CMHS starts with a bang

IRVINE — Now that’s the way to end a streak.

Players on the Costa Mesa High football team leaped for joy after the final whistle Friday night at Irvine High. They posed for pictures on the road.

The Mustangs had the right to be pumped up after earning an upset 15-10 nonleague win over Northwood, erasing a 13-year streak of losing season openers since 2001.

“How ‘bout them Mustangs, huh?” first-year Coach Glen Fisher yelled to loud cheers in the postgame meeting in the south end zone.

“You saw why I coach,” Fisher said. “Did you see the looks on their faces? Every one of the coaches on this staff, that’s why we coach. We coach to see them jump around like that. We coach to see them tell each other, ‘I love you and I sold out for you.’ That’s why we coach. Wow.”

“[Northwood] has three times as many coaches and three times as many players. I guess only 11 guys can play at a time.”

Fisher, who lost to Northwood twice in Pacific Coast League play the last two years as Beckman’s head coach, beat the Timberwolves with his new team. The Mustangs definitely showed heart, staying in the ragged, three-hour game that featured 24 penalties, 13 of those on the host Timberwolves. Three pass interference penalties in the fourth quarter loomed large for Northwood.

Twice on Costa Mesa’s eventual game-winning drive, Northwood thought it had an interception. Each time, it was negated due to a pass interference penalty. The second one gave Costa Mesa a first down on the Northwood 29-yard line. Senior running back Jonathan Brucales scored on the next play, giving the Mustangs a 15-10 lead with 4:38 left in the fourth quarter (the conversion failed).

Northwood tried to come back, but this time an offensive pass interference call pushed the Timberwolves back. Two plays later, on third-and-21, quarterback Trevor Lawrence fired a 10-yard pass over the middle to Michael Bellas, who caught it at the Costa Mesa 45. But senior linebacker Mason Mataafa ripped the ball away and recovered the fumble with 2:20 left in the game.

The Mustangs were able to run the clock down to 14 seconds before Cameron Curet punted it back to the Timberwolves. Northwood tried a lateral play on the final play of the game, but was only able to get to around midfield before the player was tackled and the Mustangs started to celebrate.

It was Mataafa who also sacked Lawrence from behind earlier in the fourth quarter in Costa Mesa territory, causing a fumble that Helper Kisino recovered on the Mustangs 23-yard line.

“That’s a Division 1 athlete making an unbelievable play right there,” Fisher said. “That’s a kid that sold out for his teammates, like all of them … they’re all tremendous young men.”

Josh Snipes had two interceptions for the Mustangs, who were tied, 7-7, at halftime. They had chances to be up, as three of their final four drives of the half started in Timberwolves territory. But they watched Northwood take the lead on Lawrence’s six-yard touchdown pass to Garrett O’Connor with 4:13 left in the half. O’Connor, a tight end listed at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, put Northwood in great field position by rumbling for a 48-yard reception two plays earlier.

After Snipes’ first interception, a leaping grab, Mesa was unable to take advantage of getting the ball at the Northwood 30-yard line. A costly personal foul hurt the visitors.

But the second time that Snipes intercepted Lawrence, the Mustangs were able to cash in. He jumped the receiver’s route and ran the ball back 40 yards, to the Northwood 20-yard line.

Snipes then made a leaping grab of sophomore quarterback Ben Swanson’s pass, coming up just short of the end zone but setting up first-and-goal at the one-yard line. Brucales found the end zone on the next play, and Curet’s conversion kick tied the score at 7-7 with 1:30 left in the first half.

Swanson finished 11 of 27 for 100 yards and an interception. The lefty battled through a string of seven straight incomplete passes in the second half, completing two passes to Curet on Mesa’s game-winning drive. One was on a highlight play by Curet, who leaped to tip the ball to himself.

It all added up to a big victory for the Mustangs, who won their first nonleague game since defeating Savanna on Sept. 27, 2013.

“I’m so proud of these young men,” Fisher said. “It’s the first game, but we played a very formidable football team that’s always well-coached. Dean [Toohey] does a great job over there. I’m telling you, 26 years [in coaching] and I really don’t know if I’ve ever seen a group of young men come together in such a short period of time and believe in what we’re doing and make it happen.”

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Costa Mesa 15, Northwood 10

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Costa Mesa 0 – 7 – 2 – 6 — 15

Northwood 0 – 7 – 3 – 0 — 10

SECOND QUARTER

NW – O’Connor 6 pass from Lawrence (Lee kick), 4:13.

CM – Brucales 1 run (Curet kick), 1:30.

THIRD QUARTER

CM – Safety (punter kicked ball out of end zone), 10:52.

NW – Lee 37 FG, 3:36.

FOURTH QUARTER

CM – Brucales 29 run (pass failed), 4:38.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

CM – Brucales, 14-66, 2 TDs.

NW – Martinez, 7-35.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

CM – B. Swanson, 13-28-1, 100.

NW – Lawrence, 27-42-2, 287, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

CM – Snipes, 5-43; Curet, 4-43.

NW – Bellas, 12-123.