Mustangs rumble

Patrick Laverty

Statistically, there wasn’t much difference between Costa Mesa High’s

season-opening loss to Corona del Mar and its Week 2 victory over

Huntington Beach.

Emotionally, it was night and day.

The Mustangs gave themselves a huge boost with one game remaining

before the beginning of Golden West League play by scoring 30

consecutive points Thursday to knock off the Oilers, 33-16, in a

nonleague football game at Huntington Beach High.

Costa Mesa (1-1) dominated possession, controlled the line of

scrimmage and performed well on special teams, just like it did

against Corona del Mar.

But this time the Mustangs came up with the key second-half

turnovers and took advantage of them by playing on a shorter field

that allowed them to capitalize with three quick, third-quarter

strikes to put the game out of reach.

Al Rodriguez jump-started the assault by blocking a punt on the

Oilers’ first series of the second half. The ball rolled into the end

zone, where it was recovered by Mustangs’ senior Brett Via, giving

Costa Mesa a 23-10 lead with 9:43 remaining in the third quarter.

“It was my first time rushing punts,” said Rodriguez, who was the

return man in the season opener. “Jeff Waldron was lined up next to

me and I told him, ‘I’m going in. I’m going to get it.’ He said, ‘You

better.’”

Rodriguez did and on the next play from scrimmage, after the

Oilers (0-2) had received the kickoff, Waldron decided to get his.

The 6-foot-3 junior linebacker used all of his athleticism to

intercept a pass by Huntington Beach quarterback Rory Schoonmaker. On

a quick slant route, Waldron leaped into the air, grabbed the ball

with his fingertips before it could reach the receiver, then returned

it 15 yards to the Huntington Beach 13-yard line.

The Oilers’ defense held firm, but Ryan Bagwell provided a 29-yard

field goal, his second of the night, to push the Mustangs’ advantage

to 26-10 with 8:33 remaining in the third quarter.

Costa Mesa’s defense, which held Huntington Beach to 31 yards

rushing on 25 attempts, then forced the Oilers to punt on their next

possession. This time the snap sailed over the punter’s head, forcing

a 29-yard loss, as the Mustangs took over, again deep in Huntington

Beach territory, at the 11-yard line.

“We saw some things in their punting game that we thought we could

take advantage of,” Costa Mesa Coach Dave Perkins said.

To do so, Perkins moved the speedy Rodriguez up to the line of

scrimmage and after the blocked punt, it was obvious that the Oilers

were fearful of a second.

With just 11 yards to go, Costa Mesa went with its rushing game.

But on third down, Qualic Vargas fumbled at the 5-yard line. Alertly,

Costa Mesa wide receiver Jorge Quiroz picked up the ball, which had

squirted up the 3-yard line, and ran it into the end zone for a score

and a 33-10 lead.

That was plenty for a Mustangs defense that was stingy all night.

With the exception of a screen play that went for an 83-yard

touchdown at the beginning of the second quarter, Costa Mesa allowed

just 10 yards of offense in the first half and two first downs.

The screen pass was simply a result of over aggressiveness, an

all-out blitz on third-and-20.

“We’re going to come after you,” Perkins said. “That’s something

that they hadn’t shown before.”

The Oilers didn’t have much of a chance to show anything in the

third quarter. The ball never crossed into Mustangs’ territory until

the final play of the third quarter and that was simply because of

three consecutive Costa Mesa penalties.

The screen pass at the beginning of the second quarter gave

Huntington Beach a 10-3 lead and seemed to signal a repeat of last

week’s performance against the Sea Kings, when Costa Mesa allowed

three big pass plays to beat them.

But junior quarterback Bruce Wilkinson marched the Mustangs right

back down the field to tie the score.

Throwing more often and earlier than they did in Week 1, the

Mustangs showed a balanced offense that is sure to make Golden West

League coaches a little uneasy.

Wilkinson completed 7 of 9 passes in the first half for 93 yards.

Quiroz and Waldron both proved reliable targets.

On the game-tying drive, Wilkinson was 3 of 3 for 43 yards, with

Quiroz catching two balls and Waldron the other.

Vargas finished off the 11-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown run.

On the ensuing kickoff, Brett Via’s short pooch down the middle of

the field was fumbled and Omar Ruiz recovered.

That led to a 1-yard touchdown run by Junior Epenesa, giving the

Mustangs their first lead, 17-10. Wilkinson began the drive with a

14-yard completion to Waldron and also added an eight-yard pass to

Quiroz. Both produced first downs.

“We thought we could loosen them up a bit early on,” Perkins said

about Wilkinson’s success in the passing game.

The victory, over a CIF Southern Section Division I team that

plays in the highly-regarded Sunset League loosened up the Mustangs.

“It’s huge,” Perkins said. “Now we’ve come out and corrected a lot

of our mistakes. I thought we really played well. I think we

dominated the football game up front.”