Sophia Vaughan
Sports Editor
A broken scoreboard and the El Segundo Eagles were no match for the Mustangs, as Costa proved that even on Friday the 13th, luck was on their side, winning with a score of 52-7.
Mira Costa football played against El Segundo High School on Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. at Waller Stadium in the first home game of the season. The Mustangs came out of the gate with a strong passing game and dynamic offense led by junior quarterback Sam Whitney.
“Whenever [Whitney is] able to be that accurate on the pass, it opens up so many opportunities for the run,” junior running back Ryan Moreno said.
The Mustangs started off strong in the first quarter. Whitney connected with sophomore running back Kayle Marsh for a 44- yard touchdown on the opening offensive drive, making the score 7-0. Costa’s dominance continued when a pass to junior wide receiver and kicker Thomas Southey landed the Mustangs in the endzone for another touchdown. Southey scored once more to close out the first quarter on a 62-yard reverse play, giving the Mustangs a 21-0 lead going into the second quarter.
“The receivers ran great routes, and we designed plays that we thought would work against the El Segundo defense, and they did,” Whitney said.
Costa continued to control the game in the second quarter when Southey opened up the quarter with a 32-yard field goal. Whitney and Southey then connected again for a 72-yard pass play, giving the Mustangs a 31-0 lead. Whitney then executed a long pass to Marsh for a 75-yard touchdown. After a string of three-and-outs, the Mustang defense made a critical play when junior cornerback Josh Beste recovered an El Segundo fumble and ran into the endzone for a touchdown, closing out the half, 45-0.
“I believe that we all worked hard to learn our assignments,” senior offensive lineman Diego Osterling Tabatabaian said. “We were just able to execute cleanly.”
Costa opened the third quarter with another touchdown, as junior running back Ryan Moreno ran straight into the endzone for a 46-yard rushing touchdown. By the middle of the third quarter, the Mustangs had taken most of their starters out of the game while closing out the quarter with a 52-0 lead.
“Having such an amazing lead made everyone super excited, and no one was really able to contain it,” junior offensive lineman Matt Riggle said.
The fourth quarter saw second-string and junior varsity athletes having the chance to get on the field. The Eagles managed to score a rushing touchdown late in the fourth quarter but were unable to recover from the deficit, leading Costa to take the 52-7 win.
“It felt good to let kids who don’t get to play a lot get in and get the opportunity to move up the ladder and show what skills they have,” Moreno said.
The Mustangs, now with a record of 2-2, will face the West Torrance Warriors at 7 p.m. at Waller Stadium tonight. Costa hopes to have a shot at redemption after the loss to the Warriors last season and will be working on improving the defensive line, according to assistant coach Mike Freeman.
“[This] week we are probably just going to work on our pass protection,” Freeman said. “West Torrance is a pretty good passing team.”
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