Hospitality workers walk off job at dozens of Southern California hotels

• July 2, 2023

Workers at dozens of major Southern California hotels went on strike Sunday, July 2, forming picket lines at many of the businesses in an effort to secure higher pay and improvements in health care and retirement benefits.

“BREAKING: Southern California hotel workers are ON STRIKE! Thousands walked off the job at properties across DTLA & Santa Monica. Dozens more properties remain without a Union contract,” Unite Here Local 11 tweeted at 6:01 a.m. Sunday.

That tweet was followed by several more that showed workers picketing Sunday morning at sites including the InterContinental in downtown Los Angeles, JW Marriott LA Live, Millennium Biltmore Hotel, Hotel Figueroa, Le Meridien Delfina Santa Monica, Viceroy Santa Monica, Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica, Sheraton Universal Hotel and DoubleTree Los Angeles.

Workers at the DoubleTree Los Angeles are joining the fun ON STRIKE with thousands of their UNITE HERE Local 11 siblings. #SoCalHotelStrike pic.twitter.com/gVxlIYMmWk

— UNITE HERE Local 11 (@UNITEHERE11) July 2, 2023

The union, which represents up to 15,000 workers employed at 65 major hotels in Los Angeles and Orange counties, had said Friday in an Instagram post that its members “could strike at any moment” during the Fourth of July weekend.

The contract between the hotels and Unite Here Local 11 expired at 12:01 a.m. Saturday although the union reached a deal Wednesday night with the largest of its employers, the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in downtown L.A.

Contract agreements are unresolved with the remaining hotels.

Hotel officials have told reporters their facilities will remain open with management and other nonunion staff filling in if the union strike materializes.

On June 8, 96% of the union’s members approved a strike authorization that could result in one of the nation’s largest hotel worker strikes.

Union officials said a recent survey of its members showed that 53% said they have moved in the past five years or will move in the near future because of soaring housing costs in the Los Angeles area.

Union officials said their members earn $20 to $25 an hour. Negotiators are asking for an immediate $5 an hour raise and an additional $3 an hour in subsequent years of the contract along with improvements in health care and retirement benefits.

With the Westin contract settled, the Coordinated Bargaining Group is negotiating on behalf of 44 of the other unionized hotels. The remaining 21 hotels would adhere to that same agreement.

15,000 Southern California hotel workers vote to authorize a strike

​ Orange County Register 

The radical ideas behind the Declaration

• July 2, 2023

On July Fourth, Americans celebrate the ideals of the Declaration of Independence — life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But these three principles aside, we often forget the underlying, truly radical ideas the Declaration is built upon.

The Fourth of July isn’t just about feel-good words and ideas that politicians invoke to gain the “consent of the governed.” Independence Day is about the freedom and duty of citizens to assert our natural rights — rights that are ours because we are human beings, not privileges bestowed upon us by the authorities.

It’s easy to forget that radical notion, that governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” The Declaration also warned that “whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government.”

The Declaration was a call to revolution against a regime that repeatedly violated these core rights. Modern politicians and, perhaps, even most Americans are confused about the concept of rights. They believe that “positive” rights — such as the “right” to health care or education — are of the same kind as those “negative” rights — essentially, the right to be left alone — defended by the American founders.

For instance, the right to free speech is the classic negative right that the founders sought to uphold. We, as Americans, have a right to air our grievances and criticize our government. While we can huff and puff endlessly about unchecked government power, not unless we air our grievances in the public sphere can we expect any satisfactory resolution or redress. We fail as citizens when we passively allow government to abridge our rights, restrict our freedom or inhibit our pursuit of happiness.

In our euphoric celebrations, we may forget that the Fourth isn’t about guaranteeing our happiness. The government’s purpose, rather, is to ensure that we have the opportunity and ability to pursue whatever form of happiness we choose, as long as we do not violate another citizen’s rights.

Nor is the Fourth about assuring equality. To the founders, freedom — not equality — was the crux of independence. The idea of equality was peripheral and only received a six-word blurb in the Declaration: “that all men are created equal.” By equal, the founders meant that we are equal before the law, not equal in our talents and material blessings.

Nineteenth-century French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville posed freedom and equality in opposition to one another, predicting that Americans’ love for equality would ultimately undermine and eclipse their freedom. That, unfortunately, was among Tocqueville’s many prescient observations.

