Orange County girls flag football: Huntington Beach takes No. 2 in rankings

• September 29, 2026

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

The Orange County girls flag football rankings as of Monday, Sept. 28

GIRLS FLAG FOOTBALL TOP 10

(Records through Sept. 27.)

School, record, previous rank

1. JSerra 19-0 (1): The Lions play host to Santa Margarita and Sierra Canyon on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively. The Lions’ Tessa Russell enters the week with 142 receptions for 1,843 yards and 22 TDs. The sophomore has 10 interceptions on defense.

2. Huntington Beach 18-3 (4): The Oilers defeated Downey 14-7 in the finals of the Kelly Reid tournament on Saturday. Huntington Beach leads the Sunset League with a 7-1 record. Quarterback Roxie Shaia enters the week with 4,787 yards passing and 63 TDs.

3. Orange Lutheran 15-2 (2): The Lancers play host to No. 10 Mater Dei in the Trinity League on Tuesday. The Lancers’ Ava Harrison has 112 catches for 1,189 and 20 TDs.

4. Newport Harbor 15-4 (3): The Sailors lost to Edison last week to fall into a three-way tie for second place in the Sunset League. Newport Harbor freshman Jordan Sanders has 15 sacks.

5. Woodbridge 17-4 (5): The Warriors defeated host University 53-16 in the Pacific Coast League on Monday to notch their 10th consecutive win.

6. Corona del Mar 12-5 (6): The Sea Kings are tied with Newport Harbor and Edison for second place in the Sunset League with a 5-2 record. Corona del Mar freshman Charlotte Ring has emerged a standout quarterback.

7. Edison 16-5 (not ranked): The Chargers carry a season-high nine game winning streak into a game at Los Alamitos on Monday night. Edison has posted five shutouts in the stretch, including 6-0 against Newport Harbor last week. Chargers’ Addie Bond had six flag pulls and a sack in the victory.

8. Trabuco Hills 9-5 (8): The Mustangs lead the South Coast League with a 3-1 record entering a game against visiting Aliso Niguel on Tuesday.

9. Beckman 15-6 (9): The Patriots play a critical South Coast League game at El Toro on Monday. Beckman is in rally mode with a 1-2 record. Marina Babayani passed for 327 yards and five TDs in a 32-27 victory at previously-undefeated Mission Viejo last week.

10. Mater Dei 13-5 (not ranked): The Monarchs lost to Huntington Beach 26-20 in the semifinals of the Kelly Reid tournament.

Also considered: Mission Viejo 13-2.

​ Orange County Register 

MLB considers Grand Teton National Park for baseball game site, prompting concern

• September 29, 2026

By RONALD BLUM

Major League Baseball has reached out to the federal government about the possibility of one day staging a game in western Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, an idea quickly met with resistance from environmental groups and others.

MLB and the players’ association have played a handful of regular-season games away from the 30 big league ballparks in recent years, including in the Iowa corn fields made famous by the movie “Field of Dreams.”

An MLB official familiar with the discussions confirmed Monday that the league approached the Trump administration about possibly hosting a game in a national park. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the league hadn’t authorized comment on the matter and said it was among several ideas MLB has explored.

A White House official said MLB asked the administration whether hosting a game at a national park would be possible but emphasized it was not a presidential directive and was not driven by the administration. The National Park Service has not granted any permits, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no authorization to speak on the record.

MLB’s special event games have included games at Dyersville, Iowa, in 2021, 2022 and 2026, with another scheduled next August between Boston and Kansas City.

In addition, regular-season games were played at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, in 2024 and at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee, in 2025, and games have been held since 2017 in conjunction with the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

MLB also has played international games in London; Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico; Seoul, South Korea; Sydney; and Tokyo; plus some in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Grand Teton includes a commercial airport — the busiest in Wyoming — and a vast expanse of Jackson Hole bottomlands with spectacular views of the Teton Range. There is no shortage of flat terrain where a temporary ballpark could be built.

The possibility of building a baseball field on national park land quickly raised a host of questions.

“It’s abhorrent,” Mike Gierau, a Democratic state senator and baseball lover who represents Jackson and nearby Grand Teton, wrote in a text message. “Baseball is the American game. The national parks are America’s greatest idea. But a national park is to be protected for its undeveloped and scenic values.”

Environmental groups also came out against the idea, first reported by The Washington Post.

