On Nov. 4, the Mustangs traveled to Newbury Park High School for the first round of CIF, and lost 14-41. With this game, the Mustangs exit the 2022 football season.
The Mustangs started off with strong offense in the first quarter, taking the lead 14-0. However they were not able to maintain this offensive success.
“Our offense played great in the first half, ” junior tight end David Burga-Donovan said. “We had the right intentions in the second half, but we lost confidence, which poorly affected our game.”
The Mustangs were dealing with key injuries going into the game on both defense and offense. The biggest injury was star senior wide receiver Cole Crotty. Crotty broke his collarbone in a blowout win against their rivals, Redondo Union High School, during their last league game. Crotty ended the season with 837 receiving yards and 6 receiving touchdowns, and the Mustangs were without him for the most important game of the season.
“Cole not playing was a big factor in the outcome of the game,” Burga-Donovan said. “This threw off the dynamic, and we were unable to play at our highest level.”
With the offense not being able to put up as many points as they have been in past games, the defense had to step up. The Mustangs’ defense started off strong against Newbury, holding the Panthers’ offense to zero points in the first quarter. The shutout did not last long, however, as they gave up 14 points in the second quarter, going into halftime tied up.
“As a team, we could’ve kept more confidence and energy during the game,” sophomore safety Eli Cebula said. “We also suffered injuries from key players that could’ve been prevented. At the end of the day it all comes down to staying confident and continuing to be energetic.”
Newbury Park came out of the second half strong and put the game away. They ended up scoring 27 unanswered points, and winning the game 41-14.
“The reason for their offensive success was just the loss of energy we had as the game progressed,” Cebula said. “As a team, we started off super strong then in the second half our confidence started to slowly crumble and it was too hard to bounce back.”
Although the season may be over for the Mustangs, it is just the beginning for sophomore quarterback Nico De La Cruz. De La Cruz stepped into the starting quarterback role and immediately thrived. He threw for 2336 yards and 26 touchdown passes. According to De La Cruz, he hopes to improve off of this year going forward.
“I feel the season went very well,” De La Cruz said. “I didn’t play my best in the last game but I have to look at the bigger picture. I had a lot of exciting plays this season, and I have two more years of varsity to improve and hopefully get a CIF championship.”
Costa Football finished the year with a record of 8-3 and went 4-1 in the bay league. Although the team was unable to advance in the CIF playoffs, they have a lot of hope for next season.
“I think our team had a great season,” Crotty said. “We finished the regular season with one of the best records in the last decade of Costa football, and a lot of different guys stepped up, taking advantage of opportunities. I know the season didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but I’m proud of how we fought with each opportunity we got on Friday night.”
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