Roberto Kampfner
Nick Lee
Staff Writers
In Mira Costa’s disappointing homecoming game, the running and passing attempts were greatly shut down by the Palos Verdes defense. The Mustangs seemed to be in disarray, and they only managed to execute a few plays, and scored no points the entire game, with a final score of 36-0.
The Sea Kings dominated the Mustangs and let up no points in a stunning game to the fans at Waller Stadium. The fans tried to give Costa life at the half with the homecoming ceremony, however the Mustangs came out flat and turned the ball over on the eight yard line after a fumble by Jacob Silvera.
“Next time we need to fix the blocking in the red zone and being reading the blitz better to buy more time in the pocket and we need to finish our drives” Junior Quarterback Jacob Silvera said.
On the first drive of the game, the Sea Kings dominated in the passing game, making big plays and moving the ball down the field with ease. After a missed extra point, Costa gained life, but it was short lived after a drive ending in a turnover on downs. Palos Verdes responded on the next play scoring a huge touchdown to put them ahead 13-0.
“We tried to tweak our offense and defense to be successful.” Offensive Coordinator Ray Lee said. “We had some returning hurt players back which helped give us the spark we needed to get us back on track.”
Near the end of the first quarter, the Mustangs capitalized on lackadaisical defense by the Sea Kings, and gained a first down off of a fake punt, but failed to convert further, turning the ball over on downs. The Costa fans tried to rally up the team by singing chants of “Let’s go Costa” and “Hold that Line”, but the team seemed lackadaisical themselves, continuing to let up countless yards, and producing few.
“We noticed that in their coverage they have a really aggressive team and go hit and go after people.” Finnerty said. “We knew that were gonna bail out on the return, therefore they do not play a lot of defense on our guys.”
Late in the second half, star running back Tre Searcy injured his hamstring, and was unable to play the second half. Without Searcy, the already struggling offense lost almost all hope, and started turning the ball over and taking unnecessary penalties.
“He’s big time player and we don’t have many older guys used to running the rock, so it hurts but we have others guys to find a way.” Finnerty said.
After a fifth turnover and a already lost game, Coach Don Morrow pulled Silvera and put in backup Junior Varsity Quarterback and kicker David Arredondo, who then threw an interception.
“We are trying new guys trying to get some competition going so Dave has done very good at the JV level and you never know where it can go from there.” Finnerty said.
The highlight of the night was most definitely the brilliant homecoming ceremony at halftime, but seemed like distraction to the players, because during the second half, the offense and defense seemingly shut down completely, and the Sea Kings walked all over them, winning by a final score of 36-0.
“We hoped the homecoming wouldn’t be too much of a distraction and we had Tate and Mack on the homecoming court so they had a full game, but our players were disciplined enough to stay focused.” Finnerty said.
Costa’s next game comes against Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, who are 3-3 with wins coming against Morningside, Culver City, and Centennial, and will prove to be a challenge for the Mustangs.
“We need to have a good week of practice but it just comes down to execution in the games and I think we made good turn as far as aggression, but we need to take it to a another level to finish drives and games” Defensive Line Coach Sean Finnerty said.
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