By Regan Estes
Sports Editor
After starting the season slowly, the Mira Costa football team traveled to Newport Harbor on Oct. 6 to try to add a second win to its record.
The Mustangs came out full of energy with a strong first quarter, but were ultimately shut out in the last three quarters. The Newport Harbor Sailors, however, had an explosive second half, scoring 33 unanswered points after being shut out by Costa in the first quarter, en route to a 33-3 win in Newport’s favor.
“Our offense wasn’t playing at the level we had practiced earlier in the week,” senior quarterback Chase Caprio said. “We ran into some situations we couldn’t get ourselves out of, and it really hurt us in the long run. We held Newport in the beginning of the game, but they broke some big plays that we couldn’t recover from.”
Costa capped a successful first quarter with a field goal by senior kicker Gavin Jernigan with 2:24 left to play in the quarter. At the end of the first quarter, the Mustangs led the Sailors 3-0. This would be the only time that the Mustangs led the entire game.
“We played really well the first half,” Coach Don Morrow said. “We should’ve left at halftime, but unfortunately we didn’t. We lost the fire we started out with and couldn’t get it back.”
During the second quarter, the Mustangs were unable to make any big plays to extend their lead. Newport, however, managed to rack up both a touchdown and a field goal. Costa was unable to answer, and the Sailors took a commanding 10-3 lead over Costa going into the half.
The Sailors started the second half with a 52-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to take a 17-3 lead after kicking for the extra point. The play swung the momentum permanently in New port Harbor’s favor, and the Mustangs were unable to recover.
“We are trying to work on our game plan,” Morrow said. “We know that defensively we did not produce a threat to Newport Harbor’s offense, and we were a mess all around. We all know that we are better than that.”
To add to Costa’s struggles, Newport blitzed the Mustangs during the third quarter, handicapping Costa’s offense. The Newport defense forced two Mustang interceptions, both of which resulted in scoring plays for Newport.
“We’ve really been working on our passing game and trying to light a fire there,” Morrow said. “We haven’t so far. Our protection, our play calling, it’s all a mess right now. That’s something that needs improvement, but I’m confident we will improve.”
By the end of the game the Sailors had added 16 more points to make the final score 33-3. The Mustangs are now 1-4 heading into to their first game of Bay League play.
“We put in a new offense during the week, and it worked well in the first part of the game, but then we reverted back to the old offense and it kind of stalled,” Caprio said.
The Mustangs face West Torrance tonight at 7 p.m. in Waller Stadium and look to win their first Bay League match of the season and improve their overall record to 2-4.
“We are going to work on our offensive game this week for league play,” Caprio said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to make the necessary improvements in order to be ready for Bay League.”
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