“Americans want to see protections for our national parks and public lands strengthened. Bulldozing these lands for a baseball stadium does the opposite, destroying the magnificent landscapes that millions of people come to experience,” Chris Kassar, the group’s Wyoming director, said in a statement.

A message left with Grand Teton officials seeking more information wasn’t immediately returned.

​ Orange County Register 

Chargers review: Are they cooked after falling to 0-3 to start 2026?

• September 29, 2026

Now what? What do the Chargers do now after losing three consecutive games to start the season? More to the point, how do they inject life into their offense, which has failed miserably to do what it was supposed to do when Mike McDaniel was teamed with Justin Herbert?

Nothing has clicked so far, during losses to the Arizona Cardinals, Las Vegas Raiders and Buffalo Bills. Nothing has been as smooth and exciting as advertised when McDaniel was hired to replace Greg Roman as offensive coordinator in January. Herbert looks lost, defeated even, after three losses.

The ground game, so central to Jim Harbaugh’s game plan, has had its moments, but it’s no bargain either. Omarion Hampton has been the bruising inside runner and Keaton Mitchell has played the role of the speedy outside runner, but neither has exactly punished opponents.

Here’s what we learned, what we heard and what comes next for the Chargers, which is more or less what we learned, what we heard and what comes next after the losses to the Cardinals and Raiders and didn’t do much to change anyone’s outside view of their play:

DOWN AND OUT

McDaniel wasn’t available for comment after the Chargers’ 24-16 loss to the Bills on Sunday, but he’s scheduled to speak to reporters on Thursday. Herbert looked as if he needed a hug after throwing a key interception in the fourth quarter. Harbaugh had the appearance of a beaten man, too.

“Keep swinging,” was Harbaugh’s message to the team after the game, according to several players. The trouble is the Chargers keep swinging but missing, looking for all the world like a Little League batter who has no clue what’s coming next from Shohei Ohtani (when healthy).

“The guys are trying as hard as they can out there,” said Herbert, whose ill-advised pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling near the goal line in the fourth quarter was intercepted by C.J. Gardner-Johnson. “We just have to try harder. We’ve got to find ways to make those plays and settle down and not have this.”

Harbaugh has always looked glum after losses during his Chargers tenure, but he wasn’t anywhere near as defiant Sunday as he usually is after a loss. He played the game. He coached the game. He’s been successful in the NFL and in college. He knows good football from bad.

This is bad football.

Poor decisions. Bad mistakes.

Poor decisions and bad mistakes at inopportune moments.

Harbaugh discounted any thoughts of making radical offensive changes before the Chargers face the Super Bowl champion Seahawks on Sunday in Seattle. No one asked directly if he considered taking away McDaniel’s play-calling duties for Week 4, but the implication was clear.

“No,” Harbaugh said after falling to 0-3 for the first time in his NFL coaching career. “I believe in our guys. I believe in our coaches. I believe across the board. We have not been good enough yet. I’m not singling anyone out. We win these games as a team. We lose these games as a team.”

WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR?

The Chargers have 14 games remaining, so anything is possible. They could even get it together and challenge for a playoff spot, however unlikely that might seem. More realistically, they’re in deep trouble. Only two teams in this century have rallied from an 0-3 start to make the playoffs. So, the short answer is, yes.

What can be accomplished over the final games of the season remains to be determined.

The Chargers can still make something of the season, but will they?

WHAT COMES NEXT?

The Chargers face the Seahawks on Sunday in Seattle. It would have been a tall over under any circumstances, given that the Seahawks are the Super Bowl champs, but it’s been all the more difficult by the Chargers’ poor offense and lack of quality play when games are up for grabs.

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County girls volleyball Top 10, Sept. 28

• September 28, 2026

The Orange County girls volleyball rankings as of Monday, Sept. 28:

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL TOP 10 

(Records through Sunday, Sept. 27)

School, record, previous rank 

1. Mater Dei 24-0 (1): The Monarchs remained undefeated by beating Orange Lutheran in four sets in the Trinity League opener.

2. Santa Margarita 12-8 (2): The Eagles are 2-0 in the Trinity League after last week’s sweep of JSerra and four-set victory over Orange Lutheran.

3. Los Alamitos 21-5 (3): The Griffins take an 8-0 Sunset League record into this week’s league matches against Edison and Newport Harbor.

4. Newport Harbor 24-5 (4): The Sailors beat Edison in four sets in a Sunset League match last week. They will be at home against league-leading Los Alamitos on Wednesday.