Similarly, the Fourth isn’t about the triumph of democracy. To the founders, democratic government could be just as damaging as monarchies to individual rights. Just because we elect our leaders doesn’t make them less likely to trample on our natural rights. Freedom is best protected through limits on governments, the rule of law and the separation of powers.

Ponder that as the barbecues blaze, and the fireworks fill the air.

This editorial originally appeared in the Orange County Register on July 4, 2008.

​ Orange County Register 

Senior Moments: How to date a perfect 10. Or 12.

• July 2, 2023

“The dating rules are a lot different at this age,” a reader told me. “A little patience is required.”

“He is shy and very short,” said 79-year-old “Anne,” who is 5 feet 2 inches tall, after her first date with 83-year-old “Frank.”

While he had taken her to lunch at a nice restaurant, she thought maybe he wasn’t ready to date yet. He had been a widower for only two years while Anne’s husband had died five years ago.

“So how would you rate your date on a scale of one to ten?” I asked.

“About a three,” she responded. “And I’m not sure I will ever hear from him again.”

Three weeks later, Frank finally called, and Anne got right to the point.

“Do you drive at night, and do you drink wine?” she asked him. His enthusiastic “Yes!” earned him an invitation for wine and cheese at her house that evening.

Sometimes older really is wiser.

Anne admits that when she was younger, she probably would not have been willing to give him another chance, let alone wait three weeks to hear from him. But she is glad she did.

By the next morning, Frank had changed from too short to “just about the right height for me.” He had morphed from shy to “quiet but very interesting.” And he had moved up the scale from a “three” to a “five.”

The following night he took her out for dinner and dancing.

“You know, it is really nice to be able to see the face of your dancing partner instead of having him tower over you,” Anne said.

Not only did he dance like a dream, he was very funny and was now an eight.

A few nights later, when Anne invited Frank to dinner at her place, they discovered they had a mutual love of cooking, and he helped her prepare the meal. I sensed him edging toward a “nine.”

The couple met over Memorial Day weekend. As we slide into the July 4 weekend, Anne reports that on a scale of one to ten, he’s a 12!

They plan to celebrate the holiday by barbecuing and watching fireworks from the terrace of his home. I’m thinking they may have more to celebrate than America’s birthday.

Email [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @patriciabunin and at patriciabunin.com.

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Next chapter in America’s aging boom? Homeless retirees

• July 2, 2023

Here are a few things Alex and Holly have learned in the year since they lost their apartment and started sleeping in their 2005 Ford Explorer:

First, always stuff some cardboard inside your car windows before turning in for the night. “You don’t want nobody peeking in, seeing you’re not gonna be able to respond,” Alex explained.

Second, bathrooms at Pearson Park in Anaheim, the spot where they stay in the Explorer, open at 8 a.m. and not a minute earlier.

“Gotta hold it,” Alex said, his quiet voice picking up a couple decibels. “We don’t go outside!”

Third, in the world of people who are unhoused, age doesn’t always elicit respect.

“I don’t think anybody cares,” said Alex, who, like some others in story is being identified by his first name to protect his safety.

“Anyway,” he added, laughing, “who’re you calling old?”

Alex and Holly are relatively new to being homeless, and whatever life hacks they’ve picked up car camping aren’t particularly unusual. Most people who’ve lived outside for a period of time probably know more.

But Alex and Holly are both 62 and, because of their age, they’re part of a painful demographic trend – homeless retirees.

In the past half-decade or so, as homelessness has grown from social ill to social emergency, the fastest-growing subgroup of homeless has been people landing on the streets after age 50. A survey released in June by the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at UC San Francisco found that nearly half (48%) of single, homeless adults statewide are 50 or older.

In Southern California – where average rents outpace average Social Security checks – the world of older homeless people is expanding at hyper speed. From 2017 through 2022, the number of people age 55 and older who sought some kind of homeless-related service in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties grew by 96%, according to California’s Homeless Data Integration System. If you limit that to people ages 65 and up, the numbers either doubled or tripled in each of the four counties.

During that same period, the number of all homeless people, of any age, jumped by about 45% in the four-county region.

Eve Garrow, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union who tracks homelessness issues in Southern California, describes the aging of the unhoused as “the next phase” in America’s broad demographic shift to an older population.

“I know a lot of people who are living out their retirement years in homeless shelters,” Garrow said.

“That’s not something that’s going to happen someday, in the future, maybe,” she added. “It’s happening now.”

Paul Leon, a long-time advocate for the unhoused and chief executive of National Healthcare & Housing Advisors, says the rise of aging homeless people is an issue that transcends politics.

