April 26, 2024

OC Sports Zone: Community First

CdM’s dynamic passing game on full display during Battle at the Bay Tourney

CdM Coach Dan O’Shea talks to his players after Friday’s tournament. (Photo: OC Sports Zone, Tim Burt).

Corona del Mar High School’s football team showcased its dynamic passing game led by senior quarterback David Rasor Friday in the inaugural Battle at the Bay at CdM.

The Sea Kings defeated Cypress defeated 30-14 in the championship game of the 7-on-7 passing tournament which included eight Orange County teams. CdM also won the tournament at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo last weekend.

Rasor and CdM’s other quarterback Kaleb Annett hooked up with senior tight end Cooper Hoch for touichdown passes on their way to four victories in the event.

“I couldn’t be happier with them,” said CdM Coach Dan O’Shea. “They were doing such a good job of making decisions and delivering the ball to the proper receiver, so it’s not just dropping back and chucking it, it’s about delivering the ball consistently to the right receiver in the scheme.

“I’m so proud of them, and even more so, they’re two talented quarterbacks and they’re great friends. It’s so cool they’re doing it together and there are no egos involved and that’s what we try to preach at Corona del Mar football, we build men, we don’t build football players.”

CdM, now 10-1 in the spring, had its undefeated string snapped when it lost to La Habra 29-28 Friday.

“The biggest challenges for us today was seeing La Habra’s speed and that’s a good thing, I thought La Habra offensively has some incredible speed guys and they challenged us in the secondary. It was really good for us to see that type of speed,” O’Shea said.

“The turning point for us was against Cypress, the first time we played them, we’re down and we have to score and we have fourth down on the 7-yard line. We have to convert to win to beat them and stay in the championship bracket and Rasor delivers the touchdown pass and we got the 2-point conversion that allowed us to get in the bracket play.”

O’Shea was thrilled to see Rasor and Hoch connect on touchdowns Friday and has been impressed with the development of the 6-3 Hoch, who he said is attacting interest from Pac 12 and Mountain West teams.

“They’ve been playing together since eighth grade and you can see the connection and they have a good relationship and Cooper, when he came in as a freshman, was 5-7, 135 pounds and he hadn’t learned how to be a receiver to get open, but he was the best freshman receiver. He was the best sophomore receiver, junior year, he was the best junior and caught 40 some balls, which is excellent, but now he’s bigger, he’s faster and stronger and he is a handful at wide receiver.”

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–Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com