5. Crean Lutheran 20-4 (5): The Saints are 4-0 in the Crestview League after sweeps of Cypress and Sunny Hills last week.

6. San Juan Hills 13-12 (7): The Stallions won the championship of the Freeway Games Invitational tournament in the Inland Empire.

7. JSerra 9-13 (6): The Lions went 2-2 in the Freeway Games Invitational tournament in the Inland Empire. They are 0-1 in the Trinity League going into this week.

8. Orange Lutheran 23-5 (8): The Lancers have lost three in a row, but all to outstanding teams. They lost to Mater Dei and Santa Margarita in four sets in Trinity League matches and lost to Sierra Canyon.

9.  Huntington Beach 19-10 (not ranked): The Oilers are 4-4 in the Sunset League. Last week they were swept by league-leading Los Alamitos and beat Corona del Mar in five sets. Against Corona del Mar, Huntington Beach lost two of the first three sets, won the fourth and prevailed, 15-12, in the fifth set.

10. Aliso Niguel 12-10 (not ranked): The Wolverines are in first place in the South Coast League with a 3-1 league record that includes a five-set win over San Juan Hills.

Also considered: Beckman, Corona del Mar, Cypress, Edison, San Clemente, St. Margaret’s.

​ Orange County Register 

After a chaotic weekend in the Trump-media standoff, it’s now a wait-and-see game for networks

• September 28, 2026

By JOCELYN NOVECK, AP National Writer

Is the standoff over between the White House and the nation’s main broadcast networks? Not exactly.

Are we back to Square One? Also not exactly.

One week after three news outlets filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and his abrupt ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists from White House grounds, the extraordinary First Amendment showdown has morphed into a wait-and-see game. For now, the players are the White House and, collectively, the five major networks that form the TV pool: CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News.

And things have gotten murky.

Over the weekend, Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the decision to keep CNN off Air Force One on Saturday as the president traveled to a college football game in Tennessee, despite the fact that it was CNN’s turn to provide pool coverage of Trump. The rest of the pool declined to provide a replacement, in solidarity with CNN.

“The president has every right to decide who gets to fly on his plane,” Blanche said in an interview Sunday with ABC. He said Trump was “sick and tired of certain media outlets just refusing to report accurate news.” And he added that news coverage he described as “misinformation” amounted to a national security issue.

“That is what is a national security problem, when you have complete misinformation coming out of the White House,” he said.

A federal judge threw cold water on the national security argument in his ruling last week granting a temporary restraining order against the White House ban. “The Court is skeptical … that Defendants’ interest in safeguarding national security is the actual motivation” for removal of access, Judge Timothy Kelly wrote.

But the ruling did not directly address the TV pool rotation, even though the news outlets’ lead attorney, Theodore Boutrous Jr., has said he believes the ruling applies to pool access.

And now pool access has become the battleground, with networks facing tough choices as the standoff persists with a president who, in his second term, has become increasingly willing to go to extreme lengths — in the courts, in the regulatory system and in his public statements — to quash coverage that he doesn’t like.

For now, a decision to act on a case-by-case basis

At one point on Friday, it seemed everything was more or less settled. CNN, which had been blocked from its pool duties by Trump’s ban — prompting the other networks to refrain from their own pool coverage in solidarity — was back in. The network fulfilled its pool duty at a visit by Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the National Archives. For the first time in days, CNN aired live footage of the president.

But then came CNN’s Air Force One setback on Saturday.

For now, networks in the pool have decided to address the ongoing standoff on a case-by-case basis, according to a person familiar with the pool’s operation, speaking on condition of anonymity to give details of ongoing discussions.

On Sunday, Fox covered a pool event; on Monday, NBC was covering the president in the Oval Office. CNN is not in the rotation until at least Thursday. If CNN is again barred from a pool event, the networks will decide together, presumably based on the newsworthiness of the situation, whether to provide a replacement or to refrain from coverage as they did previously.

Networks are ‘between a rock and a hard place’

The issues at stake are difficult. On the one hand, the networks want to take a stand on behalf of press freedom and against efforts to intimidate coverage. On the other, media outlets have an obvious purpose of providing news to their audiences.

“There are not a lot of good options,” said David A. Schulz, director of the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic at Yale Law School.

Should the White House continue to bar CNN, Schulz said, networks may choose to litigate, or to “exert their market power and say, ‘We’re not going to play ball with you.’”

