By Wyatt Robb
Staff Writer
In a battle between crosstown rivals, Mira Costa fell to its former quarterback Jacob Silvera and his fellow Seahawks.
Mira Costa football was narrowly defeated by rival Redondo Union on Nov. 6, 13-9, at Waller Stadium. The game concluded the Mustangs’ regular 8-2 season.
Throughout the game, the Mustangs struggled on offense. Early in the first quarter, Redondo ran for a touchdown, but the extra point missed and went wide left. After Redondo’s score, Costa’s offense continued to struggle.
“Redondo’s defense did a good job stopping our running game,” Costa coach Don Morrow said.
Later in the second quarter, junior running back Jamal Williams ran for the only touchdown of the night. On the other side of the ball, Costa held the Seahawks to one touchdown in the quarter, ending the half 13-7.
“We had solid pass coverage,” sophomore linebacker Cody Kallenbach said. “We just had trouble stopping their passing game.”
The second half was a defensive battle where both teams were unable to score on offense. After being deep in its own territory, Redondo intentionally ran out of the end zone for a safety, cutting the score to 13-9.
With 1:15 left in the game, Costa had the ball on the Seahawk 21-yard line when junior quarterback David Arredondo pitched the ball on fourth down to Williams, who scrambled to find an open receiver. Williams was brought down, sealing Costa’s defeat.
“I was surprised that we were running that play,” sophomore safety Spencer Gilbert said. “Unfortunately, things did not go our way.”
The rivalry between Costa and Redondo intensified due to the transfer of Silvera from Costa to Redondo this year. He spent his sophomore and junior year as a starter on varsity football as the quarterback.
“I don’t focus on the rivalry between me and Silvera,” Arredondo said. “I just have to play my game, and he plays his.”
Fear of altercation between the schools prompted Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale to rearrange the seating of the student section. Costa students were placed at the far left end of the bleachers, which was opposite of the Redondo student section.
“Our student section ended up doing a great job pumping us up,” Kallenbach said. “They gave us extra motivation to play hard.”
With this loss, the Mustangs finished third in Bay League, placing them behind Palos Verdes and Redondo. Despite the loss, they were still able to compete in California Interscholastic Federation play. Their first CIF game is an away game against Ventura tonight at 7 p.m..
“In CIF, we need to focus on getting our offense going early in the game,” Morrow said. “In all the games we lost, we needed one more touchdown.”
Leave a Reply