Justin Reed
Staff Writer
In Mira Costa’s football game at Newport Harbor on Friday, the Mustangs were able to move the ball throughout the field with a strong determination to beat Newport Harbor’s defense. The Mustangs beat the Sailors 35-14.
Costa dominated throughout the game and did not let the Sailors score any points until the second half. Although Costa was at an away game, it was not affected by the opposing team’s crowd and quickly put up points to shut down any home momentum Newport might have had.
“We could run our offense effectively because we felt we were in control,” junior quarterback David Arredondo said. “The offense as a team was reliable and we trusted each other.”
Costa quickly gained the lead with two touchdowns in the first half. The first by Arredondo to senior wide receiver Tino Sione and the next touchdown by junior Jamal Williams bringing Costa up by 14 points after another two successful point after touchdown attempts by senior kicker Graham Lipps.
“I knew after we scored our second touchdown that we were really asserting our dominance over Newport,” senior kicker Lipps said. “We knew if we wanted to win we would have to keep playing the same way.”
The Mustangs quickly got the ball back after forcing the Sailors to punt the ball after another unsuccessful offensive drive by Newport Harbor’s offense. Williams almost sacked the Sailors’ quarterback, forcing them to punt the ball giving Costa another chance to score.
“I felt good and it motivated me to do my best to sack him by the end of the game,” Williams said.
Costa did not waste this opportunity, by senior running back Omar Morrison quickly moving the ball up field with a run getting the ball closer to the end zone. With only 1:14 left in the second quarter, Costa scored again with a catch by junior slot receiver Chris Brown.
“I felt great, and that helped boost moral for the team,” Brown said. “We needed to keep playing hard and could not give up on ourselves and our system if we wanted to keep the lead.”
In the third quarter Newport Harbor managed to score one touchdown ending the quarter 28-7. To start out the fourth quarter they scored again making the game 28-14. After having a large lead throughout the game quickly became a close matchup.
“It did not surprise me because they are a hard playing team that will fight till the end no matter what the score is,” Morrison said. “I felt like it was needed to keep us confident of winning the game.”
Costa is currently 5-0 overall. Costa’s next game is against Palos Verdes High School, which is 2-3 with wins against Foothill and Carson, they will be a challenge to the Mustangs.
“We know we have to play all 4 quarters against them,” Arredondo said “We have to condition for the heat during game time and we have been trying our best to give a look to our defense as best as we possibly can and the same for them to us! We are very confident and know from watching us we are very much capable of winning this first game of league play.”
Leave a Reply