The question, Schulz added, is: “Who’s going to back down first?”

The networks “may well feel like they’re between a rock and a hard place,” noted RonNell Andersen Jones, a law professor at the University of Utah.

“Capitulation might be perceived as abandonment of core components of press freedom,” Andersen Jones said. “But the practicalities of lengthy White House news blackouts are also complicated, and refusing to cover major news at the highest levels of government might itself feel like a failure to serve the goals of democracy.”

From Blanche’s weekend comments, it did not seem likely the White House was softening its stance.

“When it comes to the White House, it is the people’s house,” Blanche said, returning to an argument the administration has made since the beginning.

“It is a privilege, and not a right, to be there.”

​ Orange County Register 

Taxpayers have funded nearly $1.5M in pro-Trump ads. Criticism is mounting, including from the GOP

• September 28, 2026

By ALI SWENSON

The White House has spent days fiercely defending three taxpayer-funded advertisements that glorify President Donald Trump and are nearing at least $1.5 million in public spending, calling them public service announcements like those used in past administrations.

“Don’t let the Fake News get away with their lies about our epic Public Service Announcements that have been running on tv,” White House communications director Steven Cheung posted on X on Sunday.

But the Republican administration’s ads attracted mounting criticism on Monday, including from members of Trump’s own party.

“It shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters.

“It would not have been something that I would have done. And I know that the White House is not covered by the same guidance that we are, but it’s not something that I would have done,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, another South Dakota Republican.

Multiple legal experts consulted by The Associated Press said the ads appear to run afoul of federal statutes, including a law against congressionally appropriated funds being used for “publicity or propaganda” and a law that limits the partisan political activities of government employees.

They said the new ads, which are airing on network and cable TV and streaming, differ from other administrations’ PSAs because they aren’t designed to help Americans access any specific program.

“You watch all three ads, they’re sheer propaganda,” said Richard Painter, a former White House ethics czar under Republican President George W. Bush. “This is increasingly looking like what authoritarian governments do to promote their leaders.”

The heightened scrutiny comes as the Trump administration has increased spending on the ads and bought time on popular TV shows, including college football and National Football League programming. It remains unclear which part of the government is supplying the funds.

With both chambers of Congress led by Republicans, any oversight would likely have to come from Trump’s allies, decreasing the likelihood of hearings or other accountability efforts before November’s midterm elections.

Three ads have aired in less than a week, totaling well over $1M

The first ad in the campaign, which began airing last Wednesday, features clips of Trump talking about defeating communism interspersed with onscreen text promoting the “largest tax cuts in history,” “reigniting American manufacturing” and a call to “defend law and order and police.”

Later in the week, a second ad began running, showing scenic videos of Mount Rushmore at night with quotes and clips from Trump’s Fourth of July weekend speech there honoring the country’s 250th anniversary.

The latest of the ads, a spot first aired over the weekend, is virtually identical to an ad for Trump’s Republican reelection campaign in 2024. It shows him walking down a hallway as his voice can be heard warning of a “final battle” against “globalists” and “warmongers.”

All three ads end with a message that says: “Paid for by the U.S. Government.” The White House hasn’t responded to inquiries about which part of the government is paying.

According to AdImpact, which tracks media spending, the spots have so far cost more than $1.4 million and run across a wide range of TV networks around the country. The actual amount spent could be significantly more, depending on whether networks classified the ad as a political ad.

The ads are different from past PSAs, experts say

In defending the campaign, the White House published a list of PSAs from recent Democratic and Republican administrations.

Among the examples it cited were Bush’s Republican administration touting a Medicare law, Barack Obama’s Democratic administration promoting Affordable Care Act subsidies and Joe Biden’s Democratic administration running ads promoting COVID-19 vaccinations.

“The announcements are very clearly not campaign ads; President Trump is not on the ballot and there is no call to action,” the White House wrote. “Instead, the announcements are a reminder for Americans to love their country and know why it’s worth defending — at home, at the border, and abroad.”

Kathleen Clark, a legal ethics professor at Washington University in St. Louis, said in her view the new ads differ from the examples the White House provided because they aren’t aimed at helping members of the public benefit from specific government programs.

“These ads are nothing more than government propaganda, aimed at helping Trump,” she said.

