Brian Kaiserman
Staff Writer
Mira Costa boys rugby steamrolled their competition throughout the season, but ran into an equally matched adversary on Saturday night, with their season on the line.
The Mustangs battled back and forth with Torrey Pines High School over the course of the game, the contest would eventually be pushed into overtime. Unfortunately for the Mustangs, Torrey Pines was able to find the try zone first in the extra session, abruptly ending the game with a final score of 24-19.
“It was an awesome game to be a part of and definitely one that I will remember for a long time,” junior Blake Curtain said. “It obviously didn’t turn out how we would’ve liked but it was still a great season and I’m proud of the way we played.”
The game started off as a defensive showdown, with neither side being able to break through. Torrey Pines held a 6-0 lead for much of the first half until Costa junior Kaden Loversky found a gap in the Falcons defense cutting the Mustangs deficit to a single point.
“Both teams came out playing great defensively,” Loversky said. “They scored their points off of penalty kicks and we were lucky to score a try before they did.”
The Falcons converted a three-point kick late in the first half, but the Mustangs quickly responded as junior Jonah Tavai exploded past Falcon defenders to put the Mustangs up for the first time. Costa took a 12-9 lead into halftime.
“We were excited to be up at halftime but we knew that we would have to improve our discipline and stop giving up penalties to continue our success,” Loversky said.
Early in the second half the Falcons were able to convert on another penalty tying the score at 12-12. However, Tavai provided the Mustangs with a spark yet again, as he scored another try to regain the lead at 19-12.
“We definitely came out strong at the start of the second half,” junior Robert Feine said. “We had a lot of momentum going and we weren’t allowing them to make much progress into our territory.”
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Late in the game, it appeared that the Mustangs would hold on and secure the victory but a blocked punt gave the Falcons their first try of the game and forced overtime. The Falcons carried their momentum into the overtime period and were able to find a way through the Mustangs defense, ending Costa’s season.
“It was a really hard fought game on both sides and it was an exciting game,” Feine said. “I was proud of the way we played but in the end it just wasn’t enough.”
Despite a disappointing end to their year, the Mustangs still had an exceptional season. They finished with a 7-1 record and a Los Angeles division championship and were also ranked inside the top ten nationally at various points in the season.
“It’s difficult to say anything other than it was a very successful season. However, I felt this team had the potential to do something really special, so in that respect we may have slightly underachieved,” head coach Duke Dulgarian said.
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