For its Southern Section Division 3 football playoff opener on Friday night against Laguna Beach, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame brought in a “ringer” assistant coach this week to get its running backs a little tougher.
Former UCLA coach DeShaun Foster dropped by to offer lessons, particularly to his sophomore stepson, Noel Washington.
“He helped a lot,” Washington said. “Having him here means a lot. He’s been making 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) come away with a 44-28 victory and advance to a home game next week against Chino Hills. He finished with 83 yards in 11 carries.
Safety Tahj Skinner of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame is happy after getting his sixth interception of the season.
(Craig Weston)
Junior quarterback Jack Hurst of Laguna Beach and West Virginia-bound senior quarterback Wyatt Brown of Notre Dame kept making plays all night. Hurst completed 32 of 51 passes for 417 yards and four touchdowns. Brown completed 17 of 22 passes for 229 yards and one touchdown. He ran for 58 yards and one touchdown.
The most important completion for Brown came with 7:38 left on third and 17 with Notre Dame clinging to a 34-28 lead. He found sophomore Emmanuel Pullins for a 19-yard completion. Then Pullins made a 31-yard catch. It 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 with no safety coverage,” Brown said.
Said Pullins: “I’m ready for those situations. Before the game, I promised myself to go for the ball.”
It became a wild game in the second half because Laguna Beach (9-2) refused to go down without a fight. After Andre Gamboa picked up a fumble on a high Laguna Beach snap to score a touchdown to start the third quarter, Notre Dame looked ready to pull away 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. Back came Hurst, who fired a 40-yard touchdown pass to Otis Boultinghouse.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Brown said. “They throw a punch, we throw a punch back.”
In defeat, Laguna Beach made clear it will be a team to reckon with next season. Two freshmen, lineman Luke Bogdan and running back/linebacker Charlie Christian, kept making plays like they will be future stars. The receiving corps made up mostly of juniors kept making catches for 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.”
A mistake 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 on a scramble with Notre Dame leading 21-7. Hurst drove the team down to score on a four-yard touchdown reception by Kimball with four seconds left to make it 21-14 at halftime.
Two touchdown runs by Washington and a 25-yard touchdown reception by Luc Weaver accounted for the Knights’ first-half scores.
Tahj Skinner of Notre Dame picked up his sixth interception of the season. Notre Dame lost its standout nose tackle, Chris Colon, for next week’s game after being ejected for two 15-yard personal foul penalties.
6-5, 305-pound Samson Fatu at peace with his head phones on taking a nap at the Notre Dame High 50-yard line. It’s like a business class seat. pic.twitter.com/wJn9zHM51Z
— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) November 8, 2025
Four unbeaten teams — Crespi, Westlake, Torrance and Rowland — were beaten in their Southern Section first-round playoff games on Friday night.
No. 1 seeds losing were Torrance in Division 5, Crespi in Division 6, Silverado in Division 9, Village Christian in Division 10 and St. Anthony in Division 11.
Upsets in the City Section included No. 13 Van Nuys knocking off No. 4 Banning in Division I; No. 11 Dorsey defeating No. 6 El Camino Real in Division I; No. 14 Chatsworth beating No. 3 Roosevelt in Division II.