NEWPORT BEACH — The Corona del Mar football team rallied late, but suffered its first loss of the season, 14-11, against Palos Verdes Thursday at Newport Harbor High.

The Sea Kings trailed 14-3 in the final five minutes of the game. Quarterback Kaleb Annett engineered a scoring drive that was capped by his 9-yard touchdown pass to Zach Giuliano. Annett connected with Russell Weir for the 2-point conversion to make the score 14-11.

Corona del Mar (2-1) recovered an onside kick with 2:02 left in the game, but Annett was sacked on fourth down to finish the game.

“To have an opportunity at the end with the way we played all night, we can’t ask for more than that,” Corona del Mar coach Kevin Hettig said. “We were physically getting banged up a bit.”

“It was a physical battle for us today and we responded late but couldn’t get it going early,” Annett said. “I liked the way our boys battled today and I can’t wait to get to next week.”

Annett, a Boise State commit completed 22 of 40 passes for 202 yards with a touchdown. At one point in the fourth quarter, he was also the team’s leading rusher but was sacked five times.

Corona del Mar had offensive line injuries entering the game and also had a lineman go down with an injury in the fourth quarter, which resulted in Annett constantly being under pressure.

“He’s a tough kid and he had opportunities to get down on himself, but he comes back to the sideline with his head up,” Hettig said of Annett. “He’s in a good space.”

Weir led Corona del Mar in receiving with 94 yards on nine receptions. The Sea Kings had just 21 yards rushing.

Palos Verdes (3-0) opened the game with an 18-play scoring drive that lasted over 11 minutes. Running back Eric Mulkey had 15 carries for 66 yards on the opening drive which included a 6-yard touchdown run to put Palos Verdes ahead 7-0.

“When they take 11 minutes off in the first quarter and you get the ball once for two plays it definitely had a different flow than a normal game,” Annett said.

Mulkey finished the game with 91 yards on 25 carries. Palos Verdes ran the ball 36 times and attempted only eight passes.

Colin Pene made a 24-yard field goal for Corona del Mar late in the second quarter to cut the Palos Verdes lead to 7-3 at halftime.

After a stagnant third quarter, Palos Verdes running back Hobbs Brannan broke free for a 51-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter to increase the lead to 14-3.

De’von Short had an interception for the Corona del Mar defense in the first half and Breck Clemmer recovered a fumble on a muffed punt.

Corona del Mar had won five consecutive games against Palos Verdes entering Thursday.

The Sea Kings will travel to play San Clemente on Friday, Sept. 8.

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