yards out.