“We’ve got 80-year-olds in shelters,” Leon said. “I think most people can agree that’s not tolerable.”

But Leon notes that demographics and savings patterns and modern economics all point to the idea that the current crop of aging homeless people might be just the start of a grim cycle.

“In a few years, the number of old people who are homeless, out on streets and in shelters, is going to be big. We’ll all know an aunt or a sister or somebody who is living in a shelter or on the streets,” Leon said.

“It’ll make today’s homeless problem look small.”

Roy, a 61-year-old who used to make medical devices, and who needs a cane or a walker to get around, stands in the driveway of the motel where he is staying in Orange, on Thursday, June 29, 2023. In Southern California, where the numbers of people 55 and up who are unhoused has more than doubled in the past seven years. The issue often isn’t about addiction or mental health. It’s about money. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Rules

Roy, 61 and unhoused since he turned 55, wants a new hip.

He also wants a room to live in, or an apartment, but the pressing issue this week is the hip. It’s his right one, and it’s at a point where it’s hard to walk on it much. He’s got a wheelchair and a cane and a walker – just like the one his mother used when she was alive – but he sits a lot more than he walks.

He’s also got paperwork from a doctor confirming that he needs a new hip. And he’s got a government-issued cell phone that he uses to call Medi-Cal and others he needs to connect with in order to set up the surgery and its requisite stint in rehab.

But he’s also got a deadline.

Rent for the motel room where Roy has been staying temporarily ends Sunday, July 2. After that, if he can’t square up the surgery and a rehab bed, he’ll literally roll out the door. Then he’ll try to make his way to Orange, where he’s slept in a truck for most of the past six years. But he says the truck was towed off a few weeks back and he doesn’t have money to get it back, leaving him with a new dilemma — sleep in a park or at an uncle’s house?

“I hate to bug anybody and change their lives because of me,” Roy said. “So, I’ll probably go back outside.

“It’ll be difficult because of my condition,” Roy added.

“But, hey, I know the rules.”

He followed rules, he said, all his life. He followed rules when he played linebacker at Katella High in Anaheim. He followed rules, later, when he worked in the medical device industry, and after that when he ran his own home repair business.

He was even trying to follow rules six years ago when he wound up homeless. “But the money was gone and I was just pulled in so many different directions,” he said.

Since then he’s learned to follow rules about living on the street.

“I never leave a mess. That’s really the strict one.”

Roy, as a rule, also avoids homeless shelters.

As an older unhoused person, he said, he’s found that streets and parks and his old truck are all preferable to living in a group setting with younger, sometimes angrier, people. In shelters, he said, “I worry about everything; my wheelchair getting stolen, getting beaten up, all of that.

“When you’re not young, in a shelter, it’s pretty easy to become a victim.”

Roy suggested the problem of living outside as an older person isn’t survival, it’s about respect.

“People like to look at you and judge,” Roy said. “Without them talking, you know what they’re thinking.

“I would like to tell them that, at my age, we’re all just struggling to get into a better position, just like anybody; just like I did for a long time,” he added.

“I’d like to tell them that those looks feel horrible.”

Michael Wright of Wound Walk OC offers his services to a homeless man living adjacent to the 22 Freeway in Garden Grove in 2021. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

Math

In 1983 there were exactly 175,143 defined-benefit pension plans in the United States, according to historical data from the Department of Labor. Roughly 38% of all private-sector workers had such a pension, which was financed by an employer and often guaranteed the worker some kind of monthly check, in addition to Social Security, for the rest of his or her life.

That turned out to be the peak for defined-benefit pensions. Over the next 40 years – roughly the length of many worker’s careers – most employers have swapped out defined-benefit pensions for defined-contribution plans, which are optional for workers and, at best, are only partially subsidized by employers.

Today, about 12% of all private-sector workers have access to an old-school, guaranteed pension. Most public-sector employees – everyone from police to Supreme Court justices – still have such pensions.

Why does any of this matter?

Because while addiction and mental illness and domestic violence have fueled the homelessness wave of the past few decades, federal data suggests a key driver going forward might be the simple math – not enough money to pay the rent – of a post-pension economy.

Only about half of all Americans have any money set aside for retirement, according to the 2019 Consumer Finance Survey, the most recent version of a national poll conducted periodically by the Federal Reserve Board. Even when focusing on workers closer to retirement – people ages 50 to 60 – the survey findings were stark; more than 40% in that age range had nothing set aside for retirement and only 30%  had as much as $100,000. About 12.5% had $500,000.

