Sea Kings

IRVINE - You have to go all the way back 22 years for the last time Corona del Mar High stood at 6-1. That same year, in the following football game, the Sea Kings lost. The Sea Kings almost experienced the same fate Thursday night. They didn't let history repeat itself. Oh, did they come close to getting upset. The top-ranked team in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division survived, coming from behind to beat Woodbridge, 31-30, and remain undefeated in Pacific Coast League play.

Corona del Mar High boys' water polo coach Barry O'Dea said senior Ben Zepfel can be laid back sometimes. Zepfel is more of the lead-by-example type. He's the guy who shows up and plays within the flow of the offense, then you look at the stat sheet and somehow the two-meter man has already scored five goals. Outside of the water, O'Dea said Zepfel has learned to speak up more. "When he does talk, people listen," O'Dea said. And when he stares down the goalie, people notice.

Exactly a week ago, Coach Steve Conti knew the Corona del Mar High boys' volleyball team earned two more guaranteed matches. One was in the CIF Southern Section Division II title match and the other in the opening round of the CIF Southern California Regional Division II playoffs. The second match caused Conti to worry. He did not want his Sea Kings to take Saturday's section final against defending champion Laguna Beach lightly. "They knew we had an opportunity to maybe compete against Mater Dei and Santa Margarita [in the regional playoffs]

NEWPORT BEACH — The first 33 minutes of Corona del Mar High's Pacific Coast League opener looked gloomy. A player with the last name "Gray" almost got the Sea Kings out of the dark. Brent Gray caught only five passes, but he made three of them account for huge touchdowns against Northwood Thursday night. Gray's 27-yard touchdown grab midway through the fourth quarter gave the Sea Kings their first lead of the game. The lead did not hold up as CdM and Northwood finished in a 29-29 tie at Newport Harbor High.

IRVINE - In December, the Corona del Mar High boys' soccer team agreed the New Year would be the start of its season. Forget that last month the Sea Kings played eight matches. During the stretch, CdM produced little success, just one win. In seven of those contests, the Sea Kings led. The first chance in their new season, the Sea Kings jumped out to a lead and kept it. The matches from now on are vital to CdM, which opened Pacific Coast League play with a 5-1 road victory against Northwood on Wednesday.

CORONA DEL MAR — The referee on the floor said he knew who was going to win the Corona del Mar-Laguna Beach high school rivalry match. Before the girls' volleyball match went to a decisive fifth set, the referee said the side that received at the start went on to win the first four sets. He did not understand why CdM chose to serve in the final set. He forgot about the Sea Kings' home-court edge Tuesday night. After losing the previous set pretty badly, the Sea Kings forgot all about it and regrouped.

CORONA DEL MAR - G.W. Mix has coached lacrosse on every level, enjoying much of what the sport has to offer. What he ended up doing Tuesday was a first. Sometimes opposing coaches ask Mix, one of the best coaches in the business, to talk to their teams. That never happens after Mix leads his team to a win. Mix said he felt inclined to talk to the opposing team afterward. That team almost ended the perfect season Mix and his Sea Kings had achieved. The top-seeded Sea Kings survived a scare from No. 16 Servite, holding on for a 13-10 victory at home in the opening round of the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section South Division Championship tournament.

VALLEY GLEN — The bus ride to Los Angeles Valley College is getting pretty familiar for Corona del Mar High tennis coach Brian Ricker. Ricker traveled there twice during the girls' season last fall, only to have his Sea Kings lose to eventual CIF Southern Section Division I champion Campbell Hall of North Hollywood. The second time it was a season-ending loss in a Division I semifinal match. On Tuesday afternoon the CdM boys played a different opponent in a different playoff round.

NEWPORT BEACH - Nobody needs extra motivation before the Battle of the Bay girls' volleyball match. But when Newport Harbor High ran onto its home court Saturday night in blue T-shirts that said "We run this town" in white letters, rival Corona del Mar definitely noticed. "We don't look at their shirts like, 'Oh, they think they're going to beat us,'" CdM senior libero Mary McKennon said. "We look at their shirts like they want to fight us. It's going to be a big battle no matter what … [but]

Morgan Boukather was so ready for the Battle of the Bay. Corona del Mar High hadn't beaten Newport Harbor in the annual rivalry match since 2004, when the current seniors were still just sixth graders. But the Sea Kings have a strong senior class this year. And Boukather wasn't going to let the pneumonia she'd been battling throughout the week get in the way of beating rival Newport Harbor. She had 11 kills as CdM stunned the Sailors in three sets, 25-21, 25-23, 26-24 on Nov. 5. Two days earlier, she hadn't practiced.