By Sandor Kopitz
Staff Writer
On Friday, September 24, the Mira Costa Mustangs barely defeated the Harbor City Narbonne Gauchos 7-6 in a close defensive brawl.
Costa came out early, equipped with a new mentality. They wanted to play hard defense and strike often with their new and improved offense. The first quarter started off with a big defensive stand. Costa forced a turnover on downs on their own 40 yard line, with multiple plays of negative yardage.
“Our defense continued to fly around and everyone made big plays,” said senior linebacker Noah Rossi.
Costa had trouble keeping possession, and faced unlucky obstacles. They missed a field goal early in the second quarter and fumbled in Narbonne’s end zone.
Right after that turnover, Costa regrouped. The Mustangs brought pressure on defense. Sophomore R.J. Coleman had a big sack, and on the very next play senior Derek Largent intercepted a pass that was thrown over the middle of the field. He returned it to the Narbonne 13 yard line.
“We tried out a new offense which worked pretty well,” said Rossi.
Costa then brought out its improved offense. Senior Troy Saemann caught a pass from senior Dennis Falcone on the left side of the field and ran it into the end zone for the first points of the game. Costa took the lead 7-0.
“The offense really came together this game, and meshed more than in our previous games. We opened up our offense which allowed us to really get into the flow of what we wanted to do,” said Saemann.
Costa had other promising drives, but many ended as turnovers in Narbonne’s territory. However, after the Mustangs scored the touchdown, they forced a quick turnover, and started a drive down the field with about two minutes left in the first half.
Junior Stephen Giovati had a 35 yard run down the right side of the field to the Narbonne 40-yard line. The drive ended abruptly with a interception by Narbonne in their own endzone, and this sent the game to halftime.
“We took a lot of time installing plays that we knew would work against them. We learned plays that other teams used against us, to prep our own defense. And of course we practiced the fundamentals of football because they’re important week in and week out,” said Giovati.
The second half went back and forth with defensive stops. But Narbonne finally broke through late in the fourth quarter, when Costa fumbled the ball on their 21-yard line. Narbonne recovered with great field position. This was Narbonne’s only, and last, chance to score this game.
Since it was so late in the game, the Gauchos coach decided to go for the two point conversion to try to win the game. This controversial play did not pay off for Narbonne, as Costa’s tough defense came through once again, and held them short. The score stayed at 7-6, in Costa’s favor.
Narbonne got one more try with around a minute left in the game. But this drive was quickly stopped with an interception by Donte Bavis.
“With this win, we know that we can get it done. Just winning this one game really gives us an emotional boost for the games we have in the future,” said Saemann.
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