Painter, who joined the Bush administration after the Medicare PSAs went out, said that ad campaign toed the line on appropriateness because it included misleading information about Medicare Part D. But he said Trump’s campaign is a far more egregious violation of the statute that blocks congressionally appropriated money from being spent on publicity or propaganda.

“There’s nothing in here about a particular policy that’s at all focused,” Painter said of Trump’s ads. “One of them is just about the evils of the deep state. Another one of them is about communists and Marxists.”

In its support for the ads, the White House also referenced the administrations of President Woodrow Wilson and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, both of whom used posters, radio and film to rally the country during World Wars I and II.

James Kimble, a communication professor at Seton Hall University who studies domestic propaganda, said it’s true that Wilson’s Democratic administration used propaganda to rally Americans. But he said most Americans no longer view its actions in a positive light.

“By almost any objective measure, looking back, we find what they did pretty repulsive,” he said.

Skepticism of the campaign grows on the Hill

Top Democrats on the Senate and House appropriations committees last week wrote to the White House demanding the ads be taken down and requesting more information on how much money was spent to create and air them.

In the days since, more than a dozen Democrats and a handful of Republicans have spoken up to further criticize the ads. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the latest ad “an absolute violation of what a democracy is supposed to look like.”

“Americans sat down to watch football, not to be force-fed Trump’s propaganda on their own dime,” he said in a Senate floor speech Monday.

Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday that no public official should spend public money on private ads for themselves.

And Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger, had his own harsh words for the administration on Monday.

“Don’t worry, using taxpayer dollars to run ominous campaign ads of the President has been done before and is completely legal… in banana republics,” he wrote in an X post.

The Republican chairs of the Senate and House appropriation committees didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Steven Sloan contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers playoff schedule for 2026

• September 28, 2026

The Dodgers’ pursuit of a third consecutive World Series championship begins Saturday, Oct. 3, at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers finished the regular season 100-62, earning the No. 2 seed in the National League and a first-round bye.

The club secured the bye on Sept. 24, when the Atlanta Braves lost to the Cincinnati Reds, guaranteeing the Dodgers would finish as one of the NL’s top two division winners.

The Dodgers’ loss to the San Diego Padres later that night locked them into the No. 2 seed behind the Milwaukee Brewers (103-59).

Here is what fans need to know about the 2026 MLB postseason schedule:

Who will the Dodgers play in the NLDS?

The Dodgers will face the winner of the Wild Card Series between the No. 3 Atlanta Braves and No. 6 Philadelphia Phillies.

All games in the best-of-three series will be played in Atlanta.

Phillies at Braves

Game 1: Tuesday, Sept. 29Game 2: Wednesday, Sept. 30Game 3: Thursday, Oct. 1, if necessary

Games 1 and 2 are scheduled for 11 a.m. PT on NBC and Peacock. A potential Game 3 is also scheduled for 11 a.m. PT on NBC and Peacock, though the start time could change depending on the other Wild Card Series.

The other NL Wild Card Series features the No. 5 Chicago Cubs at the No. 4 San Diego Padres. The winner advances to face the top-seeded Brewers.

Dodgers NLDS schedule

The Dodgers have home-field advantage in the NLDS and will host Games 1 and 2, along with a potential Game 5.

Game 1: Saturday, Oct. 3, Braves/Phillies at Dodgers, time TBD, FOX/FS1

Game 2: Sunday, Oct. 4, Braves/Phillies at Dodgers, time TBD, FOX/FS1Game 3: Tuesday, Oct. 6, Dodgers at Braves/Phillies, time TBD, FOX/FS1Game 4: Wednesday, Oct. 7, Dodgers at Braves/Phillies, if necessary, time TBD, FOX/FS1Game 5: Friday, Oct. 9, Braves/Phillies at Dodgers, if necessary, time TBD, FOX/FS1

Dodgers NLCS schedule

If the Dodgers advance, the National League Championship Series begins Sunday, Oct. 11.

Their opponent would come from the other side of the NL bracket, with the Brewers facing the winner of the Padres-Cubs Wild Card Series in the NLDS.

Milwaukee would have home-field advantage over the Dodgers if the teams meet in the NLCS. The Dodgers would have home-field advantage against either the Padres or Cubs.

Game 1: Sunday, Oct. 11

Game 2: Monday, Oct. 12

Game 3: Wednesday, Oct. 14

Game 4: Thursday, Oct. 15

Game 5: Friday, Oct. 16, if necessary

Game 6: Sunday, Oct. 18, if necessary

Game 7: Monday, Oct. 19, if necessary

The NLCS will be televised on FOX or FS1.

