Notre Dame beats Laguna Beach in Division 3 playoff opener

For its Southern Section Division 3 football playoff opener Friday night against Laguna Beach, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame brought in a “ringer” assistant coach this week to make its running backs a little tougher.

Former UCLA coach DeShaun Foster came to offer lessons, including to his second stepson, Noel Washington.

“He helped a lot,” Washington said. “Having him here means a lot. He made us practice a lot harder.”

And what was the impact? Washington had touchdown runs of 35, two and 32 yards to help Notre Dame (6-5) earn a 44-28 victory and advance to a home game next week against Chino Hills. He finished with 83 yards on 11 carries.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame safety Tahj Skinner is happy after getting his sixth interception of the season.

(Craig Weston)

Junior quarterback Jack Hurst of Laguna Beach and senior quarterback Wyatt Brown of West Virginia-bound Notre Dame continued to play through the night. Hurst completed 32 of 51 passes for 417 yards and four touchdowns. Brown completed 16 of 31 passes for 232 yards and a touchdown. He ran for 61 yards and a touchdown.

Brown’s biggest completion came with 7:38 left in third-and-17 with Notre Dame clinging to a 34-28 lead. He found sophomore Emmanuel Pullins for a 19-yard run. Then, Pullins had a 31-yard catch. He set up a 21-yard field goal by Nico Marliani for a 37-28 lead with 2:22 left.

“Huge,” Notre Dame coach Evan Yabu said of the third-down reception.

“I just saw him one-on-one without any security coverage,” Brown said.

Pullins said: “I’m ready for those situations. Before the game, I promised myself I’d go get the ball.”

It became a wild game in the second half as Laguna Beach (9-2) refused to go down without a fight. After Andre Gamboa recovered a fumble on a high Laguna Beach throw for a touchdown to start the third quarter, Notre Dame looked poised to escape 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. Returning was Hurst, who threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Otis Boultinghouse.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Brown said. “They punch back, we punch back.”

In the loss, Laguna Beach made it clear that this is going to be a team to be reckoned with next season. Two freshmen, lineman Luke Bogdan and running back Charlie Christian, continued to play like they would be future stars. The mostly junior receiving group continued to catch Hurst, who finished the season with 45 touchdown passes. The Breakers were hurt by two fumbles and an interception.

“It was a fun game,” Washington said. “They are tough and play hard.”

An error 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 left in a scrimmage with Notre Dame leading 21-7. Hurst led the team to score on a four-yard touchdown run by Kimball with four seconds left to make it 21-14 at halftime.

Two Washington touchdowns and a 25-yard Luc Weaver touchdown drive drove the Knights’ first-half scores.

Notre Dame’s Tahj Skinner threw his sixth interception of the season. Notre Dame lost its standout nose tackle, Chris Colon, for next week’s game after he was ejected for two 15-yard personal foul penalties.