Laguna Beach

Costa Mesa High football coach Jay Johnson is still waiting for his beginner's luck to kick in. Unfortunately for the first-year coach and the rest of the Mustangs' squad, there has been no such luck to speak of through more than a quarter of this season. Just when things were looking positive for backup quarterback Tony Krikorian, a second-quarter injury sidelined the junior the rest of the game and the Mustangs fell to host Laguna Beach, 31-9, Friday in a nonleague contest.

Gallimaufry Performing Arts' CaDance Festival kicks off tomorrow with nine days of world-class dance performances, workshops, film and site-specific dance installations on a scale Laguna Beach has never seen before. "Laguna Beach is about to have the absolute best of the dance world here in town for the next two weeks," Gallimaufry founder and director Steve Josephson said. "It's so hard to believe -- we started working on the dance festival two years ago; it's actually happening the way we wanted it to."

Charles Rich Money couldn't have bought the La Canada High boys' water polo team many accurate shots. Yellow balls ricocheted enough times off the crossbar or posts, leaving La Canada Coach Larry Naeve stunned. La Canada's offense short-circuited Tuesday during its 13-10 nonleague loss to host Lake Forest El Toro. Naeve shook his head each time as shots struck the crossbar. It happened nine times, or enough to warrant Naeve to schedule an appointment with a chiropractor.

A number of local groups and individuals are responding to the Hurricane Katrina disaster: Veterans for Peace is sponsoring a free concert, "Rise Up! Reach Out!" from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday to celebrate World Peace Day and collect supplies and funds for hurricane victims. The concert will take place at Neighborhood Congregational Church, 340 St. Ann's Dr. Singer/songwriter Ed Munter and others will offer songs of inspiration and visions of peace.

ART WALK Join more than 40 galleries throughout Laguna Beach on Thursday for a festive cultural evening from 6 to 9 p.m. Free shuttle service starts from the Laguna Art Museum at 6:15 and runs until 9 p.m. Information: www.firstthursdaysartwalk.com or (949) 683-6871. ( Denotes galleries that participate in the First Thursday Art Walk.) The next Art Walk will be on Oct. 6. LAGUNA ART MUSEUM "While Pollock Was Sleeping: Bay Area Abstract Expressionism from the Blair Collection" runs through Oct. 2. The Blair Collection provides a rich view of California Abstract Expressionist painting from 1948 to 1964.

The following are previews of today's CIF Southern Section division playoff games involving local teams. BOYS' SOCCER St. Francis at Upland, 3 p.m.: The Golden Knights (7-8-8) will begin the Division I playoffs by making the 40-mile journey to Upland. St. Francis, which advanced to the quarterfinals last season, took third in the Mission League. Upland (13-6-2) captured the Baseline League championship. The winner of the St. Francis-Upland contest will meet Channel League champion Ventura or Agoura, which took third in the Marmonte League, in a second-round match Tuesday.

LAGUNA BEACH -- Although it was probably of little consolation to the members of the Flintridge Prep football team that made the hour-plus bus ride from Laguna Beach to La Canada Flintridge on Saturday night, the 2002 version of the Rebels are already off to a better start than their 2001 counterparts. In a battle of ranked teams in CIF Southern Section Division XIII, No. 2-ranked Capistrano Valley Christian relied on a 28-yard fourth-quarter field goal from Beau Beardslee to hold off No. 4-ranked Flintridge Prep, 9-7, at Laguna Beach High's Guyer Field.

Final weekend for art festivals The Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters closed yesterday while the Sawdust Art Festival and Art-a-Fair will run through Sunday. Sawdust entertainment highlights: today, Santa Claus will visit the Sawdust from 10 a.m. to noon. Lisa Haley and the Zydekatz will perform Cajun and zydeco from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday the "Art on Stage" game show will be from 4 to 5:30 and World Anthem will perform reggae from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday local favorite Missiles of October will perform rock and roll from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. The Sawdust Art Festival's winter art show "Winter Fantasy" will be on Nov. 10, 19, 25, 26, 27 and Dec. 3, 4, 10 and 11. The Sawdust is at 935 Laguna Canyon Road.

WHAT: A proposed tunnel running through the Cleveland National Forest that would dump an estimated 70,000 vehicles a day onto Highway 133 at the Foothill Toll Road, affecting traffic in Laguna Beach. WHAT'S BEHIND IT: The Orange County Transportation Authority and the Riverside County Transportation Planning Agency are examining options to relieve traffic problems on the Riverside (91) Freeway. Three alternatives are being considered. Alternative 1 would create another road, to run parallel to the existing 91 corridor, at an estimated cost of between $2.5 and $5 billion.

With its production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music," Laguna Beach's No Square Theater will be living up to its name, founding director Bree Burgess Rosen said. Although Saif Eddin, a successful entertainer known on the club scene from Long Beach to San Diego, is directing the show, the real power will rest in the baton-wielding hand of chorus director Linda Haylett, Rosen said. "Miss Linda is most famous for her outstanding work with local children, by way of her dance school, Miss Linda's Castle," Rosen said.