Mustangs end season with lopsided loss

Costa Mesa had won two in a row going into the game, but couldn’t get close to Orange in last game of season.ORANGE -- The late-season switch to the double wing run offense produced two consecutive wins for the Costa Mesa football team, but it didn’t produce an upset over Orange, and it didn’t produce the team’s first playoff berth in three seasons.

Orange -- operating the double wing offense more efficiently than Costa Mesa and displaying more athletic talent -- ran away with a 48-2 victory in the regular-season finale for both teams in a rare Friday afternoon Golden West League game at El Modena High.

Costa Mesa, which needed a win to stay alive for a playoff berth, finished its season 2-8 overall and 2-4 in league. Orange improved to 8-2 and 5-1 in league, and will go into the CIF Southern Section Division VII playoffs next week as the second-place team out of the Golden West League.

“We knew with their talent, it’d be a tough game,” Costa Mesa Coach Jay Johnson said. “We just wanted to keep it close, maybe get a few breaks, but that didn’t happen. Orange is a very good team.”

Orange amassed 383 rushing yards and mixed in some timely completions.

The Panthers scored touchdowns on all four of their drives in the first half. Daniel Chairez rushed for 152 of his game-high 172 yards in the first half, and scored on runs of 67 and 39 yards. He also caught a 29-yard pass from Sean Wilson in the second quarter. An 80-yard interception return for a touchdown by Matthew Mendez gave Orange a 35-0 lead going into halftime.

Costa Mesa had 79 yards rushing and no completions in the first half. The Mustangs had to punt on their first four drives.

Costa Mesa forced Orange to attempt its only punt in the game early in the third quarter after Mitch Caldwell tackled Chairez for a 2-yard loss and Robert De La Cruz’s pass rush forced an incomplete pass on third-and-9.

Orange’s snap sailed over punter Eric Salgado’s head and rolled toward the goal line, where Salgado kicked the ball out of the end zone. Costa Mesa was awarded a safety and its only points of the game.

Costa Mesa started the season 0-7 as it struggled with first-year coach Johnson’s spread offense. After switching to the double wing, the Mustangs won two straight games before falling Friday.

“Coming into the season, being a new coach, you don’t really know what you have,” Johnson said. “We went with the spread offense, then once we got into the season, we realized we didn’t have the personnel for the spread offense, so we switched to something uncomplicated, something the kids could pick up quickly, and had some success with it against teams on our level.”

A lopsided defeat is not the way seniors like running back Ivan Ruiz, quarterback Ryan French and guard/linebacker De La Cruz wanted to go out, but they took solace in their hard work.

“We played our hardest every game,” Ruiz said. “Orange is a better team than us, I won’t lie, but we didn’t give up.”

Ruiz, like any thoughtful running back, gave thanks to his offensive line, which helped him rush for 569 yards and three touchdowns this season despite the fact he missed the first four games with a knee injury.

“I give a lot of credit to my O-line -- De La Cruz, Ryan Segovia, London Sapolu, Juan Diaz, Raschaad Soomalelagi, Rudy Hernandez -- I really want to give thanks to them. They played hard all year.”

ORANGE 48, COSTA MESA 2

SCORE BY QUARTERS