Costa Football defeats West Torrance 40-14

By Ava Nicols

Staff Writer

The Mustangs went head to head with the West Torrance Warriors in a home game on Sept. 17, taking the win 40-14. 

Within the first five minutes after the kickoff, the Mustangs started out on top. Senior quarterback Casey Pavlick made a pass, throwing it over the middle to junior wide receiver Cole Crotty, for the Mustangs’ first touchdown of the game. The Mustangs continued to advance during the first quarter, with another touchdown by sophomore wide receiver Reese Leonard. 

“The first route I ran, there was a penalty for pass interference.” Leonard said. “The next play I dropped but luckily the next one I scored. It was rewarding scoring a touchdown after a tough call.” 

In the second quarter, junior wide receiver Ty Culligan received a pass and scored a 40-yard touchdown for the Mustangs. 

“I feel like that definitely got everyone fired up and motivated.” Culligan said. “It changed the entire energy of the game for sure.” 

Senior wide receiver Riley Bloomstrand scored the team’s fourth touchdown of the game during the fourth quarter. Bloomstrand ran over a West Torrance defender and into the endzone, for a 29-yard touchdown.

 “It’s easy really when you have a good QB that puts the ball right where you need it. It was a fun game to play. Everyone’s energy was really good, but we need to buckle down for these next few games.” 

A top performer of this game was senior linebacker Brett McCalla, who helped lead the Mustangs to victory by stopping multiple Warrior scoring drives. 

“We practiced really hard during the week and really prepared for West,” McCalla said. “I thought our defense was tackling well, we played well on offense and our line was working really hard.” 

With this victory, the Mustangs move on to play their known rivals, the Loyola Cubs, on Friday, Sept 24 at 7 PM at home. 

“We have been putting in a bunch of hard work to beat Loyola,” Burga-Donovan said. “Our mindset has stayed positive and hopeful as we get ready to play.” them this week, which is where it needs to be [in order to] to beat Loyola.”