Dozen earn all-league

Mitchell McMullen, a junior at Laguna Beach High, has been named Lineman of the Year on the 2008 All-Orange Coast League football team.

McMullen leads a Laguna contingent of 12 players who made the all-league team and was one of four players to nab one of the league’s top honors.

Laguna Coach Jonathan Todd said that McMullen, a two-way lineman, led the league in total sacks with six.

“He was just a dominant player,” Todd said. “The thing about Mitchell is that he worked so hard during the off-season.”

In addition to McMullen, league champion Costa Mesa had seniors Antwon Byrd and Brian Waldron named offensive and defensive MVP, respectively, and junior Louis Gomez named special teams player of the year.

Laguna players named to the first team were seniors Zach Smith (running back/linebacker), Nate Wilson (receiver/linebacker), Jeremy Kaplan (running back/linebacker) and Luis Ocampo (lineman) and sophomores Austin Paxson (quarterback/defensive back) and Chris Paul (receiver/defensive back). Breakers named to the second team were seniors John Snedegar (running back/linebacker), Jack Monroe (receiver/defensive back) and Andrew Paddon (defensive back/kick returns) and juniors Ethan Quirarte (receiver/linebacker), Alec Jaffe (running back/linebacker) and Chris Hilleman (lineman).

“I’m happy with who made all-league from our team,” Laguna Coach Jonathan Todd said. “All these guys played extremely well. I think it’s great that Jack Monroe made all-league. What people don’t realize is that he hadn’t played football before this year.

“The good news for us is that we had five underclassmen made all-league and that bodes well for the future.”

During the season, Paxson set a school record with four touchdown passes and Paul did the same with four TD receptions in a CIF victory over Santa Ana in November. Paul also tied former Breaker Donelle Darling (2001) for most touchdowns in a game, five, which he totaled in the win over Santa Ana. He also tied Darling for most points scored in a game (30).