Online Sports Editor
Cole Garvey
Despite Costa’s offense rolling late in the game, the Mustangs were unable to complete a late game comeback against the Golden Valley Grizzlies.
Costa’s defense was unable to contain the Grizzlies’ offensive eventually falling by a score of 20-18. The Mustangs battled the Grizzlies on Friday, Nov, 25 at Waller Stadium in their last game of the season.
“Everyone’s saying that our boys overachieved. They didn’t. They deserved to be in that game last night. That game was a microcosm of our season. The boys never quit, never gave up and kept coming and kept coming,” Coach Cameron Chow said.
The Grizzlies began the first quarter with a 21 yard passing touchdown to take a 7-0 lead. However, Costa’s offense would fire right back with a 28 yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Nick Carpino to junior Cole Trejo to even the score at 7-7 going into the second.
“We executed when we needed to, some big third down conversions and big gains led us down the field and we were able to capitalize a few times,” junior quarterback Nick Carpino said.
The Grizzlies scored first with a touchdown pass missing the extra point, and later added a punt return touchdown to go up 20-7. As the time left in the quarter ticked down, Mustangs kicker, Jack Austin nailed a field goal to close the scoring gap to a 20-10 margin at half.
“We knew we had to clean up our blocks on the offensive line and continue to hammer them down,” senior offensive lineman Robert Fiene said.
The third quarter saw both offenses struggle to gain momentum. The Mustangs and Grizzlies held each other scoreless, keeping the score 20-10 heading into the fourth.
“We came into the game with a great game plan on defense and our tackling was really improved,” senior offensive lineman Max Stewartson said.
The Mustangs began the fourth with a 49 yard drive culminating in a touchdown from senior Jonah Tavai and a 2 point conversion cutting the deficit to 20-18. The Mustangs’ defense remained strong throughout the fourth giving the offense a chance for a comeback win with minutes to go. On a second down pass play, Nick Carpino was picked off by Golden Valley’s Jalin Lewis, capping off the game.
“Everyone gave their 100 percent effort the whole game and that’s all anyone can ask. Proud of the team, win or lose when we played as hard as we did last night,” sophomore corner Jackson Fischer said.
This game concluded Costa’s football season as the Mustangs finished with a final record of 6-7. They placed third in Bay League and battled hard in two post-season road games to reach the CIF Southern Section Semifinals before falling to the Golden Valley Grizzlies.
“You had to play four quarters to beat us. The amount of heart these kids showed during our playoff run is indicative of the young men they are,” Coach Cameron Chow said.
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