For many workers, the focus over the past four decades has been less on big-picture shifts in the American pension system than on day-to-day issues, like the price of rent and gas and milk.

“It’s always just been work and pay the bills, work and pay the bills,” said Alex, who has worked consistently over the past four decades, usually as a forklift operator for several local beverage companies and sometimes as a vendor, selling beer and hot dogs, at Angels games.

At 62, Alex says he’d still work if he could. But as he sat in the front seat of his Explorer, he explained his lack of employment by pointing at his knees.

“These don’t let me get into or out of a forklift anymore,” he said. “And, no, I didn’t have no 401 (k) or whatever.”

Other data suggests people who made more money than Alex also might face a retirement squeeze in Southern California.

The 2023 national average Social Security check for a retired worker is about $1,830 a month, according to the Social Security Administration. That’s not enough to cover the average rent for a single-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles ($1,925), Orange ($2,264) and Riverside ($1,899) counties, and only barely enough to cover it in San Bernardino ($1,448) County, according to recent estimates from Zillow.

And even for local retirees with some income beyond Social Security, making the rent can be tough. A survey from the Census Bureau found that if you’re 65 or older, and you have an income of up to $40,000, you’ll typically spend 53% of your total on rent if you live in Los Angeles or Orange counties, and 45% if you live in Riverside or San Bernardino counties. For people with income of up to $70,000, rent eats up 35% in the Los Angeles/Orange County market and 33% in the Inland Empire.

“And I’d say all that’s a (expletive) joke,” said Alex from his front seat near an Anaheim park, when asked about the price to move out of his car and into a place to live.

“You can’t even get a room in a house for less than about $1,200 around here. For an apartment, like what you’re talking about, it’s way more.

“I can’t even imagine it anymore.”

Katherine White of Wound Walk OC, speaks during the investigative hearing on homelessness in Orange County at the Hall of Administration, Board Hearing Room on April 20, 2022 in Santa Ana. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Roof

That first night wasn’t as hard as you’d think.

It was 2008 and Helen Muñoz, then 48, was on the streets for the first time, but she wasn’t in tears or particularly afraid.

“I think I just thought that I’m tough and that I’d be OK,” said Muñoz, now 63.

The next 14 years would test that. The former small business owner (she ran a house-cleaning service in Huntington Beach) spent time sleeping on the streets and in shelters, and, soon, applying for government assistance for rent.

For more than a decade, she scrambled for food and shelter and waited for a voucher to help get her back under a permanent roof.

A year ago she got in. Today, she lives in a subsidized apartment in Anaheim, with $300 a month rent taken directly out of her government check.

Katherine White, with Wound Walk OC – a nonprofit that provides emergency-level medical aid to people living outdoors and helps them connect with doctors and other services as needed – still checks in on Muñoz, as she does with Roy and Holly and Alex.

White said a permanent roof isn’t just about comfort. For older people it’s often a matter of life and death.

“I don’t know if Helen would be dead without a place to live. But I do know that living outdoors takes decades off lives.”

Housing advocates Garrow and Leon among others, suggest that full-time housing – putting a homeless person into some kind of home – is more humane, safer and ultimately cheaper than temporary shelters. They say that’s true for the unhoused of all ages, but particularly for the coming wave of unhoused seniors.

For now, Muñoz doesn’t worry about that. Illness and injuries – some a result of living on the streets – leave her unable to work. Her one complaint, she says, is that she’d like to be on the first floor rather than the third, and she’s hoping to make that switch.

But, mostly, she’s happy to not be an older person living on the streets.

Muñoz said her two granddaughters, born just before and just after she first became homeless, sometimes come by to visit. They play cards and watch scary movies and then they go home. It’s the kind of visit she couldn’t have in a shelter or a tent or a car.

In this new place, during the first night, Muñoz wasn’t as tough as before.

“I cried,” Muñoz said. “I was so happy. I just said, ‘God, what took so long?’”

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​ Orange County Register 

Angels go quietly against Diamondbacks, lose fourth straight game

• July 2, 2023

ANAHEIM ― How cold has the Angels’ offense gone over the last week?

They scored 25 runs in a single game against the Colorado Rockies on June 24. They’ve played six games since then and scored 23.

For the second straight day, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ pitchers encountered little resistance before an announced crowd of 44,472 at Angel Stadium. The Angels mustered only three hits in their 3-1 loss on Saturday night.