2026 World Series schedule

The World Series is scheduled to begin Friday, Oct. 23.

If the Dodgers reach the World Series, they would have home-field advantage against any American League opponent. The Dodgers’ record was better than every AL playoff team’s, including the AL-leading Tampa Bay Rays (98-64).

That would put Games 1 and 2, along with Games 6 and 7 if necessary, at Dodger Stadium.

Game 1: Friday, Oct. 23

Game 2: Saturday, Oct. 24

Game 3: Monday, Oct. 26

Game 4: Tuesday, Oct. 27

Game 5: Wednesday, Oct. 28, if necessary

Game 6: Friday, Oct. 30, if necessary

Game 7: Saturday, Oct. 31, if necessary

All World Series games will be televised on FOX, with SportsNet LA broadcaster Joe Davis expected to be on the call.

Dodgers postseason tickets

Tickets for Dodgers postseason games are on sale through the team’s official postseason ticket page.

(This page will be updated with the latest information on the Dodgers’ schedule)

​ Orange County Register 

OC coast largely spared from Hurricane Polo damage, but threats still loom

• September 28, 2026

The Southern California coast was spared the big damage from Hurricane Polo many worried about, as the tropical system stayed to the south and was heading toward the middle of Baja.

While surf was elevated from the tropical storm into Monday, especially in northern Orange County, and a high tide of about 6 feet in the morning hours posed even more threat, the coast seemed to be spared the big damage Hurricane Marie wreaked earlier in the month.

“I think the outcome is that Polo is a no-show,” Newport Beach surfer Bill Sharp said as he looked out at the lake-like water Monday morning. “We’ve got a dribbly, 2-foot swell suffering under a high tide … no one was injured, no houses appeared to be falling in today. So that’s a win.”

Surfline.com forecaster Kevin Wallis said the hurricane swell was still filling in through the afternoon and evening on Monday, but “has also been underwhelming,” he said.

Hurricane Polo got smaller as it moved into the region’s swell window late Friday and Saturday. On Monday, waves in the Huntington Beach and Newport areas were about 3 to 5 feet, maybe adding another foot or two by the evening, Wallis said.

National Weather Service meteorologist Paul Steward said Hurricane Polo’s latest track moved to the east. “It’s going to be Arizona and New Mexico’s problem now,” he said of the rain expected to pour down in those regions due to the storm.

While the NWS had a flooding and erosion warning issued through Monday, the threat was easing by the afternoon.

“The system is moving off, so hopefully the seas will start to abate a bit,” Steward said.  “It’s not much of a threat to us anymore, because of the trough helping to push the system out of the area and push Polo further to the east and keep it away from us.”

Coastal cities had been busy ahead of the hurricane, building up sand berms to keep the ocean from doing further damage — stretches of Dana Point, Laguna Beach and Newport Beach have experienced severe erosion issues from the ongoing series of tropical storms.

Hurricane Marie was a “direct hit” to beaches that are southerly facing, including the shoreline in front of Beach Road in Dana Point where several homes were red-tagged.

Beach Road residents were still safeguarding their homes on Monday as waves crashed onto the beachfront properties.

“We’re getting beat up, it’s bad,” said Donal Russell, general manager of the Capistrano Bay District that oversees the community. “There’s continued erosion; the contractors are stacking rocks in front of the homes as best we can. Unfortunately, they can’t do everybody’s house first, somebody has to be last. There’s people who are suffering damage.”

The California Coastal Commission has been cooperative with the efforts to safeguard the homes, Russell said, and the rock revetments that have been built up are doing a good job of absorbing the wave run-up energy, he added.

There are now only seven red-tagged homes, down from nine, with two torn down by the owners. Four yellow-tagged homes went green-tagged, Russell said. “Green doesn’t mean you’re off the hook and it’s over. It’s a temporary evaluation of the structure, and it could easily go back to yellow or red, in the near future.”

Though Hurricane Polo didn’t leave behind the damage many had feared, the worry isn’t over. Tropical Storm Rachel is churning down south and the National Hurricane Center is expecting it to turn to hurricane status by mid-week.

“I’ve heard nothing but bad news about hurricane Rachael,” Russell said. “So we’ll see in the next couple of days. … I hope they are wrong and it fizzles out into a tropical storm.”

​ Orange County Register