Justin Reed
Staff Writer
Mira Costa football beat Peninsula High School, 54-13, at home on Friday in its second Bay League game of the season. Along with winning, junior wide receiver Jamal Williams was injured in the second quarter and junior starting quarterback David Arredondo exited the game after the the second quarter due to an injury from the previous game.
Williams’ injury was due to being tackled by a Peninsula player in an attempt to catch the ball from a long throw by Arredondo. He exited the game after injuring his shoulder and later returned in a sling.
“I went up for the ball and when I landed my shoulder just started hurting,” Williams said. “My AC joint separated a little bit and the doctor cleared me to play against Inglewood but just told me to rest up this week at practice.”
Peninsula’s defense was no match for Costa’s strong offense as Costa scored on the very first play of the game with a 45 yard run by senior running back Omar Morrison, putting Costa up 6-0 after a failed point after touchdown attempt. Soon after, Morrison scored, bringing Costa up 13-0 after a good point after touchdown attempt.
“It felt great but it would not be possible without the great blocking from my linemen and my receivers,” Morrison said.
Costa contained Peninsula’s offense and finished the first half 27-7, with touchdowns from Morrison, junior wide receiver Chris Brown, and senior Justus Tavai as well as great throws by Arredondo to get and keep Costa’s lead. The team kept the pressure on Peninsula throughout the half by continuously moving the ball down the field with great throws by Arredondo and runs by Morrison.
“An early run in a zone play by Morrison and some key throws by Arredondo helped us get the lead,” coach Don Morrow said. “Sione also had a good catch where he fumbled the ball but stuck through which helped us greatly early in the game.”
Going into the second half, Costa pulled the majority of its starting players to allow injured Arredondo to rest and also gave its backup players a chance to play. The team kept up the pressure with more touchdowns from sophomore quarterback Spencer Gilbert, junior running back Nathan Gervais, and junior receiver Kevin Russell, widening the gap between the teams.
“I didn’t mind not playing nor putting my arm back in the sling and icing my arm,” Arredondo said. “It was good to rest since I wasn’t going to play in the second half anyways.”
In the third quarter, Gilbert played after Arredondo left the game. He scored, bringing Costa up 41-7 with a quarterback sneak and a successful point after touchdown by Lipps.
“I felt privileged to be able to help my team out and scoring a touchdown felt amazing,” Gervais said.
In the fourth quarter, Costa scored twice with touchdowns by Gervais and Russell which brought Costa up 54-13 after another Peninsula touchdown. With these touchdowns by Costa, the Mustangs ended the game strong with 41 point lead over the Panthers.
“I felt really honored to have the opportunity to run the ball for my team and to score a touchdown for my school,” junior Gervais said. “I was extremely nervous, considering it was my first time playing running back in a varsity game.”
Costa is currently 6-1 overall and 1-1 in Bay League. In its next game, the Mustangs will play Inglewood High School for their homecoming game at home on Friday. Inglewood is 1-6 with a win against Bell High School.
“The players are continuing to clean up their game in preparation for the next game,” Morrow said. “We need to get less penalties as there were a few times where there were too many penalties in the game which hurt us even though we still won.”
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