The Angels face a daunting challenge Sunday: trying to snap a four-game losing streak against the Diamondbacks’ staff ace, Zac Gallen.

“We’re facing some really good arms this entire week starting (Sunday),” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “We know what’s ahead of us.”

Unheralded right-hander Ryne Nelson (5-4) allowed three hits and one run over 7⅓ innings Saturday. He faced only four batters with a runner in scoring position and held the Angels hitless.

The one run he allowed: a solo home run by Anthony Rendon in the fourth inning, Rendon’s second home run this season.

In the ninth inning, Diamondbacks pitcher Scott McGough walked Taylor Ward and Matt Thaiss with two outs, giving the Angels one final hope. McGough then struck out Renfroe to end the game.

To his credit, Renfroe took the first pitch he saw after McGough issued back-to-back walks. Seven of the Angels’ plate appearances ended on the first pitch Saturday, a counterargument to their aggressive approach.

“If we’re getting hits on the first pitch we’re not talking about this,” Nevin said. “We’ve got to be better.”

Rendon’s home run was offset by a critical error he made in the sixth inning.

With two outs, Arizona put runners on first and third against Angels pitcher Sam Bachman (1-2). Dominic Fletcher hit a sharp single that glanced off the glove of his brother, Angels shortstop David Fletcher, and into left field. That tied the score at 1-1.

Ketel Marte hit a routine grounder to Rendon at third base, but his throw to first caused Renfroe to pull his foot off the bag. Marte stepped on the base before Renfroe could tag him, allowing Nick Ahmed to score on a play that should have marked the final out of the inning.

The Diamondbacks scored an insurance run in the seventh inning against Chris Devenski on a Gabriel Moreno single and a Jake McCarthy triple. Aaron Loup pitched two scoreless innings to finish the game.

An offense that left no margin for error negated a promising start by Angels pitcher Tyler Anderson. The veteran left-hander threw five scoreless innings, working around a bevy of soft contact to hand his bullpen a 1-0 lead.

Anderson allowed five hits, all singles, and walked two batters. He also struck out three.

Perhaps most encouraging was Anderson’s changeup, the pitch that carried him to a breakout 2022 season with the Dodgers. Last year Anderson held opponents to a .179 (41 for 229) batting average against his changeup, but opponents were batting .312 (29 for 93) against the pitch entering Saturday’s game.

The Diamondbacks could do nothing with Anderson’s changeup until a weakly hit single by Kyle Lewis in the fifth inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Anderson then used the pitch to get a swinging strike three from Christian Walker to escape further trouble. That was the last of his 92 pitches.

“He knew exactly what he needed to do with that pitch and he executed,” said Thaiss, the Angels’ catcher.

On a night when Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani combined to go 0 for 7 with five strikeouts, the absence of a tertiary lineup threat was glaring.

Angels infielder Brandon Drury had been on an eight-week tear, batting .319 with an .892 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) dating to May 12. But he missed his second straight game with a jammed shoulder.

Nevin anticipated Drury will not play Sunday either, and couldn’t rule out placing the veteran on the 10-day injured list.

“It hurts not having him in there,” Nevin said. “It’s a big bat, a big piece of what we do, but everybody goes through injuries. We’re not going to dwell on that. You’ve got to have a ‘next man up’ mentality and get through it, but losing that bat makes a big difference.”

Renfroe likened the impact of losing Drury to losing the team’s best hitter.

“It’s like taking Shohei out of the friggin’ lineup,” Renfroe said. “You get a guy who’s swinging the bat well, finding holes, driving guys in, you want him in the lineup no matter what. With him, if he has to take a few days, he has to take a few days. You’d rather take a few days than be out the rest of the season.”

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Los Alamitos horse racing consensus picks, Sunday, July 2, 2023

• July 2, 2023

The consensus box of Los Alamitos horse racing picks comes from handicappers Bob Mieszerski, Art Wilson, Terry Turrell and Eddie Wilson. Here are the picks for thoroughbred races on Sunday, July 2, 2023.

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Galaxy allow late goal, tie Earthquakes

• July 2, 2023

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Cristian Espinoza scored late in the second half to help the San Jose Earthquakes earn a 2-2 draw with the Galaxy on Saturday night.

Espinoza’s ninth goal of the season came when he took a pass from Jackson Yueill and scored in the 81st minute to earn the Earthquakes (7-7-7) a point.

