CMHS football team finds success in classroom
On the field, the Costa Mesa High football team is winless, but in the classroom, many of its players are succeeding.
An academic incentive tutoring program is helping the Mustangs with their grades.
For the Mustangs’ academic achievements, almost half of the varsity’s 44-man roster and 20 members of the freshman team earned a trip to the Rose Bowl on Saturday night to see UCLA play Utah. The Costa Mesa football booster club funded the outing for sophomores, juniors and seniors who maintained a 3.0 grade-point average or higher last spring and for freshmen who turned in their assignments this fall.
The trip proved to be one of a lifetime for many Mustangs. Thirty-four of the 40 players experienced a college football atmosphere for the first time. They tailgated a couple of hours before kickoff, learned UCLA’s eight-clap cheer, and watched a thrilling upset with 74,329 fans.
With no time left on the clock, the then-No. 8-ranked Bruins missed a game-winning 50-yard field goal, losing to Utah, 30-28. The setback capped a crazy Week 6 in college football in which five top-10 teams lost.
“We were all cheering, because we thought he made it,” said Timmy French, referring to UCLA kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn’s field-goal try. “I was expecting UCLA to win.”
Not all of the Mustangs rooted for UCLA, even though Katrina Foley, the vice president of fundraising and academics director for the Costa Mesa football booster club, is a UCLA alumnus. Foley, whose two sons, Sam and Ben Swanson play for the Mustangs, organized the event with Frank Albers, a Costa Mesa assistant coach.
Albers was the other reason why the Mustangs went to UCLA’s game against Utah. Albers’ son, Andrew, is a left tackle for Utah. Albers said his son, a redshirt junior, was unable to make the trip to Pasadena because of a left knee injury.
Albers has attended each of Utah’s five games this season, only getting to see Andrew play in the opener against Idaho State on Aug. 28. Andrew missed the next four games, but Albers said his son might return later in the season.
The timing to watch Andrew play close to home didn’t work out for dad. The Mustangs’ current players also hoped to see a former Costa Mesa standout perform under the lights on a Saturday.
Jonathan Brucales is one player who has seen Andrew compete before, back when Brucales was a seventh-grader and Andrew was a senior at Costa Mesa four years ago. What stood out to him was Andrew’s size.
“He was pretty big,” said Brucales of Andrew, who’s now 6-foot-7 and 300 pounds. “The game I saw him play was the Battle for the Bell and he was good.”
Brucales and his Mustangs get their shot in the Battle for the Bell rivalry game against Estancia on Oct. 17, a week after the Mustangs (0-5) open Orange Coast League play against Laguna Beach (1-4) at Jim Scott Stadium on Friday at 7 p.m. They look to gain some momentum before facing Estancia.
Brucales, a junior linebacker and tight end, said he expects to return next week from a high ankle sprain. With the downtime, having missed the past two games because of the injury, Brucales said he feels the Mustangs are coming together. The special event at the Rose Bowl has united the team.
“It created some bonding opportunities,” said Foley, adding that the transportation, food and tickets cost around $2,100, all worth it because “the kids are being exposed to college life, and we want them to go to college and be successful.”