HUNTINGTON BEACH – The next time they play each other, it will be very different.
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San Clemente defeated San Juan Hills, 35-7, on Saturday in the championship game of the top division of the Seahawk Shootout 7-on-7 passing tournament at Ocean View High.
They will play again on Oct. 23, the final Friday night of the 2026 regular season, in an Alpha League game.
San Clemente went 5-0 in the team of 32 teams that were placed into eight four-team divisions. The Tritons beat Warren, Cerritos and Aliso Niguel in the tournament’s “Beach” pool. Like other teams that went 3-0 in their divisions, San Clemente was placed in the highest of four divisional brackets, the Open Division, and there the Tritons beat Torrance and Northview before the division final against San Juan Hills.
Tritons quarterback Preston Beck, who will be a junior this coming school year, was sharp. San Clemente coach Jaime Ortiz praised Beck and the rest of the San Clemente players.
“I thought our kids performed well,” he said. “Offensively they’re on track and enjoying the game and defensively we made some good plays.”
The San Clemente-San Juan Hills championship game had an extra dash of spice to it because both teams’ rosters have players who played at San Clemente and now are at San Juan Hills and vice versa.
One of them is San Clemente senior receiver Ryan Matheson who was San Juan Hills’ leading receiver last season.
The Alpha League was a four-team league last year. Coming into the league this year are San Juan Hills and Yorba Linda. The remaining four are Edison, Los Alamitos, Mission Viejo and San Clemente.
Ortiz cautioned against making too much of Saturday’s results.
“When we put the pads on it’s going to be a whole different story,” Ortiz said.
Beck agreed.
“It’s really going to change when we get pads on,” Beck said. “We’ll get our offensive line and defensive together and try to keep it going.”
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NOTES
San Clemente was among the teams that had a drone hovering over the fields to shoot video of tournament games. “I knew we were ahead of the game when Oregon came to one of our practices and asked us ‘what are you doing with that?’” Ortiz said. “For Oregon, which is always on the cutting edge of everything, that was funny for them to say that it was a great idea.” …
El Toro beat Aliso Niguel in the Gold Division championship game, 22-7. The Gold Division was the third of the tournament’s four divisions. …
El Toro coach Peter Lofthouse was especially pleased with the play of quarterback Jackson Algaze who transferred from Crean Lutheran. Algaze will be a sophomore this coming school year. “Offensively he had a really good day, took care of the football, didn’t turn if over, and made some really nice passes,” Lofthouse said. …
Foothill advanced to the championship game of the Grey Division in which the Knights lost to Warren, 21-14. Cerritos beat Downey in the Cardinal Division final, 36-29. …
Huntington Beach All-Orange County senior quarterback Brady Edmunds, who committed to Ohio State, said a 7-on-7 tournament is most beneficial to any team’s younger players. “I’ve played 40-some high school games so far and a bajillion 7-on-7 games,” Edmunds said. “So from that aspect there’s not a ton I can get out of it but for our younger guys, guys who don’t have a lot of varsity experience, it’s helpful to get them comfortable.”
Cypress sophomore receiver Ian Do had two touchdown catches in the Centurions’ 21-14 win over El Toro in pool play. Do had 20 receptions in seven games last season. …
Braden Welch had a win-clinching interception for San Juan Hills in the Stallions’ 27-22 Open Division bracket win over Cypress. …
Aliso Niguel coach Fred Gambrell on Saturday saw continued improvement by the Wolverines. “They’ve been stepping it up throughout the summer offensively and defensively,” Gambrell said. Among the standout Wolverines on Saturday was junior receiver/cornerback Brandon Levine.
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