Mira Costa Absorbs Tough Loss In Opener

If the stat sheet told the whole story, it would appear that Mira Costa High cruised to a victory Friday night in its season opener against Los Angeles Loyola.

Unfortunately for the Mustangs, the visiting Cubs topped the home team 10-7 despite mustering only 96 yards of total offense compared to Mira Costa's 240.

The Mustangs were not without their chances in the loss.

The game came down to the last minute, as the Mustangs used a 72-yard drive to move deep into Loyola territory. Down by five points and facing a 4th-and-6, the Mustangs needed a touchdown to take the lead, but quarterback Dalton Crawford's pass fell incomplete and with 1:42 remaining Costa turned the ball over on downs. 

The Cubs took over at their own 7-yard line, needing one first down to close out the game. But the Mira Costa defense hung tough, stopping Loyola on three straight plays and forcing the Cubs to take a safety.

After returning the ensuing kickoff back to their own 30, the Mustangs went back on the offensive with 58 seconds remaining and a chance for one final drive.  Keeping with the theme of the night, the offense sputtered again, failing to produce a first down in four plays. 

Loyola's opening drive made it look like the contest was about to turn into a shootout.  On their second play from scrimmage Jared Baker raced 73 yards around the left side into the end-zone, but the score was negated by a holding call. 

The Costa defense regained its composure - forcing the Cubs into a 3-and-out. The subsequent Loyola punt was blocked off the right side by the Mustangs' J.R. Oshima, the ball rolling out of the back of the end zone for a safety that gave Mira Costa a 2-0 lead.

Coach Don Morrow said that opening score would have given the Mustang's some needed momentum. "Oshima couldn't quite gain possession on that one, but it certainly would have been nice to get a touchdown there," he said.

The Mira Costa defense was nearly impenetrable on the night. The Mustangs stopped Loyola on multiple fourth down plays, put heavy pressure on Loyola quarterback Jerry Neuheisel and held Baker to only 40 yards rushing.

In their opening drive of the second quarter the Mustangs used a 59-yard drive to march down to the Loyola 20-yard line. After the drive stalled, senior kicker Brendan Sofen nailed a 37-yard field to put his team up 5-0. 

But, taking a page out of the Mustangs' playbook, late in the second quarter the Cubs blocked a Mira Costa punt attempt and recovered the ball on the Mustangs' 18.  On 3rd-and-goal from the 6-yard line, Baker went off-tackle and appeared to be bottled up again by the entire Mustangs' defense. But the Cubs' star running back picked a good time to make the highlight reel, reversing his field and racing back across the field and into the end zone to give Loyola a 7-5 lead just before the end of the first half. 

The defensive battle continued into the second half, as both offenses struggled to move the ball. The teams traded punts before Mira Costa running back Stephen Giovati fumbled and the ball was recovered on the Mustangs' 25. 

The Cubs again drove their way to a 1st-and-goal situation before the Mira Costa defense again refused to break, forcing Loyola to settle for a 27-yard field goal. The kick just cleared the cross bar to give the Cubs a 10-5 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Neither offense was able to muster much else prior to the Mustangs' 72-yard drive that nearly helped them pull off the victory. 

Mira Costa, the defending Western Division champion, returned only one starter on offense and two on defense for the 2010 season. The Mustangs' two-way standout J.R. Tavai, who carried 14 times for a team high 63 yards in the game, said the first game of the season was good to help the new guys get game experience.

"Majority of the guys of the field tonight it was their first time getting varsity action, so they were thrown into the fire," he said.

Coach Morrow was able to look at both the positives and negatives from his team's performance.

"Obviously I thought our defense played terrific tonight," he said. "Our offense was sporadic, running into each other and making rookie mistakes, but it was important for them to get that one game under their belt. The mistakes we made were understandable for the first game of the season."

Despite the loss, Morrow was proud of his team's effort. "The effort was there, everyone was flying around all over the field,'' he said. ''Overall we played hard and proud."