The Galaxy (3-9-7) grabbed a 1-0 lead when Raheem Edwards used an assist from Douglas Costa in the 31st minute to score his first goal of the season.

Jack Skahan took a pass from Carlos Akapo and scored his first of the season to knot the score in the 42nd minute.

The Galaxy retook the lead two minutes into the second half on a goal by Preston Judd. Costa and Riqui Puig had assists on Judd’s third netter of the campaign.

Jonathan Bond finished with two saves for the Galaxy. Daniel de Sousa Brito saved four shots for the Earthquakes.

The Galaxy have a victory and four straight draws in their last five matches. The club record is five straight ties set in May of 2009.

There have been three or more goals scored in a league-record 52 of 81 regular-season matches in the series.

The Galaxy return home to host LAFC on Tuesday. San Jose travels to play LAFC on Saturday.

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Mater Dei football takes care of ‘business’ with title run at Battle at the Beach

• July 2, 2023

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HUNTINGTON BEACH — Mater Dei’s football program provided a glimpse Saturday into how it hopes to operate under first-year coach Frank McManus, a few new assistants and steady, four-year starting quarterback Elijah Brown.

If the Monarchs’ performance at the Battle at the Beach was any indication, get ready for a united effort, team play and execution.

Mater Dei captured the prestigious passing tournament for the first time since 2019 by capping a 7-0 run with a 39-6 victory against Rancho Cucamonga in the final at Edison High.

The Monarchs, ranked No. 1 in the nation in multiple preseason polls, survived a scare in pool play from Warren (21-19) before beating Orange Lutheran (28-13) and defending champion Mission Viejo (25-0) in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.

“I’m really proud of them,” McManus said of his players. “It was a very business-like nature out there. After the game, they were excited but they came in relatively quiet. They understand that this is about more than just this moment. We’re preparing for a good season.”

“Big picture-wise, it’s about Game 1, Centennial (of Corona),” he added.

And for the first time since 1988, the Monarchs are preparing for season under a head coach other than Bruce Rollinson.

McManus took the reins in February after Rollinson surprisingly announced his resignation late last season after earlier stating he would return for 2023.

McManus’ coaching style was on display for all to see Saturday. He engaged his players throughout the day. He whizzed in and out of defensive huddles, vocally encouraged players and quickly joined a few in photographs afterward.

During the Warren game, McManus joked with the officials and opposition, and playfully pounded the ground.

“I don’t think I’ve had to change much at all,” he said, “other than to just allow the coaches to do what they do, allow the kids to demonstrate their natural talents and let them be themselves.”

Brown certainly looked like himself in the final.

The recent Stanford commit threw five TDs to four different receivers. He tossed two to senior running back Ajon Byrant, who lined up in the slot, and one apiece to junior running back Jordon Davison and emerging sophomore wide receivers Kayden Dixon-Wyatt and Jonah Smith.

Mater Dei’s offense hummed under new offensive coordinator Eric Rescigno, who replaces Taylor Kelly.

Running back Nathaniel Frazier and wide out Marcus Brown were among the key targets earlier in the tournament.

“Offense was definitely on point today,” McManus said. “Trying to execute on first down was a big thing. We wanted to have first-down success … and taking what defenses were giving us instead of going for big yardage plays right off the bat.”

Mater Dei’s defense, under veteran coordinator Eric Johnson, received an interception in the final from sophomore cornerback Cory Lavender. The takeaway led to a long TD strike from Brown to Smith as the Monarchs opened a 26-0 lead.

In the semifinals, junior cornerback Daryus Dixson played well against Mission Viejo.

“It’s one voice, one man orchestrating this defense, and we all know our roles,” McManus said of Johnson. “My job is get him to be here another five years, but we’re going to go one year at a time.”

The Monarchs’ coaching staff also now includes Scott McKnight, the former JSerra coach who will lead the special teams.

Former Saddleback coach Glenn Campbell is leading the running backs.

Mater Dei wasn’t full-strength. Cornerback Zabien Brown and wide receiver Jack Ressler didn’t play but Mater Dei progressed after falling to Warren in the semifinals of the USC tournament last week.

Next week, the Monarchs will finish their summer at the Mission Viejo tournament.

“The staff is really coming together and the players are really coming together,” McManus said. “And like you saw after the game with the players, not a lot of ego. There’s a lot of togetherness, and it’s the same thing with the coaching staff.”

More Battle at the Beach coverage to come. Please check back for updates.

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